Disclaimer: Own nothing and this chapter contains strong language. (Thanks so much for that, Tayuya.)
Naruto and Gohan were sleeping soundly when a pounding on Naruto's door woke the both of them up. They yawned almost as one and stretched. Gohan winced in a brief amount of pain as the old aches and bruises he'd suffered when he'd fought Orochimaru came back to him, reminding him that they were still there and still tender.
The door was pounded again.
"Wake up you idiots!" Sakura's voice bellowed through the door. "I haven't seen you since you got back! I'm not about to let you both sleep in!"
"Dammit, Sakura-chan!" Naruto called back even as he got up and slouched over to the door, wiping at his bleary eyes. "It's noon! You could let us sleep in a little more!"
The door, which wasn't all that sturdy to begin with, exploded inward as Sakura really hammered on it. Naruto squealed in fright as he was assaulted by a blur of pink and red. Sakura embraced him. "Good to see you alive, dumbass," she said as she let go and took a step back.
"Uh, thanks?" Naruto replied, looking kind of surprised, since he'd expected to get his face beat in or something.
Sakura bashed him.
"Don't ever make me worry like that again!" She raged. "I heard about everything from Kakashi-sensei! He said you almost got yourself killed sticking your nose where it didn't belong!"
"Take it easy on him, Sakura," Gohan said with a laugh as he stood and pulled on a shirt. He didn't notice Sakura's blush as she noted his bare chest, crisscrossed here and there with very faint scars that he'd picked up over the years. "He had a rough couple of weeks."
Sakura smacked him (much lighter) on the back of the head. "Idiot," she huffed, trying to ignore the warmth in her face. "Do you have any idea about how worried I was? You both just vanished without saying anything and the next thing I know, Kakashi-sensei's in the hospital and Iruka-sensei's telling me that you both got beat up!"
"We didn't really have the time, Sakura-chan!" Naruto protested, rubbing his abused nose as he stood up again. "Old Man Hokage just kind of hustled us out of the village!"
"Not that it really mattered," Gohan added, not looking too happy. "We got caught by the Akatsuki anyway." Naruto nodded.
"Akatsuki?" Sakura asked, curiosity getting the better of her. "What's that?"
"Why don't we go get something to eat and we'll tell you?" Gohan suggested.
"Yeah! Ichiraku here we come!" Naruto crowed. Sakura and Gohan traded glances before bursting out laughing.
"And that's that," Sarutobi said with a satisfied smile as he signed the last paper in front of him. "With this, Senju Tsunade is the Godaime Hokage until she either dies or decides to step down and hand the position over to another."
Tsunade looked distinctly less pleased. "Great," she said sarcastically. "I'm thrilled."
"Oh it's not so bad," Sarutobi replied as he stood and vacated his chair for the last time as Hokage. Tsunade flopped down into it with a sigh and propped her chin up on her palm.
A towering stack of paperwork dumped itself all over her.
"Well except for the paperwork," Sarutobi laughed as his student extricated herself from the deluge of scrolls and forms and who knew what else. "That's a nightmare."
"Old bastard!" Tsunade snarled as she threw the forms back on the desk, which Shizune chastised her for and set about straightening. Sarutobi only laughed harder, knowing that his student was only acting angry for appearances and didn't mean anything by it. She would do the position of Hokage proud. It was in her blood after all.
"HOKAGE-SAMAAAAAAAA!"
The door to the office exploded inward.
Maito Gai fell flat on his face, not expecting the door to give way under the power of his full-body flying tackle.
"Gai?" Sarutobi asked. "What is it?"
"Sandaime-sama!" The Green Beast shouted, crawling towards Sarutobi on his hands and knees. "Please! Is it true that Tsunade-sama has returned to the village?"
"Yeah, I'm back," Tsunade replied, standing up so she could lean over her desk and see just what in the hell was going on. "What's all this about?"
"Ah! It is Tsunade-sama!" Gai grabbed Sarutobi's ankles. "Please, Hokage-sama! Please tell her that she has to heal my greatest friend Kakashi! Please! !"
"Well, Hokage-sama?" Sarutobi asked Tsunade, laughing inwardly at the 'WTF?' look on his old student's face. "What are you going to do?"
"Eh? Hokage-sama?" Gai asked, looking from Sarutobi's ankles to Tsunade's face. A lightbulb lit up. "Oh." He stood up, brushed himself off, and cleared his throat. "Ahem. Excuse me, Sandaime-sama, Godaime-sama. WAAAAA!" He threw himself around Tsunade's waist and held on for dear life. "GODAIME-SAMA PLEASE HEAL MY DEAREST FRIEND KAKASHI! OH PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE!"
"GET OFF!" Tsunade roared. She grabbed Gai by the hair and threw him out the window. His screams grew fainter and fainter until the only thing left was a small twinkle in the sky. "Who the hell was that!" Tsunade demanded of her predecessor.
Sarutobi rubbed his temples with one hand. "That would be Maito Gai-kun," he said in a long-suffering voice. "Ever since Kakashi's run in with Uchiha Itachi and the Mangenkyou Sharingan, he's been rather…distressed."
"Kakashi, huh?" Tsunade replied with a shake of her head. "I remember patching him up every time he and the original Team Seven came back from a mission." She glared at Jiraiya. "I would've thought Minato could've kept him on a tighter rein."
"He tried to," Jiraiya answered, chuckling, "but you know how hot-headed Kakashi was."
Tsunade grumbled something in answer as she set out for the hospital. The best way to get rid of Gai, she decided, was to deal with the problem at the source.
Kakashi stirred and woke up. He blinked blearily up at the ceiling before he remembered fighting Itachi and sat bolt upright. The world swooned around him and he sat back, rubbing his maskless face, feeling the beard he was sporting since he hadn't shaved in a very long time.
"Take it easy, idiot," Tsunade told him sharply. "If you pass out again, I'm not helping a second time."
"Godaime-sama," Kakashi muttered woozily. "I take it Jiraiya-sama was successful then?"
"Obviously."
"Good to know. When can I leave?"
"Leave?" Tsunade scoffed. "You're not going anywhere until I say so. We need to check what kind of condition you're in before I even letting you out of bed!"
Kakashi and Tsunade locked gazes in an invisible clash of wills. Kakashi was the first to look away. Tsunade smirked triumphantly, but that smile slid off her face like oil the second Kakashi sat up again, slung his legs over the side of the bed and stumbled his way over to the sink and mirror on the far wall. He checked his face again before going over to the cabinet underneath the window, pulling out his gear, grabbing a kunai, and staggering back to the mirror.
Then the scarecrow proceeded to shave with the kunai and some water. When that was done, Kakashi splashed some very cold water on his face to wake up the rest of the way, then walked back to his equipment, grabbed his mask and hirai-ate, put them on, and laid down in bed, Icha Icha Paradise in hand.
Tsunade looked apoplectic with disbelieving rage and Jiraiya and Sarutobi were busy laughing behind her back at the scarecrow's audacity.
"So am I free to go?" Kakashi asked innocently, not revealing that he'd almost cut his throat twice trying to get rid of his beard. Tsunade threw up her hands and stormed out of the room, hitting Jiraiya over the head for laughing at her when he didn't get out of the way in time.
Kakashi waited until Tsunade's furious footsteps faded down the hall then swung himself out of bed again and proceeded to get dressed, thankful to have clothing with a back on it, even if it had been tied tight enough to not gap on him.
"It's good to see you up and around, Kakashi," Sarutobi told him.
"Tell me about it," Kakashi agreed. "So I guess that makes you the former Hokage again, huh?"
"Yes. And this time I hope to stay retired," Sarutobi laughed, pulling out his pipe. He tamped some tobacco in the bowl and was about to light it when he realized that he was in a hospital. He stowed it again mournfully.
"How's Naruto and Gohan?"
"Better. Naruto's alive and Gohan has regained full use of his right arm," Jiraiya told him. Kakashi nodded.
"Good. Good. Sasuke?"
The Sannin and former Hokage traded glances that told Kakashi instantly that Sasuke had yet to come around. They didn't have to say anything. "I see," Kakashi muttered. "I'll go talk to him tonight when I've had some time to get some solid food in me."
"Perhaps Sasuke will listen to you when he would not listen to us," Sarutobi replied.
"Doubtful," Kakashi answered, "but that's not going to stop me from trying."
For everyone, the day passed quickly and what a blissful day it was for all. Even for Sasuke because he'd made his plans, laid them out with the care and precision that could be expected of him, and he knew that he was about to cross a line, a line in the sand that no shinobi dare cross lest his friends and family become his worst enemies. Sasuke knew what becoming a missing-nin entailed. Knew and disregarded it. To him, if Orochimaru could make his stronger, then it was all worth it in the end.
He set his packed backpack, full to bursting with extra weapons, a sleeping roll, separate change of clothing, some slight provisions for the long trip to wherever the hell Orochimaru was hanging out, and even more weapons. Sasuke looked his inventory over one more time and glanced at his reflection in the mirror.
He'd changed, he noted with some mild interest. His face hadn't changed, of course, but his eyes were darker somehow, more…intense somehow. Sasuke figured it was because of his conviction to see this through to the end, wherever that lay, and finally kill off Itachi and avenge his family. He would still see his brother, katana dripping with the blood of his freshly-slain parents, standing over the corpses of what had been a happy family. Sasuke and Itachi had both died symbolically that day.
Now it was time for Sasuke to finally rise from the ashes and…
A knock at his window jolted Sasuke from his reverie. He slipped his backpack under his bed, slid over to the window, and eased it open. Sakon was inside in only the barest flicker of shadow.
"What's your answer?" Sakon asked harshly. "We don't have much time."
"I'm in," Sasuke said before Sakon had even finished speaking.
The silver-haired shinobi smiled humorlessly and clapped Sasuke on the shoulder. "Then welcome to the group," he said. His hand was shoved away roughly.
"Don't touch me," Sasuke growled. He pulled his bag onto his shoulders and followed Sakon to the window. Sakon's hand was resting on the window's upright.
A flash of silver in the dark was all the warning they got.
Sakon bit back a scream as he was suddenly in a lot of pain, his hand pinned to the window by a kunai that had been thrown with enough force to go through, enough precision to pass right between the bones and out his palm. Sasuke was quicker on the uptake, sending a return knife of his own in the direction of his new ally's assailant.
A flash of movement was all the movement even Sasuke's Sharingan, blazing right when he'd returned fire, could detect.
"Do you have any idea what you're doing, Sasuke?" a voice asked. Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he recognized the speaker.
"Kakashi."
The jounin appeared in the dark corner of the room. It was amazing how well he could blend with his surroundings. He had used no genjutsu, no concealments that Sasuke could see. Only his own skill. It showed just how much of a deadly enemy Kakashi was.
"Answer my question," he said in a voice that could be construed as a snarl. "Do you have any idea what you are about to do?" Dual Sharingan met one Sharingan and one normal eye.
"I always know what I'm doing Kakashi," Sasuke replied evenly, not bothered by Kakashi's hostilities. Sakon grunted as he pulled his trapped hand free, massaging the wound and glaring heatedly at Kakashi, who studiously ignored him but Sakon knew the second he made a move, the instant he was open, Kakashi would kill him. That was the kind of man, the kind of shinobi, Hatake Kakashi was.
"You're about to cross a line that you can't uncross, Sasuke," Kakashi snapped. "If you leave with him, you'll be a traitor. And I'll have no choice to kill you, this guy, and the three others he's got outside."
Sakon had to work very hard to keep the shock off his face while he reevaluated his opinion of the Copy Ninja. He was infinitely more dangerous than any Bingo Book, any intelligence, and any story, could possibly convey if he'd been able to see through Tayuya's genjutsu and simultaneously locate the other members of the Sound Four.
"We have to take care of this guy otherwise we'll get nowhere," Sakon muttered to Sasuke. Sakon's voice was barely audible, even to his own ears. There was no way Kakashi could've known what he'd said but Sakon had neglected the Sharingan.
"Try it," Kakashi said in a silky purr that Sasuke had never heard him use. It raised the mental image of a panther or a leopard in the trees, about to drop on its prey. "I could use the exercise." The tension spiraled horribly. The only sounds in Sasuke's room were the shifting of feet from the shinobi as they tried to get into position and the rustling of the trees outside.
All at once, they exploded into motion. Sasuke and Sakon threw themselves backwards, out the open window, flipping explosive kunai at the lunging Kakashi to cover their tracks. They hit the ground as the sky behind and above them lit with a flash of flame and thunder that rolled across the village.
"So much for the Copy Nin," Sakon said with a smirk.
"Kakashi's not that easy to kill," Sasuke retorted. As if on cue, Kakashi lunged from the bushes that ringed the perimeter of Sasuke's yard. The Kakashi inside had either used a Kawarimi or had been a Kage Bunshin from the start. Sasuke's Sharingan tracked the move and the young avenger was in motion before Sakon had even registered the attack.
Sakon cried out as a gash opened on his arm after Kakashi flicked past, on his way to confront Sasuke, who'd drawn two kunai, holding them in a reverse grip. The second Kakashi reached him with his own kunai, the two dissolved into a maddening flurry of blows that even Sakon had trouble tracking. The Sound Four member frowned and turned to get concealment in the trees, where he would mount a stealth attack on the Konoha jounin. He'd barely taken a half a step when Kakashi's spare knife found his Achilles tendon. Sakon felt his calf roll up his leg, accompanied by excruciating pain
"Not bad," Sasuke admitted grudgingly as Kakashi held him off with his one remaining kunai. Sasuke had tried to use his kunai as a pair of scissors and snip Kakashi's neck, but the jounin had blocked him, while making sure his thrown knife had hit its intended target. "I had no idea you were this good."
"Then you've never thought about it," Kakashi shot back. "I'm a war veteran. I was a jounin at the age you are now, or only a year or two older. I was trained by Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage himself, and my father was Hatake Sakumo, who was praised as being stronger than the Sannin." Kakashi's eyes sharpened. "If you think you'll be able to defeat me like you would anyone else, Sasuke, then I suggest you give up right here and now."
Sasuke broke their clash and spun away, a move Kakashi mimicked.
The copse of trees that further surrounded Kakashi's position exploded with an earthshaking smash. Three huge ogres lunged at him. One was clad in all black and carried a huge club. It was the one that attacked first. Kakashi threw himself up, slapped the tip of the iron club, spun himself onto the trailing surface then catapulted himself into the air. He landed and ducked a swipe from a second that was all yellow and had nasty spikes on its hands.
'What the hell are these things?' Kakashi wondered, but found his interest waning fast as he saw the way the other two joined the third in front of Sasuke, creating a towering wall of flesh, bone, and sinew. 'It doesn't matter. They're hostile and that's all I need to know.'
"You've got some bad moves for a pussy," a voice said mockingly. One of the three hidden shinobi moved into the open. Kakashi was startled to see it was a girl only a few years older than his own Team Seven. The jounin looked at Sakon, writhing on the ground, the girl, who he would later come to know as Tayuya, and Sasuke.
"What the hell was Orochimaru's problem?" Kakashi asked conversationally, though his guard never wavered. "Did he have a thing for kids?"
"Shut up, dick," Tayuya snarled, waving a thin silver rod that glinted in the moonlight. "Orochimaru-sama is the greatest leader in the world!"
"Was the greatest leader," Kakashi replied smugly. He kept his eye on Tayuya. "He's been dead two weeks."
"I…Impossible!" Sakon wheezed from the ground.
"The prick's right!" Tayuya added. "Orochimaru wouldn't just up and die!"
"There's a stiff penalty for badmouthing our master," added a new voice. A boy with six arms emerged from the shadows, along with a boy who was tall and about as fat as Chouji, though Kakashi knew better than to use that word to the rotund boy's face. "Trash like you have no right to speak his name."
"Quiet, Kidoumaru," the fat boy said to six-arms. "Getting riled up is exactly what this man wants. If we give into our emotions, he's won and we will die."
'Dangerous,' Kakashi thought as he was surrounded by the three new arrivals, Sasuke, and the creatures, which swayed like they were being blown by the wind, docile. 'How am I going to get out of this?' That thought was almost subconscious because the majority of his mind was working in overdrive, making strategy after strategy, layering them on top of one another, knitting and unknitting before reknitting in some new method. It was why Kakashi was called a prodigy, not just because of his skills, which were no doubt formidable and deadly, but also for his brilliant mind, which when coupled with his skills meant there was no situation that he couldn't overcome.
"How long are we going to stare at this piece of shit?" Tayuya growled.
"Language, Tayuya," the fat one said.
"Shut," the girl replied, annunciating every word slowly and deliberately. "the fuck up Jiroubou!"
'Personality issues,' Kakashi thought as he watched, content with the break. If these guys started really talking, he could find some weaknesses to exploit, holes to use against them while he looked for an opening to retreat. As much as the idea galled him, and it chafed like pants made out of coarse sandpaper, Kakashi knew he had to retreat. He was outnumbered against unknown enemies. He continued to watch as Jiroubou and Tayuya continued to bounce off each other. 'Loose team cohesion. Probably don't work together well but will work for Orochimaru without a second thought, even to the point that they don't believe he's gone.' Kakashi smirked beneath his mask. 'Bastard had charisma, have to give him that.'
"Hey shut up!" Sakon snarled as he stood up, his leg perfectly fine. Kakashi allowed himself an instant of surprise and shock before squashing it. He had to retreat now. Evidently there were some unknown Kekkei Genkai involved, further complicating the matter. Yes. Kakashi had to make a tough call. He would retreat for now, lose the battle in order to win the war. He would let Sasuke go, then notify the Hokage and gather the rest of Team Seven, Sakura, Naruto, and Gohan, along with a few others of Sasuke's age group, since they knew him best, and go after him.
Lose the battle, Kakashi repeated mentally, having trouble with the idea of abandoning one of his own students, even if Sasuke's ultimate goal was dead. Lose the battle win the war. So how would he get away? The weak link had to be targeted. So who was the weak link? Kakashi didn't know about the three new arrivals, so they were out. Sasuke or the silver-haired one with the lump. Those were his targets. He didn't know how the boy had healed a severed tendon, but Kakashi didn't want to find out. Sasuke then. Sasuke was familiar. Kakashi knew how he fought, had taught him a few things himself, and knew the Sharingan like the back of his hand. He could get through Sasuke.
With Tayuya now arguing with Sakon, the other two members of the Sound Four watching them (sloppy, Kakashi thought) the former ANBU exploded into motion. The Sound Four were taken off guard, a second too slow to react and that was probably what allowed Kakashi to escape.
As he closed on Sasuke, Kakashi focused his chakra on that small point in his brain, releasing the First Celestial Gate. Kakashi blasted forward with renewed speed. Sasuke's Sharingan tracked him every step of the way, but Kakashi knew Sasuke. Sasuke had two very big and real limitations. First was his immature Sharingan. That was a big plus for Kakashi. If Sasuke's Sharingan was mature, he might, the key word being might have been able track Kakashi. But that led into the second problem.
Reaction time.
Sasuke was a skilled shinobi, that much was true, but Kakashi was older, faster, stronger, more experienced. If one didn't have the reaction time to respond to what the Sharingan was telling them, and to do that, you had to interpret the movements, which required a mature Sharingan, then you could be the Rikudou Sennin himself and still get your ass handed to you.
End result?
Kakashi bowled Sasuke over like he wasn't even there, hurling the boy to the ground roughly before shooting up a wall and out over the rooftops, making a beeline for the Hokage's Tower.
"Fuck!" Tayuya swore. "He got away!"
"Let's get him!" Kidoumaru said as he made to go after the scarecrow.
"No!" Sasuke said sharply. "He's going for the Hokage's Tower. He's going to report this to the Godaime, who will send ANBU and other Jounin after us. We need to be long gone by the time they arrive."
"Hey!" Tayuya snarled. "you think you can just come in here and get all uppity with us? Who the hell do you think you are, bastard? Huh?" Sasuke regarded the irate girl calmly, which infuriated her more. She lashed out with the flute she used to control her oni demons.
Sasuke's fist blasted into her stomach, winding her. She dropped to the ground gagging as Sasuke stood over her like some mighty and terrible ruler. "If you want to die or rot in the Black Ops interrogation rooms like your pal Kabuto, then you can stay here. Me, I'd rather live to fight another day, so I'm getting out of Konoha. You can either come with me to lead me to Orochimaru, or you can stay here and be tortured. Your choice."
With that, he stepped over her and leaped into the trees, vanishing in a second. The other members of the Sound Four didn't bother to help their companion. They just turned and followed after Sasuke. Tayuya wheezed for a few more seconds then followed after them.
'Thank God! The light's still on!' Kakashi thought as he approached the tower. He blew right between the ANBU guards so fast they almost went after him, but one managed to catch a flash of Kakashi's distinctive flyaway silver hair and informed his companion.
"What do you think that was about?" the first asked.
"Don't know. Must be serious though. I've never seen Kakashi-san move that fast."
"Hokage-sama!" Kakashi shouted, shoving open the doors, which rebounded off the walls he'd shoved them so hard. The stack of papers that loomed over Tsunade's desk tilted dangerously and dissolved into an avalanche of parchment.
Tsunade extricated herself with difficulty. Her eyebrow twitched as she saw the mountains of dislodged paper that now buried her up to her armpits. "This had better be good, Kakashi," she growled then noticed his bared Sharingan. Her menace and temper vanished almost instantly. "What's wrong? Why are you using your Sharingan?"
Hearing that, Kakashi suddenly realized he'd left it open and pulled his hirai-ate down. "Sasuke's gone," he told her.
"What?" Tsunade asked. "Say that again?"
"Sasuke," Kakashi said, more urgently now. "He's gone! He left with some servants of Orochimaru. He helped them try to kill me then stood by as they assaulted me. He was protected by some girl who uses a flute. They were saying something about taking him to your old pal."
"Impossible," Tsunade said with a dismissive wave. "Orochimaru was killed by Son Gohan. I was there. I watched it happen."
"But Sasuke doesn't know that and now he's gone rogue. Tsunade-sama, we can't let him get away!"
Tsunade sighed and shoved the papers away, exposing her desk. She steepled her finger and rested her chin on her thumbs. "Are you sure you're thinking clearly, Kakashi?"
"What? Of course I'm…wait a minute. You think that if I go after Sasuke, I won't give it my all, won't kill him because of some lingering attachment I have to him?"
"In a manner of speaking."
"Tsunade-sama," he replied, "It's true that I go around spouting stuff like those who abandon their friends are worse than trash, but never once have I given any mercy to those who are enemies of this village. All who have tried to kill me to get to my home are either dead or were good or lucky enough to get away." His one visible eye sharpened and the firm set of his jaw was noticeable even through his mask. "Sasuke will be no different. I will do my duty."
"Who do you want to take with you?"
"Team Seven and a few of Sasuke's age group. They knew him best. They won't underestimate him."
Tsunade looked shocked. "Do you hear yourself Kakashi?" She asked. "You're asking them to kill one of their friends. I admit the Rookie Nine are good, better than all expectations, but they are still not ready to go hunting a missing-nin. Take an ANBU squad with you."
"Then at least let me take Team Seven. We're a family on this team, all of us, and this is something that has to be kept in the family."
"No."
"Okay, I'll take an ANBU squad, but ask yourself this. Will Naruto, Sakura, and Gohan stand idly by when someone they care about is in trouble? Will you be able to stop them from forming their own team and coming after me? You can forbid Sakura and Naruto, maybe, but Gohan isn't even from this dimension. He's been given status as a shinobi of Konoha more as a formality than anything else."
"If he wears our headband, then he follows our rules."
"Do you believe that? Gohan has thrown his lot in with us of his own volition but that won't stop him from doing what he thinks is right. He'll follow me, even if the others don't and even if they don't, they'll follow him. Sakura because of her feelings for him and the desire to see him unharmed, and Naruto because Gohan is like a brother to him."
"We can stop Gohan."
"No you can't and you know it. He was able to take down Orochimaru with marginal help from you." Kakashi saw Tsunade's temper rise even before he saw the outward signs. "Getting angry with me won't change the facts."
Tsunade deflated again. "Fine," she said, "I can see your point. Take your team with you, but there are two conditions."
"Name them."
"One, you tell them right up front what the objective is. No mincing words or being all mysterious and unreadable about it. You let them know the second you get all three of them together. Two, you kill Sasuke yourself. Don't even let them get involved in the fight. You either bring Sasuke here in chains or you bring back his head. Am I clear?"
"Crystal."
Kakashi made no move to leave.
"Well?" Tsunade growled after a minute or two.
"I'm going to be outnumbered. It will be four on five. I want to take one more person with me in order to make sure this thing goes in our favor."
"Alright. Who?"
"I want Tenzou."
"Tenzou?" Tsunade asked, consulting her records. She nodded. "He's between missions right now but why? Why him?"
"This mission will not be easy on anyone, Naruto most of all because of his relationship with Sasuke. Naruto has displayed the ability to control the Kyuubi's chakra, but not to its fullest extent. I don't claim to know what Minato-sensei was thinking when he sealed the fox into his own son, but I do know that Naruto's control of Kyuubi is tenuous at best. Every time he draws on its chakra, more and more pollutes his body."
The Hokage nodded. "I see. You think Naruto will manifest the Kyuubi during this battle?"
"I would go so far as to guarantee it. And with the heated emotions that are sure to fly during this mission, I'm worried that this time Naruto will draw too much of the fox's power and become corrupted. Of course, I don't have anything to back this up with but we both know how malevolent the fox is. Its chakra has to imitate that. Tenzou might be the only way to control the fox, and therefore, Naruto on this mission."
"And I have passed my grandfather's necklace to him as well," Tsunade added.
"Which will make subduing the fox all the easier," Kakashi finished with a nod.
Tsunade closed her eyes, contemplating how she should move her pieces here. It pained her to think of Kakashi and his team as pawns, but that is what they were. It was like a chess game. Her pieces lived and died by her orders and no one else's. Finally she looked up and pulled a scroll towards her. "Come out, Tenzou."
The ANBU appeared with barely a whisper of noise, the epitome of stealth. Tsunade was even aware that this might not even be the real Tenzou, a clone he'd sent in his place, while the real one watched for other threats. "You called, Hokage-sama?"
"I did. I'm sure you know Kakashi."
"Of course. Kakashi-sempai, always a pleasure."
"Likewise."
"Do you know why you're here, Tenzou?" Tsunade asked.
"I would imagine it had something to do with the altercation with the Uchiha boy, who left the village illicitly about half an hour ago. My men tried to stop him at the gates but were cut down by his companions."
"You imagine correctly," Tsunade replied. "Your mission is to help Kakashi retrieve the boy. That is your primary objective, Tenzou. Standard missing-nin capture/kill rules apply. I'll tell you the same thing I told Kakashi. You're to bring him to me in chains or bring his head. Your secondary objective is to keep an eye on Uzumaki Naruto and, should the need arise, use the Kekkei Genkai that has been left to your care to subdue him."
"Orders received and understood, Hokage-sama."
"Good. You'll have to go as a Jounin this mission. Your codename for this operation shall be Yamato."
The ANBU reached up and threw back his hood and removed the glossy clay mask that covered his face. He was young, only a few years younger than Kakashi, who wasn't exactly old himself, his brown hair short, held back by an odd version of the headband that covered his forehead and protected the sides of his face. His eyes seemed oddly large, more so than was normal, his face plain, with no real outstanding features, aside from the odd eyes and some early signs of facial lines, brought on by stress no doubt.
"Well then, Kakashi-sempai," Yamato said. "Shall we go? Time is of the essence. The more we dally, the larger lead Uchiha Sasuke gets."
Kakashi nodded. "Let's go!"
The two vanished out the window, streaking off across the village.
Tsunade watched them go then stared intently at the wood grain of the desk.
"Godspeed," she whispered.
Done! Sorry it took so long! I have two excuses, one good and one bad. The good excuse is I went back to school at the end of August, which is why there was no chapter when there was supposed to be. The not so good reason that there was no September Chapter can be summed up in two words. Wanna hear them? Here they are. Halo Reach. My roommates got their hands on a couple of copies and we spent a long time killing Grunts and Elites on Campaign and a lot of people on Xbox Live. Anyway, just figured I'd get this out to put your minds at rest.
By the way, check out a fic by a person called Itachikiller, or something similar. He's got a story out that's called "Hero's..." I can't remember the last part of it. Someone put me onto it as a plagarized copy of Gohan's Dilemma and after reading it, and some of the reviews for it, I have to agree. Go check it out, report it if you want to. If you could all do that, it would make me a very happy camper. If not, oh well, it's not like I can make you. To quote Obi-Wan Kenobi, "You must to what you feel is right."