Idea: Kakashi being lead to believe that Naruto, his Sensei's precious daughter, was consumed by the Kyuubi soon after being sealed into the child by the counsel; mistreats the girl that, in his mind, would have been his baby sister. So, when it is revealed that, after Naruto succeeds in getting Sasuke back, the Elders lied to him… and then goes ahead and banishes his little sister, a goddamn hero, from the village; He joins Tsunade and Naruto in exile, bringing with him the rest of Team Seven. (Tsunade and Team Seven centric might become Sasu/Naru, Iruka might end up joining the group too so maybe Kaka/Iru also)

Summary: When Kakashi finds out the Elders lied to him about Kyuubi and Naruto after Naruto is banished from the village, Tsunade isn't the only one who leaves with him. An answer to the Missing Hokage Challenge, kind of.

Title: Team Seven: Missing?

(Chapter Three: Discovering the Lie)

Danzou grinned slightly as he watched Kakashi slide into the Hatake seat, and he was the only one to notice Kakashi come in other than Tsume who had dragged him here. Danzou gave her a discreet nod, and received a nod in return. He had several ideas on how to train both Sasuke and Naruto. He wanted to teach them how to be emotionless in battle if no where else. He would need Kakashi's help, he needed Hatake to want to keep the girl in the village; so he opened his mouth and spoke just loud enough for Kakashi to hear. "Perhaps it wasn't such a good thing to lie about Naruto being Kyuubi to one of her protectors…"

Kakashi's back straitened as he turned a glare on Danzou. "I had already figured that out, but it's nice to hear you admit that you lied…" his voice was a low snarl, he hoped Minato-sensei would forgive him for not looking underneath the underneath just this once. Since he had been assigned as her sensei he had been disillusioned to the lie, his Iruka had helped him to see his baby sister for what she was. Once he had found out that Jiraiya was in the village during the Chuunin exams, he had begged the man to take her as his student, for at least that month, so that he could also bond with her. The man that Sensei had seen as a father had; thankfully agreed. That had been a load off of his shoulders, and one less thing he'd had to worry about. Now though… with Danzou and the Elders…

Under his mask, Kakashi worried his lip; he couldn't help but feel worried for his little sister. He made sure to keep an ear open; he was ready for almost anything. He was not ready when, after the meeting was called back to order, Koharu started taking suggestions for punishments for his sister, for completing her mission of getting Sasuke back. What completely threw him off was when her Father's Clan Proxy suggested Execution!

"Now wait just a second!" Kakashi snapped after the suggestion has been voiced. "You are supposed to have nothing but the best interests of my Sensei's clan at heart! And I can most certainly tell you that what you just suggested is not!" Minato-sensei was most likely rolling in his grave at just that one suggestion! Kushina-san too, when he saw the Uzumaki Proxy had been nodding…

"What do you suggest we do then, Hatake-san?" The Namikaze Proxy asked almost snidely.

"Naruto completed her mission, she does not deserve punishment." Kakashi glared at the two who he should not have been arguing this point on with. "She deserves a reward, maybe an evaluation and promotion, and if not that then some kind of special training to help her achieve her goal. I know of at least one person who would have no problem taking her on. And there is no one else that I would trust more. Besides, the person I'm thinking of has already trained a Hokage so we know that he'd do his best."

"Oh?" asked the Uzumaki Proxy. "And who would that be Hatake-san?"

"Jiraiya-sama." Was all Kakashi said, "And, as he is often out of the village on business as our spy master, he can take her with him if you don't want her here."

Homura glared. "She must be punished for hurting the Uchiha! And there are reports of her using its chakra!"

"Hokage-sama authorized the use of whatever force necessary to bring him back!" Kakashi argued. "When I found them, Sasuke was carrying Naruto and she was out cold with a hole through her chest! Not only that; but Sensei designed his seal in such a way that allows her to use his chakra." Kakashi made sure to stress the male pronoun, because Kyuubi-sama certainly was not an It!

"Enough!" Danzou shouted. He liked Kakashi's suggestion, it was a good reward, plus Jiraiya was her Godfather and would die before allowing any harm to befall her. And it would get her out of the village, which, it looked like these idiots wanted. "I could also train her, I believe that Uzumaki without Uchiha is rather pointless, wouldn't you say Kakashi? I could train her in the ROOT facilities that I have set up and that would keep her out of sight and also out of mind."

Kakashi nodded. "Sasuke and Naruto are rather close. It is almost like watching Minato-sensei and Kushina-san fight as a team again, but I'm not sure I'd be comfortable leaving either with you for training…"

"I could easily allow you to observe any training you want." Danzou told him amiably, after all, he didn't want to alienate the boy…

Kakashi sighed. At least it was something. But still, he was up to something. What was the question…

"Those suggestions are noted." Koharu told them, stopping any debate they might have. "Any more suggestions about what to do with Uzumaki?"

A civilian stood up. "Exile!"

"Alright," Homura announced, "Is that it?" He looked around and saw that no one else had suggestion.

"The three that get the most votes will be given to Hokage-sama to choose amongst them. All for Execution raise your hands."

All the Civilian council raised their hands. None of the Shinobi did because they knew that, as dangerous as she was, Uzumaki was a good tool to have on hand, if she was hidden away for training, either outside the village with Jiraiya or in the village with Danzou was a better choice. Except for, of course, the Namikaze and the Uzumaki Proxies.

"All for letting Jiraiya-sama have her?" Kakashi and two of the other minor clan's raised their hands.

"Letting Danzou have her and her teammate?" most of the Shinobi clans hands went up.

"Exile?" The rest of the hands went up. Homura looked around, counting as Koharu noted which had the most votes. "All right, that's the vote; we shall take this to Hokage-sama for the final decision. This meeting is now adjourned."

All the civilians stood and began to chat as they walked out, seemingly assured in their victory. Kakashi wasn't the only one glaring after them.

"They have no idea what they're doing…" Kakashi breathed. "I'm afraid that we failed you, Sensei, They are going to throw her out or create a weapon out of our hero…"

But that wasn't the worst part, by doing this they were all disrespecting his Sensei and the sacrifice he and his daughter had made on that night, the night of her birth.

Hiashi sighed. "Neji and Hinata will not like this…"

Inoichi shook his head in agreement. "Ino is going to kick up such a fuss…" he agreed

"I don't think any of our kids will." Tsume muttered as the last of those not on their side left the room. "I never thought Konoha would sink so low…"

Shikaku sighed. "This is most troublesome. Maa… what should we do?"

"I'm not sure." Chouza admitted. "But, one thing is for sure."

"And what's that?" asked Shibi.

"There will be a rebellion brewing. The younger generation against the elder." Kakashi's smirk could be heard in his voice. "Not just that though, it will be Shinobi against Civilian."

Shikaku nodded. "I can see how that would happen, Naruto is being punished for completing a high ranked mission; it's making me nervous about taking higher ranked ones myself." He sighed. "If she is banished… we could just organize a mass exodus and leave the village to rot."

"Minato-sensei wouldn't want that, he'd want us to persevere." Kakashi said quietly, though all the ninja in the room heard him. "He would want us to save our village."

"But is Konoha even worth saving?" It was Hiashi who asked.

Kakashi shrugged. "I don't know anymore. I wish I knew." They had all known Minato personally in some way, Hiashi and his twin had been Minato's teammates, Kakashi had been his student, Tsume the older sister that he'd always wanted and the Ino-Shika-Cho were his best friends, as was Shibi. "I can't help but think that we failed him…"

Kakashi was like a bratty nephew to all of Minato's friends; seeing Kakashi like this… was just wrong. He had been bad after the deaths of Obito, Rin and Minato, but that never stopped him from at least trying to look in on Naruto from time to time. Now he just looked broken. He looked up when a hand came down on his shoulder, it was Inoichi. "We'll come up with something. Kakashi, we'll think of something, I guarantee it."

Kakashi blinked. "…Thank you… Inoichi-san."

Tsume stood. "We'd better go tell the pups about this…"

"Ino is going to throw a fit…" Inoichi bemoaned.

"They are all going to throw a fit, or react like Kakashi here…" Shikaku said with a small frown. "Kakashi, why don't you take Sasuke and Sakura and train for a bit? Naruto can't be thrown out until she is fully recovered anyway. You can tell them while you are all distracted."

Kakashi stood. "That's probably a good idea…" all the clan heads walked out together, trying to give Kakashi as much support as they could before breaking off towards their respective kids.

Team Seven: Missing?

Hinata was sitting with Neji when Hiashi arrived in the boy's hospital room. "Neji, Hinata, I have some bad news."

That immediately got their attention. "What's wrong Father?" Hinata asked quietly, it was no secret that she thought of Naruto as her best friend. She was always following Naruto like a lost puppy. Naruto had noticed soon after they entered the Academy and had sort of, taken the girl under her wing.

"Yes, Hiashi-sama, what is going on? Does it have to do with Naruto?" Neji asked, he had grown rather attached to the girl too after their match in the finals of the Chuunin exam. "Does it have to do with our most recent mission?"

Hiashi sighed sadly, damn Neji for being so perceptive! "Yes it does. Sasuke has been pardoned for leaving the village and…"

"What?" both younger ninja stared blankly at Hiashi. "He doesn't deserve that!" Hinata spluttered, Neji nodding, showing he agreed with his younger cousin.

"I know that. But that's what happened, but I'm pretty sure that Kakashi will be punishing the boy, even if he was pardoned. But that's not all." The Hyuuga head told them.

"Why do I have a sudden sinking feeling?" Neji wondered.

"I don't know, but I have it too, Neji-nii-san…" Hinata and Neji looked at each other and then Hiashi. "Out with it Father."

Hiashi nodded. "The counsel has decided to suggest that Naruto be made into a weapon, banishment, or… execution." His voice was quiet, but his tone was hard to show his disapproval.

"WHAT?!"

Team Seven: Missing?

Kiba and his sister Hana looked up when the door to his room opened to reveal their mother.

"Mother, what's wrong?" Kiba asked. "You look like the world is about to end."

"Hana, what do you think about Naruto and the Uchiha?" Tsume asked her daughter.

"She's a nice girl, I like her; I wouldn't have ever minded if she had been adopted into the clan." Hana told her. "All of the clans have been trying to support her in some way right, mother?"

Tsume nodded. "That is true. And the Uchiha?"

"Mm…" Hana looked at Kiba who sighed, he'd answer.

"I don't like him much mom but he deserves a bit of leniency because he did bring a nearly dead Naruto-chan back to the village instead of leaving her to die." Kiba said quietly.

Tsume sighed. "Pups, they've pardoned the Uchiha and they're planning to make Naruto-chan a weapon, exile her or execute her." She agreed with her pups but there was nothing they or she could do now.

There was dead silence; even Akamaru was stunned into silence.

Team Seven: Missing?

Shikamaru looked up from his conversation with Chouji as the door to his friend's hospital room opened; He'd sent Ino home to help her mother as a form of distraction so he was wondering if she had brought some flowers with her. He was surprised when he saw their father's walk in the door. "Inoichi-san, I sent Ino home if you're looking for her."

Inoichi nodded, leaving the room, he'd have to tell her in her room at home then. "Thanks Shikamaru."

Shikaku closed the door after his friend. "Congratulations on your first successful mission as a Chuunin; Shikamaru."

Shikamaru looked down. "Thanks dad, but you and Chouza-san haven't come by to say that only have you?"

The two older Shinobi shook their heads. "Unfortunately no." Chouza admitted.

"Don't we wish." Shikaku muttered in agreement. "You two, what's the story of the Kyuubi defeat?"

Shikamaru and Chouji snapped to attention, while they didn't know the real story, the story they had been told was much closer to the truth. "The version you've always told us," Shikamaru said quietly, "says that Yondaime-sama was able to defeat the beast, but he needed help, with Naruto-chan's help, he was able to kill the beast and so, he asked that she be seen as a hero for aiding him in killing the beast."

Chouza nodded. "That is the tale. The counsel, in its infinite 'wisdom', had decided that she is to be turned into a weapon, banished, or executed."

Chouji frowned. "But that's not fair. Shikamaru was the leader, it's his responsibility right?"

Shikaku nodded. "That's right; however, they aren't happy that Naruto has hurt their precious Uchiha."

"But, if anything, it's my fault!" Shikamaru argued. "Because I told Naruto to bring him back any way possible!"

"We know, but no one is blaming you." Which made no sense to both fathers.

"Well they should be then!" Shikamaru wasn't sure what else he should do or say, so a stony silence descended on the group.

Team Seven: Missing?

Lee and Tenten were chatting in his room when their sensei arrived. "My students, I have bad news. Naruto's fate in this village is uncertain, they are thinking of throwing her out, killing her, or taking her free will away."

The rather pleasant chat they had been having about training abruptly cut off and they stared at Mighto Gai as if he had just grown a second head.

"I-Is that true, Gai-sensei…?" Lee asked, he'd liked the girl well enough, her flames of youth burned brightly, and he liked her, but he had his eyes on Sakura-san. "But… why?"

Gai nodded solemnly. "It's true, I'm not really sure, Kakashi wouldn't say anything else." Now, were they about to lose a wonderful comrade because the counsel was being stupid? "He seemed rather depressed too." Gai told them.

"Of course he would!" Tenten argued. "He is about to lose one of his first students! If Neji, Lee or I were the one in the middle of this wouldn't you feel the same?"

Gai nodded. "I suppose we can excuse his un-youthfulness just this once then."

Team Seven: Missing?

Shibi arrived home to find his son returning from collecting bugs. "Shino."

"Yes Father?" Shino asked rather curious because there was rarely any emotion in his father's voice, other than maybe pride. "What is it?"

"What do you think of Naruto?"

Shino stared at his father. "She is a wonderful comrade, but I don't like her that way?"

Shibi looked at his son critically, "She just completed a mission; should she be punished or rewarded?"

"Rewarded Father." Shino replied, "It is the only logical thing to do."

Shibi sighed. "The counsel has done something illogical, they have decided that they don't want Naruto around, that means either getting her out of the village, killing her, or hiding her away as she is retrained into an emotionless weapon."

"You're right, that is illogical; the logical thing to do would be to give her training that will get her closer to her dream." Shino agreed.

Team Seven: Missing?

Inoichi walked into the flower shop his wife owned, he had gone to great lengths to make sure that she never agreed with the mob mentality that the other villagers seemed to have regarding the last, hidden, Namikaze. Even if she was a civilian. "Ren, is Ino here?"

"She's in the back prepping some flowers to bring out." Red told him from behind the counter. "How'd the meeting go?"

"Not good at all Ren, they want to get rid of the Namikaze heir, and after everything we've done to protect her." Inoichi sighed. "She looks more and more like her father every single day. The counsel voted on several different punishments to recommend to Tsunade-sama…"

"Punishments, for what? Returning the Uchiha?" Ren asked incredulously. "Are they crazy? If I was a ninja I would be very reluctant to take the higher ranking missions now… What are these 'punishments'?"

"I know, and I am." Inoichi told her. "Give her to Danzou, Banish her, or execution." He winced, waiting for the explosion of Mount Ren.

"It would probably be kindest to kill her out of those options." He continued quickly before she could begin ranting. "I don't agree with any of it though! With her looking more and more like Minato… If they banish Naruto, she will most likely die in the first year. And if she were handed to Danzou, we'd never see her again."

Ino, who was hiding behind the door to the back didn't know what to think of what she had just overheard. Her best friend, Naruto-chan was the daughter of the famed Kiiroi Senkou and Yondaime Hokage? And now the obviously ignorant counsel wanted to get rid of her? Not on her watch! She didn't know, but the rest of her classmates and Team Gai were coming to the same conclusion.

Team Seven: Missing?

Jiraiya, Sasuke and Sakura noticed easily that Kakashi's slouch was different as he meandered into the room; there was an aura of total despair clinging to him. "Kakashi?" Jiraiya asked quietly, "What's the matter? Naruto is fine; she'll be waking up in the next day or so according to Tsunade…" Naruto's Godfather trailed off when Kakashi's lone eye met his.

Kakashi sat heavily next to Naruto's bed and began to card his fingers through her hair, just like his Sensei had taught him to. His shoulders trembled, but his other two students were completely clueless. After several minutes Kakashi seemed calmer. "Naruto… won't be in the village much longer…"

Sakura blinked as Sasuke protested, "What do you mean by that Sensei?"

"I mean, the counsel have all but decided her fate." Kakashi said quietly as he pulled away. "Jiraiya-sama, can you watch over Naruto-chan for me while I fill her teammates in?"

Jiraiya nodded. She was his responsibility anyway… "Don't worry, she's safe with me."

Kakashi nodded as he led his other two students out of the room. He had to get them away to inform them. He couldn't let Naruto overhear. He took them to not their usual training ground, but the one where Minato-sensei trained him and his teammates after passing the bell test. It was where a lot of Hunting games, Chase games and Play happened.

"Kaka-sensei, where are we?" Sakura asked, looking around, noticing how overgrown the place was.

"This, this was the Old Team Seven's training ground. We aren't at our destination yet." Kakashi told them. "But we are almost there, follow me."

Sasuke and Sakura quickened their pace to keep up with their Sensei as he walked into the trees. "Where are we going exactly?" Sakura asked.

"There is a large tree near the center of the forest in this training ground, where my team built a bit of a hideout. The tree was dead so we hollowed it out, it's impossible to miss." Kakashi told them. "We often Hunted, Explored, Chased and Played here. It was our home away from home really. Sensei and I found the place and created it, we had to enlarge it when Sensei took on two more students. This was where I ran to when my father died."

His students' eyes widened when they finally saw Old Team Seven's hide away. "Wow… you never said how big it would be…" Sasuke breathed, awe ringing clearly in his quiet voice.

The huge tree before them had a curtain hanging over a hollow entrance at the base of the dead tree. Several of the lower, thicker branches had rudimentary windows. The tree had to be at least one hundred feet high! Almost too high to see clearly there was another curtain hanging over an entrance, and what appeared to be a clothes line hung around the small area. The clearing around the tree looked like there were several traps set to standby but not active.

"When you said a 'home away from home; you really meant it didn't you, Kaka-sensei?" Sakura asked. "This is amazing! How long did it take to build?"

"Sensei actually found this place a few months before he took me on as a student. He'd been working on it for at least a month already when he brought me here the first time. It took about three more months to get it set up for just the two of us. After that we'd spend about a week here at any give time training." Kakashi informed them as he reached for the curtain and pulled it back to let them in. "I always meant to show you three, but never got around to it."

Sakura and Sasuke entered the tree; inside it looked almost like a regular home. It looked like the front room of any normal house or apartment. The only real difference was that this was obviously the inside of a dead tree. The walls were stained and gave off a beautiful shine, in the center there were two chairs and two couches made of wood, but they looked rather comfortable. Between them there was a low coffee table with several pictures on it. One was Kakashi's team picture, both of them, and there were several of his sensei with a woman. In a few pictures the beautiful redheaded Kunoichi, because she really couldn't be anything else, looked to be in the later stages of pregnancy. Along the wall was a spiral staircase that seemed to be a part of the wall, led up to the next floor. On the walls were several framed picture of five people on different occasions. One looked like a wedding photo, and several others looked like they were at a festival or just relaxing and having fun.

"The staircase goes all the way up to the top of the base." Kakashi explained as he watched his students look around. Sakura was looking at the pictures on the table while Sasuke was examining the framed photos on the walls.

"Who were these, Sensei?" Sakura asked, picking up the picture of Kakashi's own Genin team; Team Minato.

"Those were my teammates, Sakura." Kakashi sighed; this was going to be hard, especially since he might never be able to bring Naruto here. "The girl was an aspiring medic, her name was Rin, and she was one of my best friends before she went missing. The one between her and I is Obito, he was an Uchiha. He was the one who told me… that, and gave me my Sharingan eye. The tall blonde is Minato-sensei. He told us that he was orphaned soon after he started at the academy and that his favorite people in all the village were his… Kybi-okaa-sama and Shina-onee-sama. We never really found out anything about them, but I'm sure there's a picture of them somewhere in this place."

"Oh wow…" Sakura breathed.

"Who's the pretty redhead, Kaka-sensei?" Sasuke asked from where he was getting a closer look at the wedding picture. "She's in a lot of these photos."

"That's Kushina-san, Minato-sensei's wife. I think he married her when we were in Konoha just before my first mission as a Jounin." Kakashi explained. "Any picture that doesn't have Obito where I'm wearing my Heate-ite like I am now in it was taken after that disastrous mission."

"I'm sorry Sensei." Sasuke looked down from the last whole picture of Old Team Seven plus one.

"It's alright, it happened a long time ago." Kakashi told them. "It still hurts, but now that I have you it doesn't hurt as much."

He walked over and sat heavily on one of the wooden couches. "Come sit, we aren't here to talk about that."

Sakura sat gingerly on one of the chairs and found it quite comfortable. Sasuke made his way over and sat one the other couch, just as surprised that it was as comfortable as it looked. "What did you need Sensei?" Sasuke asked.

"Sasuke, you already know that you've been pardoned, I am still going to punish you however." Kakashi gave his only male student a sharp look.

Sasuke promptly looked down in shame. "H-Hai, I know, and I will not protest."

Kakashi nodded in acceptance. "But that's not all that happened. Sasuke, Sakura, we could be losing Naruto, permanently."

"W-what do you mean?" Sakura asked; a tremor in her quiet voice. Naruto was her best friend, her sister! She couldn't lose her! Her eyes darted to Sasuke, his eyes had widened only slightly, but she, being almost as good as Naruto at reading people, could see the panic and desperation in his eyes. "We can't lose her; we aren't Team Seven without her…"

Kakashi nodded solemnly. Glumly. "Yes, we are losing her."

The depressed aura that was surrounding Kakashi now surrounded Sasuke and Sakura as well. What do we do?" Sakura asked.

"We can't let this happen!" Sasuke exclaimed, showing the most emotion he had in a while, there were tears in his eyes. "This is wrong!"

"Don't you think I know that?" Kakashi asked quietly, "But there is nothing we can do. All we can do is wait for Tsunade-sama to make her move."

"This is so unfair… She should be getting a reward, not a punishment…" Sakura breathed. A cold wind seemed to blow through the tree, causing all three members of Team Seven to shiver.

Team Seven: Missing?

Danzou, Homura and Koharu walked through the corridors of the Hokage Tower towards the Hokage's office. Danzou hoping to get a word with her, to tell her that it may look like he wanted her as a weapon, and he really did, but he was not going to go the route of ROOT with Namikaze Naruto. If she was given to Danzou, she'd still be in the village and protected from Iwa and the rest of her parents enemies. But he was also willing to help her set something else up. He really did want the best for Konoha. Even if he had seen the methods of the Yondaime, Sandaime and now the Godaime as a bit soft; he had taken the extremist viewpoint he could, not because he himself thought that way, but because one of the Hokage's advisers needed to be that way to give them the fullest picture possible, ok so he might have gone a bit overboard with the ROOT Program, but really, the civilians needed to see that emotionless tools were not the best things ever. He was not as extreme as he portrayed himself to be. And in all honesty, he rather enjoyed the arguments that he got into with the Hokage, it made them really think, they needed an opposing viewpoint to make the best and most informed decisions.

(End Chapter Three)

By now you are probably thinking that I should have had Naruto and everyone else out of the village by now. Keep in mind that this is all happening in one day. I am going to be working with a bigger cast than I usually do also. Naruto-tachi will eventually be leaving the village, but not in the next chapter, there is a ton of things that I have to write first, which includes Naruto waking up.

Some of these characters I don't use often or at all, so please bear with me, I am doing the best I can to keep everyone in character, though I probably didn't succeed…

Review or leave a PM if you've got any questions, I'll be happy to answer them as best and fully as I can.

Neph