Chapter 15
As soon as the pigeon tapped, Kakashi flashed to the vicinity of Iruka's apartment. He was on double alert since learning that Ibiki's team had disrupted the sanctity of the training room earlier today.
From the angle and distance to the next rooftop, his view was quite limited. Iruka was home, all right. He was diligently emptying his refrigerator completely. Kakashi recognized that ritual. Long away mission, so perishables must go now.
The fridge was unplugged and even the open jarred condiments were going into the trash. Okay, that meant a really long mission, six weeks or more.
He didn't dare miss the departure for this one. A ROOT shinobi should be quite a challenge to track, even for an experienced jounin and former ANBU. He went back to his own apartment and quickly prepared himself for travel, summoning Pakkun hastily.
"You need to listen close, Pak, and tell Tsunade what's happening."
Pakkun grumbled. "You hauled me up just for this? What good are those damned rats with wings if you don't use 'em as messengers?"
"Knock it off. I have no time to argue and no time to write this down; so you're elected, now listen up close." Kakashi continued to pull out mission equipment, explaining without looking at his ninken. He trusted the dog to be attentive regardless of his complaints. " Iruka's getting ready to deploy, he's doing a dump and disconnect in his kitchen right now, and I need to be ready to move out. No idea where or what the mission is. If he doesn't go right away I'll be staking him out around town. When he goes I'm his tail, and it looks to be a long one. Got it?"
"Hmph." Pakkun gave him a look of cranky concession. "I'll handle it."
"Attaboy." Kakashi was stuffing the roll-up holster with mildly toxic darts and poisoned senbon.
"Looks serious."
"No telling, so I'm going prepared."
"Hey, uh, Kakashi," Pakkun gruffed. "Watch out, huh? That stuff with Iruka-sensei…guy's pretty goofed up, what with all that weird training. Don't turn your back on him, is what I'm saying. A guy like Danzou, he probably teaches his nin to eat their young. Seriously."
Kakashi's short laugh was tense but sincere. "You always have my back, don't you? Thanks Pak. I was aware. I'll be careful."
"You know where to find me if you need me. Just…you know…next time? Make sure you really need me. Sayonara." With that, Pakkun took the partially-opened window as his exit way and jumped out effortlessly.
"I get it, Pak," Kakashi smiled to himself as he finished refreshing the antidotes in his utility vest. Most of his mission gear was already in ready-to-go condition, he gave himself a small kick for being lax and not refreshing his poisons array after the last time he used them. Still, it only took a few minutes, and he was able to dress out and be travel-ready in very little time.
It wasn't long before he returned to go back on watch.
Iruka was finishing up, it appeared. That had been quick - he was hauling the trash bag outside already. Then, to Kakashi's mild surprise, as soon as he set out the trash, he sealed up the whole apartment and began setting tags on the windows and doors.
It seemed a bit odd. Iruka didn't have his mission vest, nor his leg pouch, or a number of the things no shinobi leaves for a mission without. Maybe he wasn't going on a mission - just not coming back here for a long time? Or was his mission equipment stowed elsewhere now?
Iruka sensed Kakashi as he threw the final seal on the last window. He'd actually caught a hint of it earlier, but now it was confirmed.
When he teleported next to the silver-haired nin, the old Iruka would have been very amused at catching him so embarrassingly red-handed.
Even was merely asserting his right to know why he was being watched.
"What is the meaning of this?"
"Aw, Ru - caught me, eh?" Kakashi smiled disarmingly. "You know how I love to watch."
"No more. I'm not your entertainment. I have work to do."
"If it's any consolation, you weren't being very entertaining." Well, at least so far, Iruka mistook his attempts to get close for his usual capricious interest. "Anything I can help with?"
"No. I would ask you to stop observing me and occupy yourself elsewhere."
"Or else?"
"I will report you to your superiors."
Ooh - was that just a bit fiesty? Kakashi wore a smarmy smile as he replied, "Report away. Not a problem. But hey - I'll make you a deal. Quit hiding and train with me, and I won't have to bug you. We need to square off now that you're such a hot shot. I never could spar with you before - I'd have laid you out in a heartbeat. We should go at it now. You've never really seen what I've got. I think you'd have a whole new respect for me."
Brown eyes regarded him coldly through the pastel mask. "Respect…for you? I don't foresee holding you in respect over mere battle prowess. But I have no reason not to exercise my abilities on the sparring grounds. Your reputation leads me to believe that you'd be a worthy opponent. This is doable. I will contact you when my schedule warrants."
"Great." Wow. The old animosity just didn't seem to be there. That cool, capable attitude was a little mysterious…and the door was open just a bit more. Iruka was pretty good at this ROOT act already.
Iruka didn't seem emotionally void to Kakashi. Ibiki's report seemed exaggerated. He hadn't believed a word of it.
"In any case, I must go. Do not follow me."
"Wouldn't dream of it!" Kakashi smiled with his visible eye closing into a happy crescent. To illustrate his sincerity, he turned and hopped off the roof to the next, turning back to look. Iruka stood unmoved, watching. "You can follow me back to my place, though. I can make it worth your while."
Not really expecting a reply, he moved on again, lofting easily from the roof and continuing away. Had Iruka followed, he would have seen that Kakashi was taking a circuitous route to head for Danzou's. No way was Iruka ready to leave the village, unequipped and in such light clothing. The copy-nin's plan: to station himself in one of the tall pines to apply a concealment jutsu and await. It was one of the benefits of knowing where his prey was heading.
Even watched the silver hair disappear, making sure he didn't double back. Then he finished re-checking the security on his apartment and left, walking in a brisk but conservative, non-chakra enhanced way to conserve energy for his mission.
His former self would have been so excited this pace would have driven him mad. But not only was Even not given to such lack of control, he did not remember how it felt.
Kakashi had to hand it to Iruka. Over the years, the copy-nin had developed a number of ways to outsmart and sneak up on this man. It was his favorite hobby for a while.
But his mission target had advanced in ability to the point where rudimentary concealments were no longer effective; that was embarrassingly clear now that he'd been caught spying. That meant that the sharingan user would need to resort to advanced jutsu to completely mask his presence. He could be sure it would succeed but it did use some, although not much, chakra to bend the light around his body for the concealment. It was an advanced survival method. He couldn't keep it up for long time without beginning to make a bit of a drain on his stores of energy.
So he was glad that it was only a brief period of lying in wait before the blue-masked nin passed by his place in the shadows with a view of Danzou's courtyard gate.
Once Iruka went in, his presence was muddied, then disappeared. There was a stealth field cast on the perimeter; that worked fine for Kakashi, since it seemed to be blocking both sides of the delineation. He dropped his cover and descended to the ground. Set to wait, he leaned into the dark wall and melted into the shadow, arms crossed and at ease. No telling how long it would be before Iruka emerged.
"You're back. Any problems?"
"No, Danzou-sama. Everything is secured."
"See anyone while you were out?"
"Hatake Kakashi. He requested a sparring match. I said I would get back to him."
"Kakashi, hm? Is that unusual for him?"
"No. He asks often. He is not easily deterred."
"I see. Well, you shouldn't be gone on this mission for long. And when you complete it, you will begin your residency here." Danzou looked at him for a moment. "I've been thinking about all the ways your staying here will be an advantage. I've been alone here for a very long time. Mostly because I prefer it. But I think that you will be a welcome addition. Sometimes…in the oddest hours…I do rethink my total isolation."
The mask glinted in silence.
"Well. Be that as it may…time for you to go." Danzou reached up and carefully removed the mask, regarding the topography beneath. "You know…we may restore your face. It would resolve the issue of anonymity with the half-mask."
"As you wish, Danzou-sama."
"As I wish. Yes, I think I do wish. And actually, if your mission is successful, it will be no trouble at all." He kept the blue mask and waved the dark-haired nin away. "Prepare. Go. We've wasted too much time already."
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Impressive. Im-fucking-pressive. Kakashi was torn between being jealous of the ROOT armor, and totally taken with the way it looked on Iruka. After re-thinking his stakeout, he had moved a great distance away to observe the compound from a high vantage point. When Iruka appeared outside the gate he felt the familiar tickle of excitement that accompanied the start of a mission that challenged his skills significantly.
He lowered the field scope and began to parallel his target's direction of travel, a good two hundred yards away.
Iruka did not check out through the gate but instead bailed out over the wall. Kakashi did the same, satisfied now that this was the mission and they were on their way.
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Even had the rogue nin by the throat and plunged the needle into his neck, delivering the dose of paralytic. As the man went limp, he had to drop him to spin and face his teammate.
The other nin was huge, covered in scars and missing a thumb. He was quick in spite of his size, and his first kick-spin came very close to connecting.
A third shinobi with the Sound emblem scratched through on his hitai-ate circled up from behind, flinging three-sided weapons that spiraled dangerously close.
Even made a calculated move, dropping and grabbing his opponent by the knees. Turning just right to force the other nin to remain upright, he felt more than saw the blades as they spun into the rogue nin's chest and out the other side. That friendly fire made short work of the huge shinobi. Even released the mortally injured nin without ever looking at him, his driving boots launching him so hard and fast that his kunai was sunk to the hilt in the third nin's eye socket before the second nin's body hit the ground.
He followed through with a quick extraction of the blade followed by a dozen staccato impacts, nailing both lungs and the heart multiple times, unencumbered since his enemy's hands were occupied clutching at the ruined eye in agony.
That man fell as well, ignored after the last thrust of the weapon. Even bent and quickly sliced most of the material off on one pant leg belonging to the nearly-gutted second nin. He used it to wipe his weapon clean as he approached his captive.
His target's eyes never left him the entire time. His major muscles paralyzed by the drug, he could only watch in fury at the defeat of his comrades, and wait in dread for what might be in store for him.
Even paused and sifted through the surroundings with his senses and found the sole unidentified source of chakra up high and far away. It was different from these men, slightly familiar, as if it might be Leaf, but it was too far away to analyze. It was not possible to determine if it was a passing messenger of Konoha or someone interested in his activities. No others seemed to be around. Like keeping a finger on a pulse, he left a part of his awareness fixed on that chakra to make sure there would be no more surprises. This was only supposed to be a team of two, but the third man had not presented any problem. And the nin with the silver emblems in his pierced palms was easy to identify as his target; the other two had no such adornments.
He bound the temporarily helpless shinobi, ignoring the distressed look as he slipped a black leather hood over the man's head to render him blind and muffle his hearing. He slung him upside down over his back with his knees bent to hook over one shoulder, using a heavy strap to secure his ankles. That strap then attached to Even's uniform at a turnbuckle located high on his waist. Bound in this way, the load was distributed reasonably well for travel, Even's hands were free, and with a quick flick of the buckle he could release and drop his prisoner if serious fighting called for him to be unencumbered. The bound, inverted nin would be uncomfortable from the abuse to his knee joints to say the least. The likelihood that the repeated jarring of their travel would loosen and leak out his stomach contents was addressed by leaving the mouth portion of the leather sensory deprivation hood unlaced. It was an ugly efficiency indeed.
Kakashi was watching in numb silence. He dropped the field glasses for a moment, shaking his head. He'd seen men abducted this way by Mist nin, but no self-respecting Konoha shinobi would do this. They would leave this kind of degrading treatment up to Ibiki. Once a man was helpless, incapacitated, and thoroughly defeated, this was a kind of disrespect that said more about the moral fiber of the victorious shinobi than it said about the crimes of the prisoner.
He gave Ibiki's team's assessment of Iruka's training new respect, because this was not like Iruka, period.
The prisoner was secured, and the remains of his fellow rogue nin were starting to form shadows in the newly-lit fire as the bodies were starting to burn. Even had stripped the corpses of their weaponry and supplies before setting them ablaze, equipping himself again from the dead men's inventory. Once his utilities were refilled, he simply shot up to the forest canopy and started his return trip to Konoha. He detected the distance chakra as it began to move as well. This would have to be addressed if it continued too close to the terminus of his mission. He was to deliver his prisoner to Danzou in secrecy, teleporting in from the old council chamber.
Kakashi was impressed with Iruka's speed. He was holding nothing back. His mission obviously included abduction and retrieval of the Sound nin alive. The usual aim of a live abduction was for intelligence gathering. But in this case, the possibility that they simply needed a human host for the Uzingan eyes seemed the more likely scenario - and he was now convinced that Danzou was behind their disappearance. This made little sense, other that in that context.
In light of that conviction, it would be Kakashi's job to make sure that the body was no longer suitable for that use by the time it reached its destination.
If Iruka had not been handicapped with his load, no way could the copy-nin have pulled ahead of him. But he managed to equal, then pull ahead and angle into the sprinter's path. He knew Iruka would detect him before the actual confrontation. It couldn't be helped. In order to lead at this pace, the chakra for diversion or concealment could not be spared.
Of course, he couldn't reveal that he knew who this was.
"Halt there!" Kakashi demanded, his splayed fingers shooting snare wires to slow the dark-armored figure. "Identify yourself! This is Fire Country, by what right do you pass?"
Hatake's appearance was no surprise; Even slid to a controlled stop. "Stand down. I'm no enemy of Leaf."
"Prove it. Who's your prisoner?"
"Rogue. Rogue Sound, at that."
"Where are you taking him?"
"To face charges. Now stand away."
"Sorry. I need more than that."
"Well, you'll not get it."
Kakashi moved to block Iruka's path to leap away. He saw immediately the shift to battle stance. He shoved back his hitai-ate and watched carefully for the next move. It wasn't what he expected, but it was quite fortuitous in his intent. Iruka's next move was to jerk on the release to the strap, and dump his prisoner unceremoniously in a heap head-first on the ground. He gave a slight shake, like a wet dog, loosening his unburdened body for the first attack.
With a silent apology to the helpless man on the ground for failing to honor unwritten codes of conduct , Kakashi dodged and faked to draw Iruka forward away from his prize. As soon as the armored figure launched the first attack, Kakashi made his purposeful wild assault with the tag, letting it fly hard attached to a small, sharp kunai.
It hit the downed man square in the front of the leather mask and detonated with a heavy, wet splattering of human bone fragments, blood and brains. To Kakashi's credit, Iruka never suspected the his true aim in staging the fight until it was too late.
Iruka slid to a halt, ending the confrontation so suddenly it was almost comical. Kakashi stood back, arms up, as if to launch another assault. But Iruka was not covering up at all.
"You meant to do that," he said flatly.
Kakashi stopped as well. "It's a warning. Whoever you are, if you think you can come into this area unidentified and just keep on waltzing through, you're wrong."
The sharp toe of Even's boot probed the nearly headless body. Mission fail. He bent down as he freed a medium-length blade from his leather waist utility. With a swipe he severed a hand, making sure the piercing was intact in the palm. Now that he had evidence of the result of this altercation, there was nothing more to be done.
"You killed it. You burn it." With that, Even turned and displayed his true unburdened speed, flashing away in a split-second.
The copy-nin incinerated the body with a set of quick handsigns and followed from a distance again, this time far enough back to be certain that he escaped detection. He wondered what Danzou would make of his interference in the mission. If the intelligence they had on the eyes was reliable, this delay should have placed the old man in a very tight spot if he hoped to keep the Uzingan alive.
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