Sorry that this chapter took a while. It's that time of year again. Back to school. So updates will be slowing down, or going back to my normal two weeks to a month between chapters.

If you haven't already done it, go check out my Eternal Rival's, Angellwriter, stories Following the Blind and Taking Bloodlines. I look forward to the next challenge.

Many people were surprised when Kakashi told them his least favorite aspect of a shinobi life.

It wasn't the countless (1,492), and ever climbing, number of people he had killed, whether from the Third Great Shinobi War, assassination missions as an ANBU, or just the unfortunate ninja that got between him and his missions or threatened the lives of his comrades. His hands had been bathed in an ocean of blood.

But it wasn't glorified murder that twisted Kakashi's heart. Murder was inevitable, inescapable, expected. To be a shinobi was to be a killer. He was desensitized to killing at this point, often preferring that as the solution as opposed to sparing a life that might seek revenge in the future, just as Sasuke was.

He killed in the name of Konoha. He cut down his village's enemies, protecting his home, a home that would nurture the seeds of the next generation. Kakashi killed for the future.

One filled with peace like his sensei wanted.

Some thought he hated the idea of being a sensei, justifying their theory with the fact that he had tested ten teams before his current one and he had failed each and every one of them. Kakashi stood behind his decisions. Those gennin had not been ready for the responsibility of being a shinobi. They could not see underneath the underneath, more often than not getting in each other's ways in attempts to get their hands on a bell. One time it had been because he really disliked the one boy who wouldn't shut up about how Sakumo Hatake was a disgraceful shinobi.

Sandaime-sama had given him no grief that year despite his thrashing the pre-gennin badly enough to merit a hospital visit.

But they, too, were wrong. Kakashi was enjoying being a sensei. It was a lot more satisfying to be the jounin overseer on a D-rank than to be the gennin assigned to complete it. Now he understood why Minato-sensei liked it so much.

Admittedly, if it hadn't been for Naruto, who was his sensei's son, and for Sasuke, the last of the Uchiha, Kakashi would have failed that team like they were any other. But the Council would never have let him send their precious last Uchiha back to the Academy. Not that he would have. Sasuke reminded him so much of Obito. In looks, not personality. He was much more like himself in that manner. But that made it easy to connect with the broody boy, and even though senseis weren't supposed to have favorites, Sasuke was one of his.

Naruto, of course, was the other. The blonde looked like his father so much that Kakashi would nearly call him Minato if he had been thinking about the past again. He was rather surprised that no one had figured out the boy's parentage. The blonde had his father's charisma, spiky hair and blue eyes. Naruto looked more like Minato than even his sensei's own clone sometimes, if that even made sense, but his attitude and talent for pranks was a dead ringer for Kushina.

Not to mention the last name Uzumaki, a clan whose village had been wiped out and Kushina was one of the few remaining members of, and the only one in Konoha after Mito-sama's passing.

Even Sakura was worming her way into his heart now that she was over her Sasuke fangirl days and was putting her brain and outstanding chakra control to good use. She had been his least favorite. Kakashi felt she had no business being on his team when all she could do was fawn over the Uchiha boy like Rin once did over himself. It would only get her killed like his female teammate.

That had been the only similarity he had seen between Sakura and Rin until he witnessed the petal haired girl healing Sasuke's ankle.

But something had changed her and now she was an equal member of Team Seven. Sakura voiced her opinions, no longer caring if Sasuke shared the same view. In fact, her crush seemed to be completely gone, almost like it had never existed in the first place.

If it wasn't for the Academy instructor's profiles, he would have thought she had always been this level headed.

Not that those profiles were very useful. Aside from the fact that only Sasuke's matched the person, there was only so much a piece of paper could tell you. Never mind that shinobi couldn't afford to have detailed analyses of them lying around.

But no, it wasn't teaching that he disliked. Teaching was fulfilling. Team Seven was his pride and joy. He was debating changing their name on official rosters to Team Kakashi like his own team had been Team Minato. Named teams sent fear down the spines of enemy shinobi. Enemy lines fled when whispers of Team Minato or the Densetsu no Sannin approaching reached their ears.

What Kakashi abhorred above all else were infiltration missions.

Ninjas were masters of deception. He could disguise himself with ease, genjutsu if it was a civilian target, or hair dyes, contacts and make-up, if it was shinobi. And certain mannerisms were easy to mimic after years of hiding behind the mask of a perpetually late, carefree, seemingly apathetic pervert.

It was harder for him, sure, with how recognizable he was. He was one of three ninja with the famous Sharingan kekkei genkai, and the hitai-ate slanted over his left eye was a dead giveaway, but most shinobi could distinguish his identity from his mask alone.

But that still wasn't his issue with infiltration missions. Kakashi could live without his mask if it was necessary. At first he wore it to remember his mother. It was one of the last things she had given him before she died. Then it was to hide his similarities to his father after that disastrous mission that saw him shamed and disgraced. Even after he had come to view Sakumo as a hero he didn't remove the mask, because it was a part of him by that point, and he very much enjoyed indulging himself in games where his friends (and students) tried to guess what the mask hid (or stalked him poorly for several days trying to catch him without it).

The jounin's hatred came from having to pretend to fit in with whatever group he needed information from. Konoha didn't send its jounin out to play dress up on a whim. Infiltration missions targeted groups that posed a threat to Konoha's security and well-being. The group's Kakashi often found himself involved in were shady.

The less than savory acts he had to commit to gain admittance and trust, to ascend the ranks to where he was a core member, freely given the information he wanted to find, made Kakashi want to scrub his skin raw.

Torture was high up on that list. It was a common theme amongst these groups, to force the newbie to guard, take care of, interrogate and torture, and then dispose of the prisoner. He was no Ibiki. He did not enjoy completely shattering another person; body, mind and soul until they cracked. One Ibiki (and one female version of him) was more than enough.

Kakashi hated causing those people pain, because ninety percent of the time they were innocent and only involved because group was bored and got their kicks out of listening to them scream and watching them suffer.

When the Copy-nin entered that room, he expected to find another civilian huddled in the corner of the room furthest away from the door, knees drawn up to chest and arms wrapped around legs, as if by making himself as small as possible that he could pretend the situation didn't exist, that he wasn't captive, that there was no chain locked around his ankle and anchored to the wall, that he wasn't going to be put through an unimaginable hell.

His eyes widened at what he found waiting for him.

Inside was a young girl, sixteen at the oldest, with sandy blonde haired pulled back into four ponytails and wearing traditional garb of Suna and her forehead protector over her neck, a rather good decision considering the neck was the ideal target for quick kills.

Her eyes widened when he strolled in, recognizing him underneath the darker pulled back hair and black eyes he sported.

And then Kakashi's eye's narrowed suspiciously. He knew this girl to be a gennin of Suna, having seen her at the chuunin exams. She was part of the team that Team Seven faced in the second round of the finals, the Sand Siblings. The Kazekage's daughter. Kakakashi remembered her being prepared for her country's invasion and voluntarily fighting against her people.

But what was she doing here? For what purpose did Kabuto take her captive?

His ears caught the whispered name of his female student. This girl apparently knew Sakura, but Kakashi didn't know what his pink haired student had to do with this. She wasn't her too, was she?

And there was still no explanation for how the Suna kunoichi knew who he was and he could draw no logical reason for her capture.

Kakashi's disguised Sharingan whirled, casting a genjutsu on the hallway outside. Any that entered would hear a girl screaming and sobbing and begging.

"Who are you?"

"Temari."

"What does he want with you?"

The girl only gave him a confused look. "I don't know." But that was a lie. Or at least not the whole truth. Kakashi could see the suspicion and hard edge in her green eyes. She had some idea.

"Does it have anything to do with the Kazekage?"

"My father is dead." She replied flatly.

"Do you know of anyone else down here? Is Sakura here?"

"Tsunade-sama." Kakashi visibly drew back at her answer. Tsunade's presence was even more unexpected than this girl's. He needed to get a message back to the Third. "And her assistant. Although I don't know where she is. Sakura's not here."

Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief. The possibility of his female student being there as well was the worst nightmare. It was too close for comfort to what happened on his first mission as a jounin and he could not handle it if he lost another teammate. "How long have you been here? Will anyone know you're missing?"

Temari shrugged, unconcerned with her situation. "A couple of days according to Tsunade-sama."

"And will Suna send teams to find you?"

"My brother will be here soon."

That sentence told Kakashi a lot. First, she had said brother, singular, when he knew that she had two. That in and of itself said a lot. There was clearly some love lost between the Kazekage's children. Temari and the red haired boy seemed much closer to each other than they were to their second sibling. The other boy was the only one unprepared by the sudden change of heart during the invasion.

Kakashi could also sense that she had wanted to add more to that sentence, but had stopped herself from saying anything else. So there was definitely more than one person coming to her rescue, but she was protecting whoever else it was. That meant that whoever was coming to who aid wasn't from Suna, but was still someone she was very close to, and someone whose involvement would raise many questions.

Then there was the way she hesitated. Most shinobi could name the person that would be heading their rescue and recover mission should a mission go sour, the first person that would leap to their defense.

Had Obito been alive he would have been the first in line to save Kakashi's sorry ass, just like he had for Rin. As it stood, Gai would already be halfway to his position, followed by Kakashi's gennin as soon as they were informed and could sneak out of the village.

Temari's instinctual thought had been the person's whose identity she was protecting and her brother was second choice.

Not that Kakashi thought her brother wouldn't tear the Elemental Nations apart until he found her, but he was not the one Temari expected to be the first to break down the door.

The normally silver haired man took the time to review his choices. He could not leave a young kunoichi in the hands of these criminals. And he needed to get Lady Tsunade out as well. Whatever Kabuto needed her for was bad news for Konoha.

The traitor had made his loyalties very clear after his master's death in the Forest of Death. Kakashi didn't know if Tsunade was capable of raising the dead, but he had no intention of finding out.

"Alright, here's what we're going to do."

Kakashi outlined a plan where he would place Temari in a genjutsu so she could believably act like he had tortured her. He would return her back to the cell she shared with the Slug Sannin, and when it came time to give the prisoners their evening meal, slip her the seal that would inactivate the chakra draining bracelets.

The jounin would meet them outside their cell three hours later, with Tsunade's assistant in tow hopefully. Kakashi did not know the two woman were even in the premises but had a few guesses as to where she would be. Then he would lead them out.

He would have to abandon the mission but he knew the Third Hokage would understand.

That was the plan, until the entire hideout shook violently.

Kakashi didn't know who found them, but knew they had to be strong. The cells were several floors under the earth's surface. But he was going to take advantage of this opportunity.

A simple raiton jutsu cut through the chain tethering Temari and the newly freed kunoichi dashed after the Copy-nin. They went for Tsunade first, since they knew where she was.

"I can't remove the bracelets yet, so you two will have to stay back." Kakashi apologized as he told the two females that they would only get in his way.

Tsunade had huffed. Kakashi didn't doubt she still had a stronger than average punch without her chakra, but it really was easier if they would let him handle anyone they came across.

Unfortunately, Tsunade did not know where her apprentice was being held and had nothing Kakashi could give to his ninja hounds so they could track her.

The base shook again and they could hear several screams sounding from above. Whoever was here was working their way down quickly. Kakashi was grateful for the help. He could hand the too currently helpless kunoichi off to the rescue party and search the base for Shizune. Even if he had nothing personal of hers to track her with, his hounds could sniff out the scent that all Leaf shinobi had.

That gratefulness fled when Sakura of all people obliterated a wall in front of them, the three of them barely dodging the body she had punched into it.

"Sakura!"

Pink hair whipped around at her sensei's cry. "Kakashi-sensei!"

"What are you doing here?" They said at the same time.

"Did you find her, Sakura-chan?"

"Yeah!" she shouted over her shoulder. "Kakashi-sensei's got her."

"Kakahsi-sensei?" Naruto, sticking out like a sore thumb in his bright orange jumpsuit, appeared next to his teammate.

"What are you doing here?"

Kakashi ignored his question. How had Naruto and Sakura found Kabuto's base? How had they known Temari was here? How did they manage to get to the lower levels? How? How? How? The question repeated in his brain. It didn't make any sense. Was Sakura the person Temari expected to come to her aid first? Had she whispered the pink haired girl's name because she was begging her to come save her, and not because she recognized him as said girl's sensei?

Temari darted forward, throwing her arms around his two students. "Where are the others?"

Kakashi's eyes widened. Others? She was expecting more people. Who though? Her brother, obviously. And Sasuke must be around somewhere if Naruto and Sakura were here.

He watch amazed as Naruto dismantled the bracelet on the Suna kunoichi's ankle. Kakashi knew that was a complex seal and could not understand how his student had undone it. He hadn't seen the boy write any seals, and it wasn't like he could have had one prepared ahead of time.

He watched closely as he knelt at Tsunade's feet to undo hers, and his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when he drew the seal directly on the metal with chakra.

The Fourth Hokage had been and Jiraiya was considered a seal master. But Kakashi had never seen his sensei or the Toad Sage display this skill with fuuinjutsu. He hadn't even known that seals could be written without ink or blood.

Where had Naruto learned fuuinjutsu?

Concern bubbled in Kakashi's chest, along with worry and suspicion. He knew his team had changed in the last few months, he had watched their growth closely, but the abilities he was seeing did not match what he knew of his students.

He didn't think they were spies, but he couldn't help but wonder where they were learning all this from and how they were practicing it. It certainly wasn't safe to be doing on their own.

Given the current situation, Kakashi decided it was best to wait until they were in safer territory to question his students.

"Mou, not that this reunion isn't touching, but we need to keep moving. We need to find Shizune and regroup with the rest of your team."

The three gennin flinched at his cheerful tone.