Kakashi: Guests

While Hatake Kakashi had originally intended to train Sasuke by himself for the month leading up to the Chunnin Exam tournament, he soon found himself forced to delegate the Uchiha's training to Yuurei, mainly Shin and Nuurihyon. This proved necessary ‒at least it did for the first week or so‒ due to the vast numbers of very important guests pouring into Konohagukure for his wedding. During the nine days between the end of the second exam and the day of the ceremony Kakashi was constantly being called upon to meet shinobi and civilian dignitaries of various influence and importance and escort them to their lodgings. The copy-nin had never before been so grateful to Ame for making the Hatake mansion and grounds so irrationally massive.

Day one brought the raikage and an emissary from Rai no Kuni, each with four guards, fairly early in the morning. Once the shinobi were escorted back to his home Ame had greeted Kiraa Ei with a brilliant smile and had been hugged by the massive Kage before introducing Kakashi to the four ninja who made up the escort. Shii, Darui, Jei and Motoi were all jounin, the former pair much younger than the latter. All were reasonably polite despite making it quite clear that Kakashi wasn't anywhere near good enough for his bride-to-be. Ame then showed them to a three bedroom suite she'd set aside for them with access to a private sitting-room and bathroom. Ei and whichever two ninja were on guard duty were given the run of the village by the Sandaime while the remaining two were granted permission to use the private Hatake training grounds and politely asked not to leave the premises unescorted.

The civilian delegation ‒a diplomat, four samurai and a parade of servants‒ were staying in a fancy hotel in the village proper, which was a considerable relief to Kakashi. Strange shinobi in his home were one thing; politicians were another matter entirely.

Later that same day Kakashi was called upon to greet a three-nin party from Ame no Kuni, two high-ranking Samurai from Tetsu no Kuni and a number of other nobles and businessmen from the various small countries around Ho no Kuni. All of these had booked housing in the village except the Rain ninja, who were welcomed into the Hatake compound by a wide-eyed Usagi. The quiet blond girl bowed low to the kunoichi in charge, addressing her as 'Konan-obaa-chan' with a sweet and disarming smile. The two chunnin acting as the blue-haired woman's guards were offered bunks in the Yuurei barracks and were promptly whisked away, reassuring Kakashi that not all of the guards would also be guests.

Day two brought in more minor nobles, a diplomat and two samurai from Wind country, two jounin and two chunnin escorting the young leader of Taki no Kuni and a Kusa diplomat with two shinobi guards. Each group had its own entourage of servants an not one of them expected to be hosted by the Hatake Clan, which was a relief.

The third day was stressful, marked as it was by the arrival of a small delegation from the land of Demons and Seven high-level ninja from the rogue faction of the Kiri civil war. Zabuza headed the group, which included yet another jinchuuriki who brought the count of demon vessels currently in the village up to four. Kakashi was introduced to Kayuga Kimmimaro, a distant yet impeccably polite shinobi who felt about jounin level, Utakata, jinchuuriki of the Rokubi no Namekuji ‒six-tailed slug‒ and Ao, the official emissary of Shougakure representing the Resistance. The other three unnamed shinobi were Ao's assistants and guards and the entire group was welcomed into the copy-nin's home by a very bubbly Ame, who positively bounced over to Kimmimaro to give the younger boy an enthusiastic hug.

It was not so much the new guests as the hokage's reaction to them that made day three difficult: discovering there would be seven jounin-level Kiri-nin of questionable affiliation wandering around the village for a week, one of whom wanted to set up a treaty, clearly gave the Sandaime a headache the man was unafraid to share with both his advisers and subordinates. Kakashi had had the dubious pleasure of being followed around by Harionago that day; whether she had intended to protect him from possible peril or just keep track of who was angry with him the silver-haired jounin never found out. The needle-toothed grin on her porcelain mask seemed to intimidate the irate council members who summoned Kakashi for a dressing-down once they found out who exactly had been granted entry to 'their' village. Danzou's arrest had dealt a severe blow to the elders' influence and prestige, but they were still trying to keep as much power as possible within their grasp. Harionago's silent presence at his back and independently mobile hair seemed however to be enough to limit the idiots' blustering until the Sandaime interrupted the gathering and dismissed Kakashi.

On the fourth day after the end of the second exam no-one special arrived at all, which was a relief: Kakashi was having enough problems dealing with the Kumo and Shou ninja in his home and the swarm of small children without adding any new variables. Konan on the other hand had somehow ingratiated herself amongst the ever-increasing number of geisha who were overseeing the organisation of the wedding ceremony and was almost impossible to locate in a hurry without the aid of a sensor-nin.

Day five was very busy, with diplomatic delegation from both Water Country and River Country in the morning and a small shinobi delegation from Suna in the afternoon. Learning that the three Suna genin would be attending his wedding on their father's behalf was a surprise; given that all three of them had made it to the finals Kakashi would have expected the kazekage to not have any difficulties scheduling an appearance. After all, he was coming to the finals in a few weeks time. Baki, the Suna genin's sensei, was also at the gate to welcome the delegation and introduced Kakashi to Sekka, an inin, Ryuusa, one of the village's elders and Maki, who was the heir to one of their village's more prominent clans. The five newcomers had rooms booked in the same hotel as the kazekage's children, which was a relief as shortly after seeing them settled in their lodgings he was called back to the village gates to greet someone else.

The 'someone else' was a young teen of indeterminate gender who looked like a Yamanaka, felt like a jounin and had a suspiciously familiar Fire Country free-travel pass amongst his documentation. The blond introduced himself as Deidara ‒no woman would have such a deep voice‒ and wore an Iwa hitai-ite with a slash across it. He was also rather emotive and professed a deep love of art and explosions. Kakashi kept up an interest in fireworks and demolition as he guided the passionate young man back to the Hatake compound, where on arriving the nukenin promptly chased down Ame and bombarded her with questions about 'what you've been up to in the last six months, un!'. Kakashi decided then and there that he didn't want to know where his koi knew the blond from; that the younger man wore a ring that had a similar chakra signature to the ones Itachi, Kisame and Zetsu all wore told him quite enough.

Later that same evening Kakashi was relaxing in the gardens when Zetsu emerged out of the ground with both Itachi and Kisame. The copy-nin just couldn't muster shock or horror at their presence within his village: considering who he'd gotten his koi from in the first place, that these two would be attending had been inevitable.

"Sempai felt it unwise for us to enter via the front gate," Itachi said quietly as Kakashi eyed his clandestine guests. "She also suggested I stay with the Yuurei, so as not to attract attention." None of the three were wearing their cloaks with the red clouds, but Kisame still had Samehada strapped to his back and Zetsu's flytrap-like appendages were highly distinctive.

"I'll have to tell the Sandaime, you understand," the copy-nin managed.

"Aa," the eldest living Uchiha agreed. "I look forward to hearing from him. In the meantime however Kisame would like to talk to Ao-san regarding the Resistance."

"I'll take him," Kakashi decided as a young Yuurei in a blank mask dropped out of the tree. "You, kid, take Itachi here to the barracks and assign him a mask, a uniform and a bunk. Zetsu‒"

"I'll stay here, the trees are very pleasant" the bicrome shinobi said with an absent and pointy-toothed smile.

"Fine by me; try not to scare the kids," the silver-haired jounin drawled. "Kisame, this way."

"Can I see Sempai-chibi first?" the shark-faced ninja asked hopefully.

"I don't see why not."

Day seven was marked by horrific stress as at noon Kakashi was summoned to deal with a delegation from Earth Country and the four accompanying ninja from Iwa, one of whom was none other than the tsuchikage's granddaughter. Fortunately for the copy-nin's tattered nerves Deidara turned out to be a bit of a national hero in Iwa despite his defection and was perfectly happy to catch up with his former colleagues while Kakashi dealt with the diplomat and his entourage. The blond bomber invited the back to the Hatake mansion on the basis that 'half the Elemental Nations top shinobi are there, un!' which the calm Iwa kunoichi in charge seemed to think would be worth the hassle of staying in the home of one of her village's greatest enemies. Kakashi had to wonder what she'd think if she knew the former Yellow Flash was living in his house as well.

The kunoichi introduced herself as Kurotsuchi and her comrade as Ittan but did not deign to name the other two, suggesting they were just guards rather than actual guests.

It was only after dinner ‒Han was present and reasonably polite to the new additions despite their affiliations‒ that Kurotsuchi relaxed enough to explain to Kakashi why she, a politically significant Iwa kunoichi, was attending the wedding of a Konoha shinobi.

"Amemai-yogensha is from Kuraigakure in Kage no Kuni, a scion of two important kekkai genkai clans and wields a power not even the Kurai ninja themselves fully understand. The Second Shinobi War was proof enough that Shinobi from the Land of Shadow are superior to those of any other nation both by blood and training, in spite of their nation's defensive and isolationist policies. This budding allegiance between to potential enemies of Tsuchi no Kuni must be witnessed and monitored, since we are unable to prevent it."

"They did kick her out, so how is it an alliance?" Kakashi asked idly.

"The yorukage will be attending the wedding," Kurotsuchi countered with a thin smile. "Not since the days of the Ridoku Sennin have Twilight shinobi ventured beyond their nation's borders openly."

The copy-nin hadn't known he would be seeing another Kage at his wedding. Then again, he hadn't been expecting Ei either. This is what happens when you don't go over the guest list yourself.

The eighth day was the day the party from Kage no Kuni arrived. Kakashi shunshined down to the village gates as soon as the messenger chunnin gasped out the news of the large group approaching and was already there waiting when the delegation stopped to show their documentation.

The delegation was the most varied and striking yet, with ninja and samurai of drastically different heights and colouring at the head of a column of sevants and mules. Other than servants, samurai and shinobi there were also four people dressed in the manner of the nobility, two men and two women.

The lead ninja, a tall, fair-skinned man in gleaming black armour like an insect exoskeleton with midnight blue eyes and curly black hair in a high ponytail, was the one to address the chunnin on gate duty:

"Greetings. I am Tatsuteiou Yorumaki, sixty-seventh yorukage, here for the marriage of my brother's daughter to a ninja of your village." The man smiled winningly, looking no more than twenty-five as the unfortunate duo assigned to checking the paperwork stammered and stuttered, their eyes nearly popping out of their heads.

In addition to the youthful-looking kage in black armour there were five other ninja, four samurai, a couple in civilian clothing who had to be Ame's biological parents, an elderly lady in elaborate court garb and the daimyou of Shadow Country himself, who introduced himself as 'Tatsuteiyou Taiyoumaki, ninety-fifth daimyou and father of the bride'. The platinum haired, gold-eyed and tawny-skinned man looked more like a warrior than a politician and positively radiated chakra, making the Hatake wish his fiancée had had the forethought to at least mention that she was technically a princess before letting him leave the house to go and meet her family.

Omake

In less than a day after the arrival of the shinobi from Cloud Kakashi had learnt that the raikage was a forceful and temperamental man who didn't much care for using doors. Thankfully Ame's tendency to set seals everywhere meant that the mansion's load-bearing stone and wooden walls were Kage-proof ‒and probably summon proof at that‒ and the internal wooden-framed paper partitions and sliding doors were self-repairing.

Ei's guards seemed to find it hilarious that their Kage was bouncing off the walls rather than barging through them.

Notes

Nuurihyon = impostor spirit; guess what clan this guy is from..?

Kuraigakure = village hidden in the twilight

Yorukage = dark shadow

A/N: Kakashi gets to meet the guests. I've decided to only touch on the actual ceremony in passing and then move on the the giving of gifts to the happy couple, as there will be more story-worthy goings on at that point. Plus, you'll then get to find out what it was Itachi did.