Chapter 54

Beta'd by Black Sparrow

When his team finally arrived some hours later Kakashi had removed the alcohol as well as gotten some take out from the Akimichi barbeque restaurant. Mentally he was still far away from being okay but at least he was now steady enough to teach his brats something useful. He had decided that after the collaboration with Asuma's team, they were ready for more team related moves, strategy and tactics were just as important as good techniques after all, especially for Sakura.

At first he had pegged Sasuke as the leader of team 7, after all he was the most well-rounded of the three, but Sasuke was too much of a loner to effectively lead both Naruto and Sakura, you had to talk to give orders after all. Additionally, Sasuke didn't have the diplomatic skills to successfully interact with clients yet. Naruto on this other hand was still too rash and naïve and didn't really include the different factors of a situation, though from what Kakashi had seen HE had raw charisma in abundance hidden under all his smart mouth behavior, and that would probably be his strongest weapon one day but until then somebody else would have to lead the team.

Sakura wasn't the bravest or physically strongest or fastest but she was smart and Kakashi believed that with a bit of guidance and training she would make a good team leader when they started missions outside of Konoha and would serve as a good example for the boys until they had mellowed out somewhat and had enough experience to also lead other shinobi, but until then Kakashi wanted all three of them to lead during D-rank missions in the village as preparation.

And so he had the three teens running through fight scenarios first mentally during lunch accompanied with Shiori's salt, pepper and herb shakers before sending them outside to lead teams of Bunshin against each other. Kakashi had to repress the need to snort more than once, talented the three may be but there was a reason why they still were Genin, their fight resembled more a confused puppy wrestle than a battle royal.

Mentally the silver haired Jounin made note to give Naruto more taijutsu exercises, the longer the fight went on the more he reverted to the sloppy movements Kakashi had been correcting for the last week. Sakura was still too tentative in her movements against Sasuke, though her hits and kicks against Naruto showed promise. And lastly Sasuke… Kakashi sighed he could see the technical perfection, strong hits, good countermeasures against Naruto's unpredictability… but Sasuke started to fall into the tunnel vision that often had been the down fall of Uchiha clan members… and said tunnel vision could be… dangerous concerning the 'TALK' that would be happening in the near future.

The silver haired Jounin-sensei quickly suppressed his thoughts, he really didn't need to think about that during team training and so he let them play around for another ten minutes before calling them together and handing them each a cheap map of the Elemental countries with the instructions to think about the preparations that would be necessary to three different destinations as homework. This SHOULD have been covered by the Academy but according to the Academy syllabus it had been taught during their third year and so he wanted to make sure. With a last reminder on cooling down stretches he sent them home to do some training on their own.

"Your brats gone?" came the voice from beside the back entrance.

"Hhm, yes," Kakashi acknowledged before turning around and looking at his comrade.

Genma thankfully looked better than the day before.

"How are you feeling?"

A dry laugh escaped Genma. "Bruised all over."

"Want help with the bandages?"

Genma just sighed tiredly and nodded.

Anko Interlude

With barely a sound Anko walked through the front gate, in her hand was the Hatake file. With determined steps she made her way to the main house, she had procrastinated long enough, Kakashi and Shiori deserved this knowledge, no matter how much Anko wanted to be anywhere else. Inwardly Anko called herself silly and a coward for being scared like this over a fellow comrade's reaction but another part of her told her that she was right to be wary of the former ANBU captain. Hatake Kakashi wasn't really known for his temper tantrums but she had heard the whispers of the cold fury the elite Jounin was capable of. Additionally to that the Hatake bloodline was a canine one, her comrade and dare she say friend wouldn't take a threat to his family lying down. Furthermore she WAS the closest link to Orochimaru that would be in grabbing distance once the news had hit home… maybe this was a bad idea.

But oh well she was already inside the front door.

"Hebi-baa!" came the excited voice of Anko's favorite Hatake while she toddled closer.

For a fifteen month old baby Hinako-chan was fast! Smiling Anko grabbed the little girl and put her on her hip while she entered the living room. Genma was propped up on the couch while Shiori sat at the table and did, ugh paperwork. Kakashi on the other hand was stretched out half on one of Hinako's blankets with some building blocks and a stuffed animal in his hands… why had she been afraid again?

"Are you going to play with me and daddy?" the adorable little brat in her arms asked.

"Sorry sweetheart, maybe later. I have to speak with your parents first," Anko said regretfully before she sat the little girl down.

The adults in the room now looked curious at the snake user. Genma was the first who moved and slowly sat up.

"Why don't I play with you until your parents and Anko are done, Hina-chan."

Big blue eyes contemplated the offer before the toddler nodded and grabbed her toys to join Genma on the couch and explain her game to him.

In the meantime Shiori and Kakashi had looked at each other before making their way over into the tea room. Kakashi activated the privacy seals and then turned serious to Anko.

Said purple haired woman fidgeted somewhat before sighing and putting down the file in front of the Hatake patriarch.

"I found that while working through the Root recruiting files."

"Recruiting?" Kakashi asked suspiciously bland.

He stilled when he saw the grainy picture of his little girl staring up at him. Beside him Shiori froze too.

"Root?" she asked tentatively, clearly not understanding.

Anko gave a clipped answer, better to keep this short and as vague as possible, "An illegal branch that used to belong to the shinobi we took down in your back yard."

"They wanted Hinako?" the young mother asked trembling while she stared at the file in front of them.

XXXXXXXX

Beside her Shiori felt Kakashi stiffen and felt as the room filled with a heavy feeling. Across from her Anko started to tense too. Suddenly understanding the black haired civilian moved her hand over Kakashi's tensed muscles and softly stroked his arm.

"But they won't try that now will they?"

Anko shook her head viciously at that. "I'm working there now… I promise you Shiori should anybody try anything like this I will destroy them!"

Inwardly Shiori's eyes became wide, Anko was now working in Root? That was strange… not a bad strange though, maybe she would be able to make a real difference.

"This is bad," Kakashi grounded out and caught the attention of both women in the room.

He was flipping through the additional pages and was confronted with his personal history, in vicious detail at that.

"Yeah… this is the actual reason why I came today… I recognized Orochimaru's writing pattern all over your file."

Shiori choked desperately when she suddenly couldn't breathe and terror moved through her body, oh god someone make this stop! The feeling vanished as fast as it had appeared and Kakashi was leaning over her shaking body and nearly frantically checking her pulse.

"Shiori, breathe. Deep breathes love," he rumbled while he let chakra flow into her body and moved her against his front.

The blue eyed civilian could practically feel how slowly all the horror and fright from before was forced out of her and tiredly relaxed into her husband's embrace.

"I'm sorry," He murmured into her hair.

Shiori opened her mouth but in the first moment nothing came out of it until she tiredly croaked, "Don't worry, I am already feeling better."

Kakashi didn't respond and just held her tighter.

When the civilian woman finally had the strength and faculties to take in her surroundings she noted that Anko herself was very pale and slightly shaking across from them. Tiredly but still determined Shiori reached for Anko's hand and gave it a weak squeeze. Behind her her husband moved one of his arms out of the embrace he had her in and tentatively laid it onto Anko's arm. Shiori saw the weak bluish glow that always marked chakra usage spread from Anko's arm over her body and how she visibly relaxed again and gained some of her skin color back.

Kakashi Interlude

His heart stopped for a moment when he saw Shiori crumble down beside him.

Oh fuck!

Kakashi immediately suppresses any and all killing intend and desperately checked Shiori's pulse. What the fuck had he DONE!

With relief he registered the weak pulse and how her eyes fluttered, with gentle hands he pulled her into a reversed hug and let his chakra flow through her. It took her minutes to regain a semblance of awareness. Anko on the other side of the table too still recovered from his killing intent. The silver haired Jounin felt more than guilty, his wife was a goddamn civilian and had no resistance against such an attack and Anko really had nothing to do with the bad news, additionally to that she was still recovering from a heavy shock to her chakra system. Hopefully he hadn't damaged anything.

So when his wife in a move that was so typically Shiori took Anko's hand, Kakashi too sought skin contact and slowly let his chakra run through her system. Anko's kunoichi system took to his injection better and worse than Shiori, her resistance was higher in the beginning but once the chakra had found its way into the pathways the snake user recovered quicker than his wife.

Once he was sure that Anko was not adversely affected he asked tiredly, "Does that mean that Orochimaru knows about Hinako and Shiori?"

"We are not sure, the pattern are only in your file…" Anko answered slowly.

"But …" the Hatake clan head interrupted.

"Yes that doesn't mean that he doesn't know… I'm sorry," the kunoichi across from him agreed grimly.

"So am I," Kakashi answered, and he meant it… twofold even.

Anko definitely understood because she gave him a tiny smile before continuing to speak, "You will have to increase your jutsu repertoire Kakashi, Orochimaru is aware of your specializations and favorite techniques."

"I am aware," Kakashi agreed seriously. "I should be thankful for my Genin team, like this I have additional time to come up with new techniques."

"… there is more, Shiori… apparently Danzo had your background investigated."

Shiori was still a bit dazed and answered with a mumble that could be either interpreted as astonishment or agreement.

Curious Kakashi opened the file once more and took out the pages with Shiori's name on it. That was a lot of information that he had never seen or been told before. Beside a blood make up there was a family tree on the page… what the hell?

He definitely hadn't seen that coming.

Shiori moved a bit more in his arms and curiously let her fingers glide over the sides before giving up on concentrating and just buried her face into his torso to breathe in his scent.

Kakashi hummed and settled his arm on her waist before saying.

"According to this you are the descendent of a minor noble clan of Waterfall which was impoverished by the second shinobi war and fled into Fire country. Apparently they tried to marry off their daughters to regain some of their money and status, your grandmother's older sister was given to a rich merchant… some of her descendents are still alive."

"Huh… actually… this makes a lot of sense," Shiori said while she slowly regained her composure.

Kakashi looked sharply at his wife before asking, "Shiori?"

"My grandmother always had those dead set opinions about conduct and behavior but also about arranged marriages, she always told me to not let myself be forced into one… I mean I DID know that she was from a minor noble house but she never really talked about her relatives, especially not an older sister. So… I still have family somewhere out there?"

"Well I wouldn't call them very close family you are after all distant cousins but yes in the sense of blood connection you still have some family members left over," Anko said somewhat neutral.

Shiori looked at the kunoichi in front of her. "Out with it, what is that you aren't telling me?"

"Ah… well they live in Kumo and are apparently ninja."

Shiori winced before she nodded. "Well that makes that information obsolete…"

Kakashi settled his chin on her shoulder. "I'm sorry… I know that you always were curious about your ancestors and possible blood relatives."

Shiori sighed before she squeezed Kakashi's arms and said, "Yes I was… still am to be honest but they are in Kumo, and Konoha's relations are very, very strained with Kumo… furthermore their record with bloodline stealing would have prevented me from approaching them anyway. In no way or form am I risking Hinako." The last part was said dead serious.

Kakashi just pulled her even closer against his body before turning to his friend and saying, "Thank you for bringing this over, Anko."

"No problem… just… be careful Danzo isn't the only fucker out there that liked to scheme and backstab."

"We understand Anko, do you have some time to stay with us?"

Anko grimaced apologetic at that. "Sorry, I have an appointment at the hospital and afterwards I am meeting up with a few T&I pals."

Shiori nodded understandingly before continuing to speak, "Are you going to join us for dinner on the weekend?"

Anko sighed. "Maybe, I really can't say, it depends on how fast I can work through all this fucked up shit."

"Even if you don't turn up I will put something on the side, just get it out of the fridge when you have time," Shiori said firmly before she said goodbye to their friend and walked back into the living room.

Kakashi walked with Anko to the front gate and tried to put his thoughts into words.

"… I'm sorry."

"Forget it Kakashi, I understand why you reacted like this."

"Anko don't wave this off, I owe you, not only for bringing this to me but also for telling the Hokage about the Orochimaru-Sasuke situation."

"It's fine Kakashi… remember I still owe you for the removal of the seal… concerning that I really have no idea what is appropriate for the loudmouth of yours… any ideas?"

"Naruto? I would say to take him out for Ramen and he will be swear undying loyalty to you for the rest of his life… though really if you want to give him something useful teach him about poisons, he is one heck of a saboteur in the making."

Anko snorted to that. "So the stories I have been hearing about ANBU groups hunting him across Konoha are true?"

Kakashi just sighed tiredly which elicited a barking laugh from the snake user before she waved impishly and walked down the street.