CHAPTER 5

LIES WILL SAVE OR DOOM

Team Ro's shift hadn't ended. The hours stretched on, their uniforms getting uncomfortable with dried sweat. The blood on his knuckles and under his fingernails had dried to dark brown smears. By the early morning hours Inu knew his team was ready to go home. He could feel the sleepiness thrumming in them. The anticipation of the earlier fight had worn off and they'd been watching Sarutobi do paperwork for the past three hours. Dawn's light crept through the tower's windows, glinting off the masks of Team Ro and their increasingly tired postures.

A knock sounded, brisk and demanding. Inu straightened, feeling both relieved and on guard at the noise. He looked over to Sarutobi.

"Open it."

He complied. A scarred man stepped through, his wide head covered by a bandana and a hard set to his jaw. He looked angry, but his chakra mingled with Kakashi's and he was surprised to discover the Commanding Officer of Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Force wasn't just angry, but also amused and excited. It was a strange mix coming from the usually dour man.

"She's innocent. Her parents likely are as well."

"Check them anyways. Danzo was sure their retirement was suspicious."

"With all due respect Hokage-sama, the old War Hawk didn't like anyone who turned down his promotion offers."

Kakashi felt a stir of unease.

The Sandaime was in the middle of a long report on village spending. He glanced up briefly, "Regardless, we need to be sure."

"And the girl?" The tokubetsu jōnin pushed.

Kakashi had always respected Morino Ibiki. The man knew exactly how far he could push to get his results without any undesirable backlash. In an office full of clan-sponsored positions the ability to rise above them must have taken not just intelligence and skill, but years of savvy maneuvering. Morino had gotten it and kept it.

"I'll take care of it."

Kakashi's unease spiked to alarm. His shoulders stiffened, but he didn't move to fall into line before the old man motioned for him.

"Inu with me. The rest of you are dismissed for the day. Thank you for staying so long."

"Hai Hokage-sama."

He followed after the Sandaime, wondering what he wanted with the girl. From what they'd seen she showed Tsunade-level of control, the first in Konoha within the last two generations. Sarutobi always had been fond of gathering up special projects. Kakashi had been one of them, and it made him all the more wary. The old man could have saved his father, could have announced to the village that the mission had been given false information, but he'd let the White Fang fall and scooped up his son from the aftermath. The parallels here made his steps stiff with each corner and underground hallway he followed the man.

"Under genjutsu," He ordered as they entered T and I.

Inu immediately obeyed. Cloaking his chakra to near nothing, blurring himself from view into a near perfect match of patterns, texture, and colors with the walls they passed. He'd always been good at hiding. The Sandaime often utilized this, bringing him and him alone to meetings where he wanted to appear more personable.

When they passed through the first cell block and stopped before one with more bars, the sort a child wouldn't even be able to slip through, he unconsciously slowed. His steps brought him just close enough to see the girl on the floor, huddling in on herself and visibly shivering. Sweet kami, he didn't think his heart could take this. Feelings seeped off the girl and mingled with his and at that moment he needed to do something. Anything.

Quietly, with his voice masked by a host of genjutsu-fed background noise, he offered to the Sandaime, "Do you want me to get her a bed arranged? You said she was to stay in younger ANBU Barracks right?"

In front of them Mitarashi Anko didn't seem to notice the conversation happening behind her. She just reached inside her old and ripped jacket for a set of keys. The sound of them jangling echoed.

"Ah, I seem to have forgotten that part. Yes, please do. She'll need somewhere to sleep."

Kakashi fled.

When she didn't have any more energy to be upset, she remembered the scarred, mean looking man who'd actually been nice. Sakura thought if she had to spend all her time here she'd be as grumpy as the scarred man in the bandana. The man, who may have seemed gruff and aggressive as he'd picked her up. Yet his hold had been gentle. He'd been the nicest person to her all night and she'd had enough hours in the cell to realize he might have done her a favor in removing her from the questioning room. She'd begun to feel bad for him the longer she stayed here. He probably didn't have very many pleasant visitors if he was stuck in this place every day.

Sakura felt dizzy but when she heard noises she cracked swollen, bloodshot eyes to squint. Through the gloom and bars she saw a young woman wearing the sort of edgy, revealing clothing Sakura's mom never would have approved for friendly spars let alone real fights. The woman slinked closer to the cell door in a way which had Sakura eyeing her. She was too tired and cold for this.

"Brat, you're being released into ANBU custody."

Sakura just stared at the woman's declaration. The tall woman opened the door then stepped aside to reveal a man in a long, white coat. Sakura blinked.

"Haruno Sakura you are being released under an offer of goodwill. Do you promise to behave yourself while in custody and not share any of the secrets you may learn while in said custody?"

She flicked her eyes to the young woman, whose face may be straight, but whose chakra fluctuated with emotion.

"Yes Sir."

"When your parents are cleared, you will be reunited with them."

"My parents?"

She looked up, scared, but the man had already swept aside. His cloak swung with the motion. The imperious 火 kanji bright against the white cloth. Around it his hat held the red imagery of a consuming fire. It hung far over him to shadow his face and hide the intent in his eyes. Sakura shifted. Despite the cell's low light he glowed in her eyes.

This man in white did not speak with her, just met her eyes, waved a hand, and turned. When he walked and the door was left open behind him she stumbled after. He walked and walked in a maze so long and twisted she wondered if she weren't still in her cell and dreaming. Only she never would have imagined she'd have been capable of getting her parents in trouble. The notion was simply too wild and terrible. That's how she knew this was real. It's what scared her into keeping her head down, to not look too closely at the people or locked doors they passed. She couldn't afford to make them any angrier.

ANBU Joint Headquarters and Barracks, as she soon found out, was a mostly underground facility connected to the most essential parts of the village by tunnels. They took one of these tunnels. They went through a final thick metal door which the old man had to open by bursting out colors through his hand. It happened so quickly and then he was swinging the doors open she never quite got a look at what he was doing. The way he stood blocked her view. They went by what might have been a bathroom, passed a sink and set of counters, passed three empty rooms with bunk beds and gear strewn about. They stopped at one with three teenagers inside. The man in the bloody white robe stood in the hallway waiting for them and it only took a moment for one to look up and jump to attention.

"Hokage-sama."

The old man looked down at her instead.

How many of these boys do you recognize?"

Uncertain of his intentions, she nervously looked from him to the room. Last time she'd admitted to something like this she'd spent hours in a cell.

"Two," The single word came out quiet.

"Their names?"

"Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi."

"If you've never met before where did you see their pictures?"

Sakura's hands found each other and twisted together in her nervousness. What if she answered wrong? What would happen to her parents? Why did everyone make such a big deal about pictures?

If she'd known it would be such hassle she wouldn't have lingered that day Inuzuka Kiba had pushed the black haired boy too far. Maybe Shikamaru had the right of it pretending to sleep all the time. How many times she had seen the clan boys in the top class squabbling, how many times she'd ignored them, but that one time she'd seen the Uchiha boy get flustered enough to drop his things.

She should have just slept through the ruckus like all wise sleepy pineapples might. Instead she'd got up and helped the kid who'd dropped all of his papers in his search through his backpack. As she grabbed them up from the classroom floor and held them out, he'd looked so shocked someone was helping she couldn't help blurting, "You alright? You know it's ok if it's the truth and no one believes you. What do they matter?"

His little fists clenched, "Inuzuka has dishonored my family. I'm going to avenge them."

Sakura remembered how her eyebrows shot up. How she'd thought, he's a prideful little thing. How it detracted from the pretty features the girls and their mothers all seemed to swoon over whenever an Uchiha was mentioned. Sure he'd a pretty enough face but so did the Ino girl. She at least talked about interesting things, not getting so caught up in what Sakura's mom had once deemed, "gloomy pissing matches". Sasuke had it down to an art form, and when she'd helped him he'd only given her a curt nod in thanks and not shoved her away. As if the place at his side, however temporary, was more than enough of an honor. Standing right next to him Sakura had been the first one to see what he pulled out of his bag. It was a family photo. Two tall teens whose faces would have looked boyish if they weren't already so solemn and lined, they stood on either side of the Head family as if placed there for bookends. Each held a mask at their sides. She gasped. Those were ANBU masks.

When Inuzuka Kiba shoved his way over she was the only one who didn't let him push her aside. Instead he had to settle in next to her and when he saw the family photo with the two older boys, teenagers holding masks, the Inuzuka actually barked like a dog who'd been stepped on. He looked so affronted standing in the middle of the classroom, surrounded by desks and peers who'd all heard him say his sister could beat up Sasuke's brother. Well, Sakura had thought that's a high bar. She backed up, suddenly not wanting to be between the two agitated boys. The Sensei not anywhere in sight.

Kiba exclaimed, "No way."

Uchiha Sasuke had the biggest, most self-satisfied smirk as he pointed to either side of the family photo, "That's my aniki Itachi and my cousin Shisui. The Uchiha only have the best. So no, Inuzuka, your sister wouldn't come anywhere close."

At noticing the other boy's face turning red under his clan marks Sakura sighed and stepped further back. Just in time too. Kiba lunged and took two desks out with him when he tackled Sasuke. Chairs skidded and toppled. The desks they'd nocked over toppled from their high stands and precariously hovered on legs, before those slipped and toppled into the rows below. The resulting crash so loud Sakura still cringed remembering it. Despite how she stood in a silent underground room surrounded by solemn faced boys and a scary man they called Hokage.

"Where did you see their pictures?" He seemed annoyed at the need to prompt her again. She tilted her arms in ever so slightly like they'd taught her at the academy. Preparing if someone tried to grab her.

She really, really didn't want to answer that. Yet if she didn't she'd be in even more trouble. So Sakura told them. Told them she'd been in class for a month, told them how the kids from ninja clans were trying to one up each other by telling stories of their older siblings. Itachi's face slipped into an expression she couldn't decipher. It wasn't a happy look.

She finished to rush out, "He showed us their family picture, that was it, I swear. I didn't know that they knew the councilman."

Her eyes flicked to the boys. Shisui and Itachi seemed to be having an entire conversation without saying a word. The one behind them, with blood spattered gear at his feet and a cleaning bucket and rag at hand, he stood up and walked over.

He knelt down to her, "Well since you know everybody else. I'm Genma."

He held out his hand only for the Hokage's hand to snake out and pull him back into the room. The old blood stained man stepped closer to the teenagers and spoke in words too low for her to hear. Words of, "Yes Hokage-sama," and then a minute later "No Hokage-sama," got to her ears.

What about their involvement with the councilman, or their picture getting into the hands of Academy students, was so dire she didn't know. What exactly was happening that involved these three ANBU?

The Hokage continued, "When they're not on shift they'll be locked in here the same as you. Please feel free to ask them any questions you need to."

The boys didn't look at all happy with this. Sakura was thinking she didn't want to ask them anything. She didn't want to be blamed for anything else. He looked them over and the ANBU responded in unison.

"Hai Hokage-sama."

"If that is all, oyasumi."

"Oyasumi."

He wasn't surprised he slept poorly, waking up an hour before his alarm sounded, he simply turned it off, left food for his ninken summons if they felt like stopping by, then left his apartment behind. It was far too quiet. Much too isolated and gave him too much space to think. Something he'd little desire to do right now. The orange book he hadn't actually read yet might be an improvement to his own thoughts. The sort of eye-catching hentai one couldn't look away from.

He sighed, touched his pocket where the book lived, and made his way to the park he'd been working his persona into. Enough people had seen him loitering around here it wouldn't seem out of place for him to sit. Only that meant he'd have to actually sit. To go so far as fall asleep, as he'd been strongly suggested to do, put his hair on edge. He grit his teeth and forced himself to enter the park. A child with snot leaking out of their nose walked in front of him, oblivious to the hair-trigger nin he'd nearly bumped into. Behind the child an equally oblivious father walked, shouting for yet another kid who trailed behind them all screaming.

It was so different than what he was used to. Far noisier than when he patrolled the rooftops at night. Completely unlike the ANBU underground network of reinforced tunnels and hallways led to every major sector and building in Konohagakure. Entrance doorways and stairwells hid behind seal arrays and genjutsu for anyone not marked with the ANBU shoulder tattoo. Kakashi had been in ANBU so long he'd truly forgotten what it was like to use the streets. Even traveling from his bare apartment to the grocers only took two roof hops. He wasn't used to being visible. Hadn't needed it beyond the required jōnin missions every ANBU had to take on the side.

The sounds of people moving about, their shoes slapping cobbles, their children crying, their chatter which put together in a group built to a rumble and roil of noise. He tried to steer his chakra away from his ears, to just breathe and act as if none of it bothered him. People had always overwhelmed him. It's why he avoided them as much as possible. And having bodies pressing close in the crush on the street made him tense, expecting a poison senbon or a kunai through the back of his ribs. He'd never just walked on the streets, never lingered, never stayed longer than necessary. Not since he'd become a genin at five and learned to walk up walls and shunshin.

Being visible was discomfiting. Not only for him either. An S class nin strolling, even if he was on their side, disconcerted anyone who'd memorized the bingo book. As he walked ninjas backed up from him. He could feel their emotional responses, how unsettled they were to see Hatake Kakashi had started walking around and lingering places. The masses of chūnin were distinctly uncomfortable.

Civilians were much slower to realize who he was. Yet there was no way he'd be able to actually fall asleep around them like Sarutobi suggested. It pained him that Obito would have been able to fall asleep in this park, but Kakashi never would have managed it, not even as a child. The park was crowded. The particular bench he'd been performing reconnaissance on turned out to be surrounded by 45 apartments and a civilian children's toy store. The bench was within throwing distance from a cover of trees and a tangle of play equipment which an enemy nin could easily hide within. There was so much noise from children screaming he wouldn't be able to hear if something was flung his way. The park so crowded their emotions banged against him. It was overwhelming. He couldn't just be here, lay down and pretend to sleep with them around. He'd have to do something, he thought as he stared at the park bench.

When his presence caused a stampede of fleeing small children and parents from a park the chūnin public affairs patrol had to investigate. They found a man who'd cleared out the park, how he'd cleared it exactly they weren't sure, but the panic in the civilians' faces heavily lent to the idea of a horror genjutsu. The lingering panic in the air reaffirmed this. So they were going to round up the trouble maker, only to find Hatake Kakashi sleeping there on a park bench.

The chūnin looked at each other, uncertain and suddenly a lot less willing to approach. The man was a legend, had killed more foreign nin than were currently on the chūnin ranks in Konoha. Technically they couldn't say anything to their superior, but they couldn't not investigate either. The four chūnin shuffled, speaking quietly to themselves before the leader stepped forwards. Her footsteps were hesitant, purposefully scuffing the ground to make noise. He laid there as if he couldn't hear them. It'd been blissfully quiet for 15 minutes and he wanted to hang onto that moment. Lazy Hatake Kakashi was dismissive of people, he could work that.

"Hatake-san?"

He didn't answer. He heard her as she slipped a step closer.

"Hatake-san?"

"Hm?" The man didn't open his eyes.

"You wouldn't happen to know anything about the area genjutsu which was put on this park 20 minutes ago would you?"

"I'm sorry I was sleeping at the time."

She stared at him, "Hatake-san it was a horror genjutsu."

"Oh was it?"

They couldn't expect him to sleep in public unguarded could they? What did chūnin do to protect themselves on a park bench? Not that he was going to ask. He slit his one visible eye open to give her a cursory glance, before closing it again. This one looked terrified of getting too close to him. Instead he ignored her question.

"Thanks for waking me up. I think I'm late for a meeting."

With that he stretched, lazily stood himself up, and green uniform still appearing wrinkled he walked off. Through the street and with generous pauses in his steps to let a market seller pass with his old donkey and cart of wares. The shadow clone he had hidden on the roof above poofed. The memories returned to him immediately. They showed the chūnin public affairs patrol still stood whispering to each other as they watched him go so uncharacteristically slow for a jōnin.

He was late for a meeting with the remaining members of the council, but first he was going to check in with the ANBU Commander. He ambled all the way over to that boring administration building. Only casting a distraction genjutsu and ducking into a side alley a block away, opening the door for a second and disappearing down the stairs. No one with important documents were located in the admin building. Their offices were too open and easy to steal from.

The ground floor of ANBU Headquarters was deceptively small. It had guards, but most of its space was occupied by a secretary's desk, a meeting room, and three offices. It looked like an administrative building with hardly any foot traffic. That's because the real facility and barracks was a block over and 10 meters underground.

Anything of consequence was locked up here, in the underground facility, and behind several layers of security doors. The alarms which would trigger if anyone unauthorized attempted to enter would blare shrilly the location of the door opened and the description of the chakra signature activating it.

Being halfway decent at sensing was highly cherished. Being as good as that pink haired girl who'd interrupted Danzo and Shisui's unauthorized meeting, that was the sort of talent to be fostered. Her little tricks with the chakra in her hands made her so much more valuable than the average academy student. If the Commander didn't have a training program cut out for her already, he was going to request permission to start one.

Down a maze of corridors he avoided the trapped false hallways and walked into what appeared even to him as a blank concrete wall. The sharingan itched as he went through it, clearly being able to combat it, but he ignored the feeling. Passing the border removed all genjutsu and henge he'd cast on himself. He appeared on the other side with his black uniform, white armored chest plate, and Inu mask firmly in place. Gone were the slouch and uncombed droopy hair.

He was Inu here. The tracker of smells, emotions, and signatures, the one they sent out to the worst missing nin. He entered the common room full of couches and off duty squads. Those nearest who glanced at the entrance stood. Followed by the next and the next.

"Inu Taichou," The first squad greeted.

"Inu Taichou," The rest repeated.

"Eshaku," He bowed to the room at large exactly 15 degrees. As he straightened and passed through the couches he nodded to each captain and greeted in a quieter voice, "Panda, Boar, Weasel."

He felt the turmoil from two floors down and three hallways over, it touched his chakra and he knew where she was. He recognized her signature. The emotion behind the fluctuation had him turning down the stairs and detouring to the barracks for younger recruits. Her door was closed. He stared at it, contemplating. From the other side the signature fluctuated again.

He knocked.

No response.

He knocked again, "Haruno-san."

No response.

He cracked the door open, just enough till he saw her shoes next to the bunk, lined up and neat. The rest of the room was bare save a blanket next to a dirty and singed red dress hanging from the railing of the bunk her small form occupied. Inu looked over the girl laying there. Her small body curled up on the bottom right bed with her hair falling over the edge. He stayed long enough to listen to her breathing. She was sleeping. Reassured she was okay he continued towards the Commander's office.

This time his knock was met with a clipped, "Enter."

He opened the thick seal protected door and felt the seal array activate as he closed it behind him. The man before him hadn't looked up yet.

"Saikeirei Sir," Kakashi greeted. He bowed low.

The steel grey hair of the man sitting behind the desk was much darker and much shorter cropped than Kakashi's own carefully combed and tied back silver strands. He was bigger too, his face and neck showing light scarring the medics hadn't quite managed to remove. This man had been the ANBU Commander since the second war. He'd managed to stay out of the politics and still worked seamlessly with Nara Shikaku, Morino Ibiki, and Uchiha Fugaku. Not an easy task considering their clashing personalities.

That alone would make Kakashi respect someone, but the ANBU Commander was so much more. The man who'd taken him in when he was broken after Minato died. He'd been close to failing psych evaluations and instead of tossing him aside, he'd kept Kakashi close enough till he could work again. Mouse, they'd once called him as a joke and the persona stuck. Mouse was huge, easily as big as Danzo and Jiraiya. It was something about a tall nin who survived decades of frontline fighting. They had a weight about them which everyone couldn't help but gravitate to. His chakra felt smooth, deep, and steady, something Kakashi envied since he'd first met the man.

"Inu Taichou, I hear you have some new hobbies. I'm happy they haven't affected your work here."

"I as well. It's been a difficult adjustment for me. While I'm here I wanted to ask if you had a chance to consider the suggestion I noted in my last report."

The one he said they should consider enlisting the girl. That tiny bright child who'd get sub-par attention at the academy. As a kid who'd been orphaned and pushed out of the school at a young age, left defenseless on more than one battlefield with inattentive superiors, and left to figure it out himself, he didn't want the same thing happening to her. Her parents retired, her civilian extended family, her lack of a kekkei genkai almost guaranteed it. The council under Danzo would have ordered it if the choice was between a clan heir and her, regardless of how much she'd already figured out on her own.

The man put down his brush and pushed his scroll aside. Mouse sighed and took off his mask. He waved for Inu to do the same. Revealing Hatake Kakashi's forehead, then his nose and chin. Mouse was one of the few who could match these features to a name.

It was a handsome enough face he'd been told, but apparently it was too sharp and too pale for lack of sunshine. He didn't really care as he had no use for attracting someone longer than a night. Even those wouldn't see his full face, but the appearance of just his normal eye. He didn't keep his partners long nor did he want them seeing any more.

His pale hair made him stick out more than enough in any crowd. His public appearance of Hatake Kakashi made a habit of showing up with a darker grey, more aged, and weathered hairdo. Entering the ANBU facility stripped everyone of their genjutsu and henges, leaving his hair now neatly tucked into a pony tail. It positively shown silver. The white of his chakra, for those who could see such things, ran through the strands and down the chakra pathway of his neck. His white chakra, unless suppressed, constantly flowed a steady stream of white. Occasionally it sparked a white blue as he felt things. He couldn't see the colors himself, but he'd had it described to him. After what he'd seen, he suspected that pink haired girl could see them. He just got stuck with sensing signatures, locations, and emotions of every comrade and every man he killed. It was the blessing, or the curse, of the Hatake bloodline limit. No doubt Mouse wanted to remind him of that. He did it almost every time they met.

Bare faced and on display his Commander observed his sparking chakra and attempt at a blank expression. Hatake Kakashi wasn't good at hiding when he felt strongly about something. Not like Inu or his other personas. Sometimes he wore them so long he forgot he wasn't really Inu. Sometimes Hatake Kakashi realized his Commander made him take off his mask to remind him of this.

"Don't forget yourself Kakashi."

"I'll try not to Sir."

"You look troubled."

"I suppose I am," Kakashi paused.

His Commander waited, patient and used to long silences. When he next spoke he found the issue was hard for him to admit out loud, even to this man who'd been there for him so long. Trained him just as he'd trained his otōtos.

"The new persona... I'm basing it off of my old genin teammate... It's not easy. Honestly, I'd rather focus on the Uchiha, the root replacement, and the girl."

"I hear what you're saying," Mouse looked at him for a minute longer and then left it aside.

The Commander continued, "I've read your report, but I'm not at liberty to assign anyone publicly right now. Even when she's allowed to leave without guard, I'm not sure how her involvement will affect them. Her features were mentioned in the reports the military police received from the apartments. Unfortunately, the Uchiha elders have been wanting to call her in, which we've been putting off, obviously."

"And Danzo-sama's replacement?" Kakashi's feelings fluctuated at the thought of Danzo's operatives still chasing the girl, still following orders to extract Shisui's eyes. The old War Hawk believed in his vision more than most. Kakashi wouldn't be surprised if he'd tailored his replacement to be a miniature of himself. Some young impressionable thing following the man's vision while hidden in the shadows, likely a poor kid like Tenzo who simply never got out.

"Currently unknown. Teams of ours spent all night cleaning out the one root facility we'd known about, which Sarutobi finally approved to raid."

Mouse sighed and Kakashi sympathized with the irritation. The council of elders was getting worse with age and stagnating power. They reached and grasped and when something slipped from their control they played to reassert their position. He was only 20 and he hated it.

Mouse sighed, "We suspect they have at least two more facilities and whoever their new leader is will have instructions to kill the girl. She'll be stuck here for a while. The Uchiha are waiting for an excuse and she might be it. I was going to offer her an apprenticeship with Panther but..."

"But you can't now."

Mouse nodded. This was the only Aburame whom he'd never seen with sunglasses inside a building. Kakashi suspected the man wore contacts, that those were the reason his eyes seemed so dark the irises appeared black. Mouse, Aburame Yamato he had to remind himself, had the stillness so natural to every member of his clan. His smooth chakra tended and maintained with the help of his kikaichū insects. When Mouse showed an emotion it was always earnest and true. The man had never once lied to him. Not even to make him feel better. It's another thing Kakashi appreciated. The sort of thing Inu didn't outwardly show an interest in, but Hatake Kakashi was grateful for the honesty.

"Kashikomarimashita," it was the politest way he could say it and he did understand.

A civilian girl who made the first killing blow on one of the village's councilors, academy student or not, was a risk to anyone associating with her. Haruno-san could be the lightning rod attracting the attention of the Uchiha. The clan was looking for blood. Kakashi had no doubt they'd half the Uchiha police force awake last night at the first hint of sharingan theft. Digging and digging into the reports filtering into the military police from the nearby civilian apartments, people who'd have a great view and called for help the moment they'd seen fireballs and explosions on top of the village wall. Even if they didn't get a good look at him, sharingan red eyes shown through dim lighting like few other features. The fact he'd clearly been injured in one eye wouldn't help, even if the Uchiha elders remained uncertain of which member almost had their eye stolen. Last night he'd personally witnessed the spreading rumors, civilians standing on their balconies gossiping, of an injured Uchiha. The subsequent questioning and fastidious attention of the police had been swift.

Kakashi and team Ro were still on duty last night, had followed the Hokage back to the tower, when just before midnight the Chief of the Military Police and Uchiha Clan Head flung the door open. Demanding why he was getting reports about dōjutsu theft, ANBU, root, Danzo, and a pink haired girl. When he demanded to see his son the Hokage point blank refused. Fugaku-sama looked ready to turn on his sharingan and start the coup right then. The entirety of team Ro stiffened as he stalked toward the old man's desk.

The old man had held his hands up, placating, and his words remained calm despite the other man's anger. This ability to calm people is why Sarutobi had survived so long. It's why Konohagakure had won so many battles under his leadership. Kakashi firmly believed that Sarutobi Hiruzen, if given the chance, could sooth anything short of a tailed beast.

Last night he watched Sarutobi tell Fugaku-sama a barefaced lie and get away with it. He promised the Uchiha prodigies were both fine and far away on assignment. Carefully not mentioning that far away meant they were locked in the ANBU facility 4 blocks over and that assignment was watching over a pink haired child as part of the boys' unpaid zangyō. The punishment veiled as overtime wouldn't please the Uchiha Clan Head, nor would the isolation, but really the man was one excuse away from setting 300 Sharingan users on the village. So Sarutobi lied through his teeth and kept everyone alive for one more night.

Even after the Uchiha Clan Head had left the office, the man's chakra had been so angry Kakashi thought he'd have to block the door from a Uchiha returning in fury. When Uchiha Fugaku failed to returned before their shift ended, Kakashi's whole team thrummed relief. Their chakra mixed with his. Even the Hokage, through a layer of his own anger and exhaustion, leaked relief.

By this morning's visit to the tiny girl in Torture and Interrogation the Hokage had worked through four more piles of paperwork and prepared a memo to wake the 6 ANBU squads who'd be tasked with searching out that root facility. Kakashi had left with the vague hope Danzo had made Sarutobi, Danzo's old teammate, his successor to control the root seals. Apparently he'd not. Kakashi hoped the old man knew what he was doing. Fighting some root was one thing. Fighting 300 Uchiha, if Sarutobi's plan didn't work, would very likely get the Hokage and thousands more killed.

He breathed. The office around them had fallen quiet. Mouse sat before him, his look equally far away. They'd barely avoided civil war. The gravity of it hung heavy between the two ANBU. Mouse's next words brought his attention back to the Commander behind the desk. Aburame Yamato looked grave.

"Kakashi, what they found in that facility was bad news. Mission reports sanctioned by Danzo. It's not just the Uchiha who'll be fuming. I know you don't want that girl to slip through the cracks, but while the investigation is open on Danzo no one can risk themselves." The Commander lifted his head. He added with an almost smile, "Not officially."

"I understand. Thank you Sir," He stood to leave the office.

He really shouldn't leave the remaining councilors waiting any longer. However, as he walked he couldn't help pause at the hallway leading to the younger ANBU barracks.

He worried over the girl. She looked so small and fretful in her sleep. He decided over the next few days he keep a kage bunshin clone nearby. It's not that he didn't trust his little kōhai, his otōtos, but they weren't as keen on having a pink haired nuisance. Or rather, they had varying degrees of frustration that her presence had revealed a security gap. A gap they'd been reprimanded for. Leaving the ANBU facility with a clone cloaking its chakra and hiding near her room, he solidified his resolve to pop the clone each night so it'd return the memories to him.