[A/N] Here's another chapter! Depending on how good Starfield is, I might not post for a while, not long, like a week at most.. I've been intentionally keeping myself in the dark about the game so as to not spoil the experience.

A bit of a shorter chapter today, mostly just setting some things up.

That's all, let's get to the story!

Her current plan was to head to the Land of Waterfalls and venture as deep into the country as possible to lose her persuers before looping back around into the Land of Iron where she could find Ginjiro Sasaki as her father had suggested.

What she would do after that well, she'd figure it out when she got to it.

For now, she focused on leaping from one tree to the next on the slow journey that would take her from the country she once called home.

Kakashi was silent as he stared at the Memorial Stone, rooted in the same spot he had been since he talked to that Uchiha over twentyfour hours ago. One might argue that it was unhealthy to stand in one place for an entire day but he was a grown man, not only that but he was an anbu captain as well. He was well within his rights to mourn on his only day off in nearly a month.

His eyes roved over the stone, gaze stopping on three particular names that had been inscribed into his memories just as they had the stone. Rin, Minato-sensei, Obito…

His lone eye closed in remembrance of his team. When he had first been assigned to Team 7, he had felt indignant as he was not only a chunin at the time, but had also been practically apprentice to Minato-sensei. He believed it would be a waste of time to train up two fresh genin to the skill level he and his sensei had achieved together. He was also a little jealous he wouldn't have his sensei's attention all to himself, though he would never admit that.

Meeting his team, Kakashi believed he had been proven right, an Uchiha who could barely make a fireball, and a girl from a minor clan who began making moon eyes at him the moment he walked in the door. He was slightly happy at the time, as he thought they would inevitably fail the Bell Test and he and Minato-sensei could return to working as a duo again.

Only they didn't fail, actually working together in an attempt to get the bells and leading to them passing the test much to Kakashi's chagrin. He was dismayed, believing that now that they were a team, he would have to slow down his own training just so they could keep up. And while he was right and his own training slowed down by a considerable margin, it wasn't all bad.

Rin proved to be much more than the fangirl he had presumed her to be upon meeting her, taking over the role of team mom with her worrying over their injuries. She had even begun to learn medical ninjutsu just to help them with their wounds after training or a tough battle. And while she seemingly never got over her crush on Kakashi, she didn't let it affect Team 7 as a whole, something he was thankful for.

Obito as well, proved to be more than Kakashi had originally thought. Oh sure, he was barely able to keep up with the chunin at the start but as their training went on, the Uchiha grew in power quickly, soon becoming capable of rivaling Kakashi in their numerous sparring sessions. They began to form a rivalry, one that boosted both their growth as shinobi and the growth of their friendship, although the injuries they often gained during said sparring sessions often led to Rin scolding the both of them for going to far.

As time moved on and Kakashi grew closer to his new team, he slowly began to realize something in between the rigorous sparring sessions and team meetings at his house. He had grown to care for them, cherish them as he would close family. Because that's what Team 7 was when you really got down to it, a family.

Then Team 7 was assigned to participate in the Third Shinobi War, and Kakashi's family was torn from him one after another.

Obito was the first to die, chrushed under a several tons of rock after saving Kakashi from a similar fate. With his dying breath, he gave Kakashi one of his Sharingan as a gift for finally making jonin. The Sharingan was likely the only reason Kakashi and Rin survived that day, as it allowed him to fight off the Iwa shinobi long enough that their sensei could arrive to safe them.

Kakashi thought that would be the end to his grief but was proven wrong only a few months later as Rin was kidnapped by Kiri. Rescuing her was easy but after escaping, they were met with several dozen hunter nin, most likely there to retrieve their victim. Kakashi was prepared to fight them, surging at the nearest opponent with a chidori engulfing his hand only to be horrified as his remaining teammate three herself in front of Kakashi and was impaled on his jutsu. He could still remember the look in her eyes as he slowly withdrew his arm from her chest.

He couldn't remember what happened after that as he had passed out shortly after, the fact that he survived was boith a miracle and a mystery.

He had thrown himself into the anbu after that day, determined to cut ties with his sensei in hopes that whatever curse had afflicted him would not also latch onto Minato and take him as well. It was futile however, Minato's new fiance was nothing if not tenacious and was not willing to let him simply disappear into the masked ranks of the black ops unit.

Kushina had slowly whittled away at his resolve, bringing him out of his shell bit by bit until eventually, he was eating with them at their dinner table nearly every night. He was both happy and hopeful, Minato was strong, so was his fiance, there was no chance they would be taken from him as well. When he was assigned as Kushina's bodyguard on the day she went into labor, he was determined to protect the woman his former sensei loved so fiercely.

He failed. The location of the birth, a place that was kept so secret even Kakashi himself didn't know where it was until he actually got there, was assaulted by a masked man with a Sharingan. Kakashi attempted to stop him but was defeated easily, he was forced to watch as the man kidnapped Kushina and dissapeared to who knows where, Minato chasing after them.

Mere minutes later, Konoha was greeted with an explosion of malicious chakra as the Kyuubi was summoned in the middle of the village. Kakashi went to assist in defeating it but was ordered to remain behind with the others of the younger generation, sealed behind a barrier to keep them safe.

Several hours later, the barrier dropped and Kakashi sped out to look for Minato and his fiance. He was met with the third Hokage, who revealed to him that they had perished sealing the Kyuubi into an infant, dying in one final act to keep the village they cherished safe.

Just like that, Kakashi was alone once more.

Kakashi's eye opened once more to gaze at the stone, when he had met that Uchiha earlier that day, he was reminded of himself. With all of his support pulled out from under him, he was lost, drifting with no where to go. And while Kakashi had found solace in returning to anbu, losing himself in mission after mission, he suspected the young chunin wasn't so lucky.

The sound of sandals hitting the pavement behind him made Kakashi turn around. He was met with an anbu member wearing a tiger mask rising up from the crouch he had landed in. Tiger saluted and spoke, "Hokage-sama requires your presence Hound-san. Priority Red."

Kakashi straightened, Priority Red meant a potential threat to the village itself, whether that meant village security or stability was up to the Hokage and his advisors. It was the second highest priority with only black being higher with black meaning the village was under imminent threat. This must be important.

He nodded to Tiger who saluted back, before making a tiger seal and activating his Body Flicker technique to reach his apartment as quick as possible. He took a moment to get dressed into his anbu armor before leaping out of his window and making his way to the Hokage tower. As he leapt, Kakashi was hit with the uneasy suspicion he knew who this was about.

He just hoped he was wrong.

Hiruzen stared at the three anbu assemble before him, puffing lightly on his pipe. Rabbit, Chameleon, and Hound stood in silently, hands held in place at their sides as they stood at attention. The Hokage took a moment to savor the nicotine entering his lungs before speaking into the tense silence.

"I have gathered you here to assign you a mission, normally this would be done by your anbu commander but this is an urgent matter." He took in the rigid figures before him, "Earlier this morning, anbu member Mole was assaulted. He sustained no injuries exept for a single stab wound in his abdomen. He is currently out of surgery and is expected to make a full recovery."

There was a small sigh of relief from Rabbit, her fist's unclenching at her sides. Normally, Hiruzen would reprimand this display of emotion from his elite forces but he let it go this time, Rabbit was Mole's teammate after all. She had been the one to find him, unconscious with a hole in his gut, assailant nowhere to be found.

"Luckily, upon waking up, Mole was able to identify his attacker." Hiruzen puffed on his pipe once more, "At approximately 3 o'clock this morning, Akari Uchiha deserted Konoha, raising arms against her former comrades as she did so, earning her the rank of missing nin. She is currently awaiting approval by the council for entry into the Konoha Bingo Book."

Hiruzen leaned forward in his chair to grab three files on his desk, he slid them forward and gestured to the anbu to grab them. He waited a moment before speaking as they read the files, "In your hands is the provisional ranking given to Akari Uchiha, study them well. She will be your target."

Hiruzen already knew what was on the files, he had been the one to approve them after all.

Name: Akari Uchiha

Threat Rating: B

Affiliation: Konohagakure

Last Held Rank: Chunin

Registration Number: 95710418

Clan: Uchiha

Bloodline Status: Active

Elemental Affinity(s): Earth/Fire

Skill Assessment:

Ninjutsu: A

Taijutsu: B

Bukijutsu: B

Genjutsu: C (B)

Chakra Capacity: B

Chakra Control: C

Stamina: A

Speed: B

Capture Only

He puffed on his pipe as he waited for them to finish reading the information. All things considered, it was a rather impressive entry for a chunin, some jonin didn't warrant a B ranking in the bingo book. In fact, given what Inoichi had seen her do on her mission to the Land of Forest, it was probably a little low.

He waited until his anbu were finished and resumed speaking, "Your mission is to capture Akari alive at all costs. I don't think I need to tell you how important it is that the other villages don't gain an Uchiha in their ranks. Am I understood?!"

"Yes Hokage-sama!" they chorused back at him, saluting sharply.

"Good. Dismissed!" They leapt out the window with a blur of motion, sending the stacks of paper on his desk scattering to the floor. He looked down at the mess and sighed.

'Why can't any of my shinobi use the door like everyone else?' He thought in dismay as he took in the scattered papers on his floor.

Commander Bear stared down at the files on his desk in frustration. Every time it seemed he was making headway in this damn paperwork, more appeared out of thin air, it was never-ending!

'Why did I accept that promotion?' He thought, running a hand through his hair.

His thoughts were interrupted by the door to his office opening as Snake stepped in carrying three files, "I swear to god Snake, if that's more paperwork I'm going to strangle you." he threatened as the woman stepped closer.

She simply laughed, "Oh please commander, you wouldn't know what to do without me here." She placed the files on his desk, "And don't worry, these are just the files of the anbu sent on that mission for the Hokage. They just need to be looked over."

Bear grumbled to himself lightly, opening the first of the files. He was met with Rabbit, a newer member of his forces but an effective one. She mainly specialized in Taijutsu, using her quick and nimble fighting style to deadly effect, often bringing down superior opponents with just her speed. She also wasn't half bad at tracking, making her ideal on retrieval missions.

The next file held a mask individual Bear both hated and loved to see. Hound was one of his most effective anbu operatives but also one of his most unstable. He was an expert tracker with those summons of his and also had a nearly endless repertoire of Ninjutsu, making him especially suited for assassination missions.

One of the biggest issues Bear had with him as his damn hair. There wasn't a shinobi in the village who didn't know who Kakashi Hatake was and the man refused to dye his hair on missions for some reason, making the mask nothing more than an accessory instead of the identity concealer it was supposed to be.

Bear sighed, honestly if Hound were just a little bit more personable, he would be an ideal choice for a successor to Bear's position. Unfortunately that was just wishful thinking, Kakashi Hatake was many things, personable was not one of them.

He opened the next file and froze. He stared at the picture for a moment before calling out to his assistant, "Snake! Get in here!"

She popped her head in the room, looking annoyed despite the mask on her face, "What do you want? I have paperwork to do you know? Mostly the stuff you don't want to do."

He waved her over, still staring at the picture. Snake walked over to his desk and looked at the file. "What is it? That's just Chameleon, they're a member of Hound's team right? That mask is usually given to stealth specialists so I figured it would be perfect for this mission."

Bear simply shook his head as the mask on the file stared at them, he looked up to his assistant gravely, "Snake, Chameleon died last week on a mission to Kusa. The mask still hasn't been redistributed to a new operative." Which likely meant that whoever had taken up the mantle, knew that Chameleon wouldn't be around to complain.

Snake froze, staring at him, "Shit."

Bear nodded in agreement, "Whoever is under that mask, he isn't one of ours. How long ago did they leave out, can we still catch up to them?"

Snake shook her head, "They left earlier this morning. I only waited this long to present the files because of a sudden influx of paperwork that I received earlier." She wrung her hands nervously, "What should we do Commander?"

Bear stood and started walking to the door, "The only thing we can do, we report this to the Hokage and pray Hound is still paranoid enough to sus out the fake operative on his team before something bad happens."

Snake followed after him, laughing incredulously, "You want Hound to know someone enough to be suspicious when they're acting a little differently? There's not a chance in hell."

Bear just grunted, "Then we better hope whoever it is behind that mask doesn't have malicious intentions, or else we're going to be down an anbu captain." With that, he began walking out of the base.

He hoped Kakashi had grown close enough to his team that he'd be able to sus out the intruder but in all honesty, he doubted it.

[A/N] Oh dear, looks like there's a traitor in the ranks. Whatever will Kakashi do?

Next chapter we return to Akari.

Until Next time!