Kakashi didn't know what he was still doing in T&I.

Or, well, he did… kind of. That uncertainty was what really got to him, though. He was a former ANBU captain and an elite Jounin with multiple pages in multiple bingo books from multiple countries… and he'd kind of gotten used to, well, if not being in control of a situation, having the abilities and clout to sway those outcomes at least a little.

So being more or less tied to a chair with chakra suppressors strapped to his wrists and ankles for what had to be the third day in a row when he was positive he'd been cleared of any wrongdoing was… worrisome. At least the chakra suppressors stopped Obito's eye from draining him as badly as it often tended to when not covered… there was probably some sort of treatment option in that if he ever trusted a medic enough to tell them.

(He wouldn't. They would keep him in the hospital and that was not worth it.)

It didn't help that Yamanaka-san (his primary interrogator) had begun to ask very personal questions and Kakashi hoped that he'd be able to get some answers at least today… or released. He'd take either at this point.

As if he'd been called by Kakashi's stray thought, the current Yamanaka clan head strode into the room with a grim expression on his face.

"My apologies, Kakashi-san," he said, sounding completely sincere (Kakashi gave it 60-40 odds against that the man was actually honest in said expression). "I know this hasn't been ideal for either of us, but we had to get some things out of the way, especially with our recent look into some of Shimura-san's records…" he paused but had said that last part with a completely blank face… well, fudge. Kakashi wasn't sure he wanted to know what they'd found if the T&I specialist had this kind of reaction for someone he was interrogating (and Kakashi changed his initial assessment of 60-40 against to 70-30 for sincerity instead).

The blond man sighed and sat down in his chair, the comfortable one situated across from Kakashi's hard, metal one that had long-since made many parts of his body go numb.

Then, to his surprise, the man seemed to take Kakashi's current state in and sighed even more deeply before standing up and walking over to a wall, channeling some chakra through… well… something. Kakashi couldn't even sense the pattern that must have been required due to the chakra suppressants. Then, to his surprise, the wall slid aside. Behind it, Kakashi noted several pieces of information gathering equipment ranging from tables and multiple chairs all stacked together to… well… torture implements. He couldn't help if he tensed when Inoichi reached inside, and couldn't bring himself to completely relax again when the interrogator brought out what looked like a very comfortable chair. Then the blond closed the wall behind him and set the chair down next to Kakashi. He then proceeded to untie the Jounin, much to the silver-haired man's surprise.

"The interrogation is not finished, but you have been cleared of all wrongdoing in this matter," the blond man said tiredly. "I am untying you because I am positive you have the intelligence to not run, no matter the questions I ask. This is still an ongoing investigation."

He still didn't take off the chakra suppressors.

Message received loud and clear.

"Of course," Kakashi said, smiling with his eyes and mouth as he rubbed his wrists and stood to take the offered comfort. Now if only they'd give his mask back, he could pretend things were even somewhat normal.

Inoichi settled back into his chair and glanced at the folder he'd brought in with an almost forlorn expression before fixing his eyes back on Kakashi.

"What I am about to tell you is an A-rank secret and… it won't be pleasant for you to hear."

Well… he'd been through difficult before. Still, Kakashi couldn't help but be wary at the ominous statement.

Inoichi took a breath, seeming to steel himself, before speaking.

"Shimura-san seems to have wanted the position of Hokage for a while now – likely since Sandaime-sama was given the position." Kakashi allowed himself to frown at that as he sat down. It wasn't exactly something anyone in the know didn't understand. However, Danzo hadn't had the political support to take over after Minato-sensei… well, after the Nine-tail's attack, and likely still didn't, even if that support had been slowly growing in his favor.

"This morning, our ANBU found his personal record room. I suppose his paranoia over misremembering details overruled his paranoia at being caught because they were very much intact, despite having been rigged to incineration. The trap hadn't been set off, though." Inoichi's eyes narrowed suspiciously at that, but he must have dismissed it for later because he continued.

"According to them, Shimura-san wanted the Hokage's position badly enough that he was actively undermining the other Hokage candidates, up to and including the Sanin."

Kakashi felt ice begin to build in his stomach as Inoichi opened the (far too thick) folder, pulling out another folder – one of about eight – and opening it. "According to this, he has let information slip to multiple opposing forces since the second Shinobi war. We currently have documentation of information given to all of the other four elemental nations, bandits, missing nin's – including Orochimaru – and even minor elemental nations with the goal of, in his words, 'Highlighting Hiruzen's weak leadership.' In reality, it… makes a very strong case for treason.

"It's… disturbing because he claims to love Konoha, and honestly, I believe him, but he hates seeing that 'weakness' leading and consciously – actively even – undermined Konoha in a twisted attempt to fix the situation, making the village weaker so he could take the Hokage's hat." The Yamanaka shook his head and put the folder back inside the larger folder. "The Hokage and I both thought you ought to know that one of the incidences he had a hand in was the one at the Kannabi bridge. He notated how he hoped that by killing his students, he could drive the Fourth away from the Hokage's seat due to grief, as he 'carried on Hiruzen's weakness'."

Kakashi had known it was coming with everything Inoichi had said… but it still felt like a punch to the gut. Or a hundred. From Gai.

That horrible mission that had gone so wrong…

That had been a set up all along? By his own village?

No… by the village Danzo wanted to create. What, did he want Konoha to become another Mist? Simply to support his idea of strength?

And he had to kill off Obito to do it…

"W-" Kakashi started, but then had to pause and swallow, hating that he'd shown even that weakness. Then he continued as deadpan as he could. "What about the incident with the three-tails?" he asked.

Inoichi shook his head. "We haven't gone through everything yet, so we don't know, but we are not finding any documentation. Currently, I have to say that if it was a set-up, it wasn't from anyone inside of Konoha."

Kakashi honestly didn't know whether that made the events that had happened regarding Rin worse or better.

"And now for the really unpleasant part," Inoichi continued, sounding gentle. "I need you to tell me what happened at the Kannabi bridge again, Kakashi. I've read the reports – from all survivors – but we need to go over it for some clarification, and to make sure Shimura hasn't doctored anything."

The silver-haired Jounin's mouth went dry and he felt his insides clench. He did not want to talk about it. At all…

But… it was his duty…

And… he couldn't breathe. Why couldn't he breathe?

Normally in a position like this, he would chidori someone (or multiple someones) and then run away to hide and regroup. He didn't exactly have that option at the moment, which just made it all worse and –

"Okay, Kakashi," Inoichi was suddenly in front of him, when had he gotten there?! "I need you to breathe with me." He reached for Kakashi's shoulder, slowly so as not to startle him (he appreciated it more than he cared to admit, even to himself) then began to count. In for four, hold for four, out for eight. Repeat.

It… helped.

After several minutes that each felt like years, Kakashi could finally breathe on his own again.

Inoichi smiled once he saw his fellow ninja was stable (and horribly embarrassed) again. Then he sighed and rose to his feet.

"I looked at your file. You had your mind-healing waived after both incidents." It wasn't a question, but had been pointed enough that he answered anyway.

"I… don't need it," Kakashi said, although the words rang hollow. He'd always needed it… he just didn't deserve it. Not after everything he'd done (or not been able to do as the case may be). That and he hated the idea. He despised being vulnerable…

Kind of like he was now.

"All ninja need it," Inoichi replied, sounding exasperated.

"No," Kakashi shook his head. "I'm fine."

"Clearly," the blond replied sardonically. Kakashi winced. That revelation of Shimura's involvement had shaken him… badly. Really badly if he had lost this much control. He needed to get himself together.

And maybe go kill something.

Or many somethings.

Like Shimura Danzo and his flunkies.

Then the Yamanaka sighed. "Kakashi, I can tell you want revenge. I don't blame you, but you can't. We still need to interrogate Shimura at the least. I cannot release you until I feel you aren't a danger to this village or yourself."

Kakashi let out a harsh laugh. Funny, no one had cared whether he was a danger to himself or not in ANBU.

"Kakashi," Inoichi said quietly – and really, that tone was what drew his attention more than anything. It hadn't been loud or demanding, but soft. Not pleading either, just informing. "Shimura Danzo has caused this village enough damage. Please don't add onto it by hurting one of our best Jounin or any of Konoha's future ninjas. Danzo will get his comeuppance. I promise."

Too bad Kakashi couldn't seem to trust anyone's promises right now.

Inoichi must have recognized the expression in Kakashi's eyes because he sighed. "I'll get a set up for you here. We have some very comfortable rooms. But until you at least agree to attempt to work through this, I cannot, in good conscience, release you. You can come to me – or anyone with enough clearance – whenever you're ready and we'll even consider this a paid assignment, but you will be remaining here for now."

Part of Kakashi wanted to scream and yell and rage… but without chakra, he wouldn't be able to do much against another Jounin in their stronghold. He made sure to hold it all back behind his mask through sheer force of will.

For the first time in a very long time, it hurt to do so.

Once he trusted himself enough to respond, he simply nodded, but remained silent.

Eventually, Inoichi sighed and nodded to the door. "We will escort you to your temporary rooms. Please rest – or train or do whatever you have to. There will be access to an inside training room, even though I don't think it's a good idea to release the chakra suppressors or allow access to anything particularly sharp. Take that as you will. Don't forget that you will be watched while here."

This… was not a good idea. At all. This would end in either Kakashi's destruction, or the facility's. He wasn't sure which he preferred at the moment. He still nodded and rose.

"Although, I did get permission to return these to you," Inoichi said, withdrawing Kakashi's hip pouch from somewhere. The silver-haired man frowned for a moment. He wouldn't be allowed near anything sharp but… wait…

He couldn't help it if he looked hopefully at the man in front of him. Could he have…?

Gingerly, he reached out and took the hip pouch, then opened it. Instead of multiple kunai, shuriken, exploding tags and ninja wire, he found a series of books. Instantly, his relief caused him to slump a little as he clutched the pouch to his chest. He had his Icha Icha. Perhaps they could all get through this without severe destruction one way or the other after all.

(And he'd really need to reconsider his deflection of reading the stupid books in public if he really had grown this attached to them….)

xXx

Jiraiya waited for the best moment to slip in through his sensei's office window to make himself known. A ninja team had just left with an assignment and the Third sat back in his seat, taking a long breath of his pipe.

Perfect.

He shunshined just to the windowsill where he sat with an amused expression as his sensei stiffened.

Point one for Jiraiya. Zero for Hiruzen.

That never got old. Ever since he'd learned to do it, at least.

"Seriously, Sensei, do you have any idea how angry the toads are about the monkeys shedding all over Ma's chair when they came to deliver your message? This had better be good. I'm going to be running interference for months."

Hiruzen didn't react. That… wasn't good. No pity laugh, no eye-roll, no annoyance or fond exasperation or warm welcome or even a thrown kunai. Just a sort of resigned air. Jiraiya hid a frown at how just plain old his sensei looked. The man who trained him – who had always been such a pillar of strength both for his teammates and Konoha – looked like he'd just shrunk in on himself. It was hard to admit that he lacked even a fraction of the presence Jiraiya remembered.

The Third Hokage sighed. "Follow me Jiraiya, I need you to verify some information we recently uncovered." The old man stiffly rose and made his way to one of his secure file rooms. Jiraiya, caught off guard by the lack of any of his sensei's usual reactions, didn't immediately question the situation. At least aloud.

They came to a file room, and Jiraiya saw five full cabinets. Well, that's not good either, the spymaster thought. He recognized files that used seals to save space. There should be ten times as many records than the actual size indicated.

He was also already pretty sure he'd never seen these files before.

"What's this about, sensei?"

Sarutobi inhaled slowly before letting a thin, protracted breath out. "I found out recently that an old friend, who I thought loved the village, has been stabbing me in the back, not just personally, but the village as a whole as well."

"You finally got solid dirt on Danzo?" Jiraiya asked with a mix of eagerness and incredulity.

Sarutobi sighed again and looked to the side. The Sanin could count on one hand the times his Sensei wouldn't meet his eyes. One of them had been just after the Kyuubi attack…

"He was attacked by a still unknown assailant and left at the hospital. There, due to multiple strange circumstances, we found that he had multiple Sharingans implanted into his body along with what has been tentatively identified as Senju Hashirama's modified cells. That started a chain of events that led to ANBU raiding his residences for information." The aged Hokage locked eyes with the only student who hadn't abandoned him and the village. "I need you to go through and verify as much of the information as you can. This is all currently classified as an S-ranked secret, seeing as you are going through everything we have, and no one is to know without my express permission."

Jiraiya felt a chunk of ice form in his gut in anticipation of what he'd find in those records, but he nodded firmly, all joviality gone.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," he said, annoyed that his voice came out fainter than he would have liked.

Then he got to work.

xXx

Jiraiya wanted a drink, or ten. Or a hundred. Or maybe the entire bar.

He'd known Shimura Danzo since boyhood. He had been that creepy uncle who you tolerated because he was family, but never wanted to talk to. Unfortunately, he'd gotten worse as Jiraya had grown and risen through the ranks. He knew the man didn't follow (or even believe in) the Will of Fire like the Hokages did, but Jiraiya had never realized how low the older man had fallen. Murders, kidnapping, blackmail, extortion, and propaganda campaigns were all pretty much normal for Ninjas, albeit not to this extent… and most certainly not to his own village. That didn't even take into account the secret experimentations on civilians and ninja alike, the undermining of entire clans, or the unauthorized alliances, all in pursuit of the Hokage position… and that just scratched the surface. The Toad Sage had come across so many betrayals of the village and the ideals it had been built on that he'd grown a little numb and just wanted to forget about it all for a while.

The toad Sannin didn't know if he should rage, vomit, cry, or just get blindingly drunk (he was leaning heavily towards the latter). So many friends he'd lost to that man's manipulations, not to mention the friends of friends that had suffered as well. Jiraiya noticed that his notes had grown more and more terse as he'd gone on, and while he'd tried to keep them brief, he still had pages.

Pages that painted a very clear picture.

He glanced at a note specifically that came from an incident during the Second Shinobi War. A note regarding two shinobi who loved their village and had died because of the twisted "love" of another shinobi. Senju Nawaki and Dan. Jiraiya closed his eyes as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Tsunade needed to know.

Now to convince his sensei of that.

xXx

Twelve-year-old Uchiha Sasuke scowled as he calmly strolled (he didn't stomp or storm or do anything angrily – no matter what the civilians who smartly got out of his path said) to the bridge to meet his teammates.

It had been two days of utter torture.

(He'd say three, but he didn't remember much from that first day after he'd found that arm on his front porch.

He didn't shudder but he did push the thought to the side and redoubled his walking. He may or may not have looked even angrier every time he banished said thought from his mind… which happened a lot more than he would have liked.)

Then came two whole days of talking with Ino's father.

Ino, whom he utterly despised. Not as much as his stupid teammates, but she was pretty high up on the list of people he would very much not like to meet ever again. Her dad wasn't as annoying, but he'd made the list too because he'd stopped Sasuke from taking missions because he was 'mentally unstable' or some other crap – that stopped him from getting stronger, and that was unforgivable!

Sasuke was not mentally unstable! He just had his goals! What was wrong with that? Nothing! That was what! Who wouldn't want to get revenge on the man who had killed his entire family and mentally tortured him?! Why should he want to give that up?! He shouldn't!

Then the blond man had had the audacity to say that Sasuke didn't have to walk this path alone! That Itachi was a missing nin from Konoha and they'd back him up!

Well, okay, that hadn't been a terrible offer, but it had been an inconsiderate one because Sasuke wanted to kill Itachi himself! He didn't want to leave it to a team! He wanted to see that man's eyes as they slowly went slack from death, realizing that his younger brother had overtaken him! He wanted to watch has those eyes lost their Sharingan and didn't focus and—

"Oi, Teme, what's wrong with you?"

The loud voice broke him out of his thoughts and he looked up to see the red bridge where he remembered he'd been instructed by Kakashi-sensei to meet his teammates in the morning. It stood empty except for the orange-clad eye-sore that had been nothing but a thorn in his side for so long.

"Nothing's wrong," he spat back.

Instead of getting the typical angry response he expected from the blond, Naruto just looked at him with an expression that stopped somewhere between pouting and serious, eyes almost closed and making him look very fox-like with those whisker marks.

What was even up with those?

"Then why are you crying?" Naruto asked, cocking his head to one side as if he was watching something he couldn't quite understand.

Sasuke felt his eyes widen and reached a hand up to brush his cheeks. His fingers came away wet.

He mentally cursed, using every word he knew to describe his utter fury (panic, not that he'd admit that aloud) at the realization. What should he say now?

"Shut up, Dobe! I'm not crying!"

"You so are!" Naruto shot back.

"No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are!"

"Shut up! I'm not!"

"You shut up! You are!"

"Ahem," a new voice broke through their argument and Sasuke realized they weren't alone. Sakura had come up next to Sasuke, looking very uncomfortable.

"Morning, Sasuke-kun," she said with that bright smile.

"Oi! What about me?" Naruto yelled.

Sakura frowned and glanced over at him. Sasuke expected a harsh jab or something mean, but instead she seemed to deflate a little and said, "Good Morning, Naruto."

The blond looked just about as surprised as Sasuke felt, but unfortunately recovered faster.

"Good Morning, Sakura-chan!"

The pinkette sighed. Then she looked hesitantly back at Sasuke. "Um… are you feeling better, Sasuke-kun?"

No. But he didn't really want to say that, so just settled for grunting a, "Hn."

She must have mistaken that for a 'yes' because she smiled. "I'm glad."

He rolled his eyes.

"Well, let's go meet Indra-nii then!" Naruto cheered and turned to walk off the bridge.

Sasuke blinked. "Who?" he asked.

"Oh, since Kakashi-sensei had something come up, we've been training with someone else," Sakura explained.

That… was strange. He didn't know Kakashi-sensei wouldn't be there. Why? What had happened?

And why wouldn't anyone tell him anything?!

(He once again send a mental curse to Ino's father, who said he wouldn't be able to tell Sasuke everything until he deemed Sasuke could mentally handle it.

He could handle it!)

"Yeah! Come on! He's totally awesome!" Naruto said from the path, urging his teammates along.

Sasuke looked over at Sakura with one raised eyebrow. He'd only have today to train as tomorrow he'd have to meet Ino's father again (as much as he didn't want to).

She looked a little sheepish. "He is a very good teacher. He's helped both me and Naruto a lot. I'm sure he can help you too, Sasuke-kun! N-not that you… um…" she faded off, looking conflicted.

Sasuke didn't really care what sycophantic thing she'd been about to say.

"Whatever," he muttered. He may as well see who this guy they were talking about was. Of course, just because the guy could help his two teammates didn't mean he could help Sasuke who was leagues ahead of both of them. So he began to stalk after Naruto. If the guy wasn't all that great, he could go off and train by himself.

Sakura eeped when she realized he wasn't there and ran after him, falling into step beside him… annoyingly enough.

"I think you'll like Indra-san," she said.

"Why does Naruto call him 'brother'?" Sasuke asked. "He's an orphan."

Like Sasuke.

Sakura flinched a little. "Oh… um, because he's been helping us, I guess. It's Naruto. I don't really understand him."

Fair enough.

"Hn," Sasuke responded.

"A-anyway, he looks a lot like you, actually, Sasuke-kun!"

That caused the Uchiha to stop in his tracks and he turned wary eyes on Sakura.

Wait…

"What?"

xXx

AN: FYI, I am not the only author to this fic. Quathis is also working on this with me, so be sure to drop him a thanks too. :)

And Inoichi may or may not be using this to force Kakashi into therapy... *ahem* What? I would like to point out that forced therapy is not a good idea. However, ninja seem to do a lot of things that aren't the best idea so... yeah. And let's be real, Kakashi wouldn't do it otherwise.

Discord: discord. gg/xDDz3gqWfy (no spaces)