A/N: Last Konoha-only chapter.


Chapter 10: Konoha needs a Spymaster


Early August (year equivalent of 3017 in Middle earth)

Sasuke wanted to sigh or bang his head against the counter of the bar he was currently sat at. They should have been back in Konoha by now, but they were traveling at a snail's pace—well a civilian's pace, but still.

Sensei was currently wearing the laziest disguise in the existence of disguises, which soured the victory he and Sakura had felt upon realizing they were actually seeing their sensei's whole face. Seriously, a wig, face paint, and contacts were the jōnin's entire disguise. Sensei hadn't even added any prosthetics or illusions. He was literally using the fact that no one had seen his face since he was a child to hide in plain sight.

What really rankled Sasuke, though, was that this disguise got his lazy sensei into Iwa and Kumo! Two of the most guarded countries that would have had a kill-on-sight order for the man because he was the Yondaime's student.

And the simpering and flirting—ugh, it made Sasuke sick to his stomach. Oh Sinobi-san, thank you! Why kunoichi-san, you are so strong!? You are stunning, may I take a picture of you? Sasuke was sick to death of the softer and higher pitched tone his sensei spoke in while he was "Sukea," and the rural affect he added was just further insult.

How? How was this an effective disguise? How had it fooled all the nations? How had it fooled the Kazekage?!

"Sukea-sensei!" the barkeeper exclaimed upon seeing Sensei. "Look at you, traveling with one of the Sannin." The question hang heavy in the man's excited words.

Sensei blushed and ducked his head. Sasuke scowled. "Yes, well, I was commissioned, you see," Sensei said bashfully. Ugh, Sasuke was going to be sick.

"Oh? What has the Tsunade-sama commissioned you for?" the barkeep asked eagerly. "Nude portrait?" he asked sotto voce with a leer.

"You know I don't do paint anything so distasteful!"

Sasuke couldn't help but choke on his own breath. He recalled the massive painting in the man's apartment that had countless nude couples in the middle of…acts. He shuddered at the memory.

"This young shinobi seems to disagree," the barkeep remarked.

"Well Tsunade-hime commissioned me to make a memorial of her fallen teammate, and we all know Jiraiya-sama's…proclivities."

The barkeep barked with laughter before he sobered and gave a wistful sort of smile. "You know I never got to tell him about the latest news I heard."

"Oh?" Sensei asked with a guileless look as he sat down in front of the barkeeper. And then Sasuke had a front row seat to how a spymaster worked. He kept his expression neutral after his earlier slip-up.

Wave was doing better and had opened relations with Mizu as well as Konoha, though Konoha had preferential treatment due to the mission "some genin team" did there. Sasuke had to hide his face in his arms and pretended he was bored and falling asleep. If he hadn't done so, he was sure the mixture of pride and grief he felt over his mission nearly two months ago would have shown.

More interesting than his own accomplishments being considered "news" was that the coup Zabuza had been trying to fund was currently playing out in Mizu. The opposing faction was led by some woman with a lava bloodline release and several other people with bloodline limits that had been hunted by the deranged Mizukage. The entire country was in lockdown now while the bloody coup played out.

Another interesting tidbit of information was this new shinobi village called Otogakure in Grass and its participation in the Chūnin exams. The barkeep talked about how there must have been quite a few teams in the final round because "a good dozen of those Oto shinobi passed through the day before" presumably with their kage. Sasuke knew for a fact that only one Oto genin was in the finals.

More worrying though than a dozen Oto-nin in their boarder was that this small contingent had joined the Kazekage's entourage that had passed through the village at the same time. Why would an unknown element be welcomed into the Kazekage's entourage. That did not make sense.

Sensei weaseled a bit more information out of the barkeep while pretending to drink—Sasuke caught how his sensei spat out the liquor into a handkerchief every time the barkeep looked the other way. Then, just before sensei said his goodbyes for the night from the barkeeper, he asked if some friend "Takeo" had left him a package—he'd asked similar things at every hotel and bar they'd stopped at.

"Oh, yes actually, here," and the barkeep stepped away to get something out of a backroom. When he returned, he handed the package to Sensei who thanked him with slightly slurred words and then woozily made his way toward the stairs that led to the rooms.

"Oi," the barkeep tapped the counter near Sasuke's "resting" form. "Shinobi-kun, shouldn't you help your client."

"He's not my client," Sasuke complained as he got up angrily.

"Then your client's client," the barkeep said with a roll of his eyes. "Kids these days," he muttered under his breath. Sasuke stomped after his sensei.

When Sensei was sequestered his bedroom and the rest of their traveling party had snuck into the "artist's" room, Sensei erected several layers of privacy seals and barriers.

"We have a problem," Sensei said in a deadpan while pulling one of his masks over his head—somehow, he did not disrupt that mousy-brown wig of his.

"Why would an unknown like Oto be part of the Kazekage's entourage?" Sasuke asked the group, and Sensei nodded.

"Wait," Sakura began with her brow furrowed in worry. "I thought the last village had the Oto Kage pass through it with his entourage, why would there be more Oto-nin cells in Fire?"

"It would have made more sense if that new Kage had crossed through this village than the last one—" the Sannin chimed in with a pinched look on her face.

Sasuke's (and Sakura's) confusion must have shown because Sensei began to give an explanation for the strangeness. "Grass is on our North-West board, so it would make sense to go through this village with a kage's retinue because it would be the most straight shot to Konoha from Grass, and therefore the 'safest' path.

"However, the last village we were at does have the main East-West road which diplomats often use to get to Konoha. It is the recognized path, so it also makes sense that this Otokage would travel through there, but it's curious that his retinue did not first go through this village before diverting to the East-West Road. Going directly to that road from Grass would have had added unnecessary time to their travel and thus led to more exposure."

"And with Suna spanning our west to southwest border, it would make mor sense that we would have heard of the Kazekage's retinue passing through at any of the southern outskirt villages not this one," Sakura reasoned. "But just the forward scouts of his protection detail had passed through those villages unless…" the girl trailed off, and Sasuke felt his stomach plummeting.

"So, Oto and Suna are moving forces strategically and subtly across fire under the pretense of forward scouts or Kage protection details," Tsunade said with a hiss.

"So, our ally is…what? Planning an attack? And invasion?" Sakura asked, her voice was trembling.

"The final round of the exams is in two days. The Kazekage should already be in Konoha or on its outskirts. I could try to warn the Hokage, but if the Kazekage is in his company…" Sensei trailed off.

"We need to risk it, don't we?" Sakura asked.

"What if you just sent one of us through with a coded message?" Sasuke asked. "That way, you could be here behind the enemy forces and take the bulk of them out?"

"True, if we give you a high enough vantage point, you could easily warp an entire contingent into that Kamui dimension; it would be a bloodless way to handle them too," the Sannin agreed. "We don't know why Suna would betray us for some new nation, there could be a deeper plot at play."

"So, who do we send then, and can Sensei even do that?" Sakura asked before clarifying her question. "I mean, teleport someone directly. I thought the Kamui dimension was like a necessary way station, a connecting point."

"It might be a necessary connection point, but since my Kamui works at a distance, I may not need to be in there. I can also see into the dimension if the portal is big enough."

"Then open a portal near the hospital," Sasuke suggested. "I'll pretend I had side-effects from the curse-seal removal, and you requested Hokage-sama investigate it while you continue to escort Tsunade-sama lest she get cold feet."

"Tch, like the brat could drag me back to Konoha if I wasn't willing," the blonde woman muttered. They all ignored her, especially since Sensei could very easily kidnap anyone if he had enough chakra and was fast enough for the teleportation.

"And if Orochimaru is still in Konoha?" Sensei asked warily.

"You'll just remove the curse seal again and I'll take another month to recover my chakra network," Sasuke said with a shrug.

The Sannin pinched her nose. "Your whole team is too reckless with your chakra. You idiots realize you could die from putting so much strain on your chakra pathways."

"It's a necessary evil," Sakura said dismissively while Sasuke gave his trademark "Hn," and Sensei (in denial) said, "Maa, I'm not reckless."

The two fully trained medics gave Team 7 deadpan looks which conveyed both the depths of their disagreement and resignation. Sensei sighed at the looks and then tilted his head back.

"I have been thinking about a potential seal that might prevent Orochimaru from putting another seal on you," Sensei confessed. "It would only work once—like a shocking bubble around you that will lash out at anyone who tries to metaphorically pop it by putting another seal on you."

Sasuke gave another hum and nodded. "Okay, it's decided then. What should I say my symptoms are?" he asked the medically inclined. The three kunoichi began theorizing with the occasional added comment on how the curse seal had functioned from Sensei. Sasuke just hoped he could act the part he was assigning himself.

Orochimaru's revenge had been going well until it wasn't. He blamed Hatake Kakashi; the young man was starting to become a real thorn in his side. From taking out Shimura and dismantling ROOT (which had supplied Orochimaru with so many experiments), to apparently removing his curse seal on both Anko and Sasuke, this brat was a genuine nuisance. Who would have thought the baby jōnin he had left half dead over a decade ago would become this.

The masked man had one of his teammate's slugs on him, and it was feeding him chakra, which he apparently needed after shattering the barrier seal Orochimaru's four best experiments had erected around him and Sensei. And then, the little shit sealed the Niidaime's coffin in an even more efficient manner than Sensei had sealed shut the Yondaime's coffin. Orochimaru ordered his four best experiments to attack the nuisance, but they were fending off a half dozen ANBU operatives.

Shouldn't the giant rampaging sand racoon be enough of a distract—wait where was it?!

Orochimaru dodged to the side of his Sensei's staff as he looked for the distant but still giant shape of the tanuki demon. But nothing. There was no demonic chakra filled with bloodlust in the air.

"Maa, looking for something?" Hatake practically sang as he fluidly dodged the Shodaime's wooden pillars. Oh, Hatake, you little shit. Who thought it was a good idea to give that prodigy more sealing knowledge? If Jiraiya wasn't dead already, Orochimaru would kill the old pervert. Maybe he'll resurrect the bastard just to kill him again.

"Shouldn't you be unconscious by now!?" he snapped back at the man. The brat was known for his frequent hospital stays for chakra exhaustion.

"See, Kakashi-kun, even our enemies know you need to learn sage mode," Sensei drawled.

Sage mode?! No. This brat could not learn how to harness natural chakra. He was clearly supplementing his own chakra with Tsunade's chakra; the woman was probably too paralyzed by the sight of blood to properly fight and so was helping from the sidelines. Forget killing sensei, he needed to take out Hatake now before he became more of a threat.

With both their full focus on the brat, Hatake wasn't doing as successful a job of dodging attacks, and then the possessed Shodaime skewered the nuisance's limbs in place. Just as Kusanagi was about sever the brat's head from his body, the masked jōnin dived forward into a swirling vortex, and then Orochimaru felt a hand through his chest and lightning crackling through his body. In a moment of shock Orochimaru felt something binding around his arms and then…he lost all feeling in them.

Sensei sealed his arms. Coughing up blood, Orochimaru pulled himself off of a panting Hatake's fist and gave a spinning kick Hatake was too slow to dodge. The small slug summon was clearly struggling—just how much chakra was Hatake siphoning from Tsunade? Well, it was time to put an end to this nonsense. He seized the moment and crushed the snail summon, which led to Hatake immediately dropping—like a puppet with its strings cut, or more accurately a toy whose batteries died.

It was time to flee before his four best experiments were killed by the ANBU, and Orochimaru was surrounded while at such a disadvantage. He would have attempted to kill Hatake, but the wood around Hatake's prone form wrapped around him and pulled him beneath the ceiling. Undoubtedly Orochimaru's missing experiment from decades ago was responsible for this.

As he rushed his way out of the village, he noticed the telltale signs of his teammate's destructive blows and then he saw a little pink-haired girl cackling in delight next to an equally amused Tsunade.

"I'm at ten, Has-been!" the girl yelled over the fray of battle. She had just been stabbed in the gut by an enemy all in order to get within the clearly scared chūnin's guard and headbutt him to unconsciousness. The girl then healed the gut wound unflinchingly and with four hand signs less than was necessary—soon, the girl would be able to heal herself without hand signs. He'd only seen Kabuto do such before.

"I'm at fifteen, brat," Tsunade responded as she sent a chūnin flying back into a comrade. Oh, she looked her age. Wait, did that mean she had released her seal all to power Hatake?!

"Yeah, you're a Sannin, I'm a genin. You should at least be at thirty, you Has-been," the girl taunted before Tsunade's lady-in-waiting pulled the girl out of an attack that would have trapped the girl underground.

"I'm handling most of the jōnin, kid, you're dealing with the scrubs," Tsunade growled as she got into a Suna Jōnin's guard and broke their hands before kicking them back a few hundred meters away.

"Well, clearly your drunken ways are slowing you down," the girl taunted before she muttered "Thank you, Shizune-shishō," and then immediately went after the chūnin who had tried to trap her in the earthen headhunter jutsu.

Tsunade gave a cry of frustration as she slammed her heel into the ground and split the earth open. "You're going to have to start respecting me when I'm your Kage," Tsunade growled.

"Well, you aren't yet, and you sure don't act like one either, Has-been!"

There were various pools of blood all along the battlefield, and yet Tsunade was not paralyzed by the sight of them as she should be. No, every time she paled and began to shake at the sight of her enemy's or comrade's blood, the girl made some off-handed comment or taunt, and a fire would suddenly fill Tsunade's eyes. That girl, whoever she was, was either reminding Tsunade of her old fire or was antagonizing the woman into it. In some ways, it reminded Orochimaru of how Jiraiya would rile Tsunade up to get her to fight harder.

The combined might of Suna and Oto was falling before his eyes. He had to get out of here, and so he kept running.

The funeral for the Sandaime was a sad affair for most of the village, but Sasuke didn't care. This man was complicit in the murder of his family and did not stop the ostracization of his clan. At least their new Hokage was going to fix a few things, namely his brother's missing-nin status.

According to the message from "Takeo," the Akatsuki bosses suspected a mole in their organization and were keeping all their teams out in the field. Sasuke was beginning to suspect his brother was said mole and also this "Takeo" informant. His brother and his teammate were investigating the conflict in Mizu to see if they could assess the survival of the jinchūriki there—things weren't looking good for the Mizukage. They were planning to cross through Fire to get back to one of their bases, so it could be a good time for Itachi to ditch his teammate and come home.

Then again…if his brother was accepted back into Konoha, those S-class ninja (and Madara, specifically) would know he was the mole. They might come after Itachi to tie up loose ends and keep him from spilling. But perhaps Sasuke could meet up with his brother occasionally? No, it would be too great a risk. Shit, he'd have to tell the Godaime not to remove the missing-nin status, but maybe they could give his brother a "flee-on-sight" order instead of "kill-on-sight?"

Sasuke sighed and did the most graceful maneuver he could manage to look at Sakura. She was clumsier with the crutches than he was but still turned to regard him. "What are you thinking?" she asked.

"I want to visit Asuma-sensei and pass on my condolences," not that he felt sad about the Professor's passing, but he knew what it was like to lose a parent.

Shikamaru, who was nearby along with the rest of their peers, looked at him sharply. "Asuma-sensei?" he repeated with his gaze narrowed.

Sasuke shrugged.

"We should also visit Sensei," Sakura suggested.

"Why? He'll be in a coma for a few more days," Sasuke retorted.

The man had over done it once the invasion started. According to Sakura, Tsunade-sama had thrown him so high into the air that he was able to get about a fourth of the enemy combatants within his sight for kamui. On his way back down, he used kamui again to warp away another fourth of the enemies. Unfortunately, it wasn't the cleanest warping and there were a good two dozen ninja missing limbs or, worse, half their bodies.

When sensei landed, Sakura said that he was barely standing and on the verge of passing out. Then Tsunade-sama summoned this giant slug, which broke into smaller slugs that attached to each of them before spreading out into the village. Tsunade-sama did something that Sakura said broke the diamond decoration from her forehead (it was apparently a seal). Then Sakura said a blue energy (chakra) began to pour from Tsunade-sama into the slugs, and Sensei was back up. All Sakura knew next was that Sensei had shot off toward Konoha in a black and silver blur—he moved even faster than the regular body flicker jutsu.

As for what Sasuke had been doing that day; well, he had been in the stadium and was sitting next to Iruka-sensei and the academy kids. He had seen Shino's fight with the puppet boy and was a little disappointed that the puppet kid gave up not long into the fight, but then he probably didn't want to be in the middle of an invasion while chakra exhausted, so it made tactical sense.

Sai and the Hyūga branch kid's fight was…curious. Shin had talked a lot about his little brother's painting skills, and the ink tigers he produced were indeed interesting, but he couldn't get them into the Hyūga's guard, especially when the boy began to use a technique from the main house. Of course, then Sasuke realized Sai was testing his enemy's defenses for a blind spot. Once he found it, he moved fast. The Hyūga boy had been so sure of his family's unbeatable defense that he had allowed himself to stay rooted in one spot and thus keep the blind spot in place too. Sai used that arrogance to his advantage and delivered a solid blow to the Hyūga's head. It was all done fairly quickly and without revealing too much of Sai's skills. It was impressive.

Shikamaru and the Suna kunoichi's fight felt more like a game of Go than a battle but eventually the sun moved into an advantageous position and Shikamaru won. It showed the Nara had a good handle on tactics and could assess his enemy well. Sasuke had no doubt the boy would be promoted for his showing, even if it had put the academy kids asleep.

The next battle was going to be Sai's teammate and the last of the Suna genin. Sasuke imagined that if there would be an attack during the exams, it would either be during the final rounds of the tournament or when the sun began to set. Either way, the academy kids needed to get out of there, so he suggested as much to Iruka-sensei.

The Chūnin had probably been warned about the invasion and so had agreed and the protesting children followed them out of the arena. By the time Sasuke and Iruka had gotten all the kids out of the space, the invasion began with a sleeping jutsu. Sasuke broke it easily from himself and Iruka before helping the Chūnin get the academy kids to the evacuation tunnels. Based on the terrifying roar from behind him and the demonic chakra in the air, Sasuke guessed the Suna boy had been a jinchūriki and hidden weapon being used against them.

Fortunately, it looked like (while most of the enemy ninja were distracted in the stadium) the civilians had been evacuated from the town proper, but that still left those in the stadium to move. As such, Sasuke had turned back and headed toward the oppressive demonic chakra.

When he started dispatching enemies and waking the other Konoha ninja around him, he saw a black and silver blur appear at the feet of the giant sand monster. He then heard his sensei taunting the demon while throwing strange three-pronged kunai around it while trying to lead the sand monster away from the civilians.

Sasuke did his best to dart around the arena and often found himself substituting with chairs or discarded items to get next to civilians in trouble. While the one-handed jutsu casting was not as impressive as Sensei and Sakura's newfound abilities, he was able to multi-task and cast various jutsu while building traps. He also found he didn't need hand-signs anymore for the academy three.

Once Sasuke had corralled several enemies, with the help of Shikamaru, into a confined space, he closed his ninja wire trap around them and lit them on fire at the same time. The smell of burning flesh was seared into his brain but it had taken care of several combatants.

By the time his chakra had begun to flag, most of the combatants, save the ones above the Kage's box, were defeated. The oppressive demonic chakra was gone, and then the shimmering purple-pink barrier at the top of the stadium shattered like glass. In the end, much like Sensei and Sakura, Sasuke had also used too much chakra, but at least he wasn't in a coma like a certain jōnin! Honestly, this was why Tsunade-sama thought they were reckless. It was just Sensei.

"Isn't that more reason to visit your own sensei?" Kiba asked with a confused look, thus drawing Sasuke back to the present

"Maa, I'll visit your Sensei," Sai said eagerly yet in a manner reminiscent of the lazy jōnin.

Sasuke gave the pale boy a look that said he knew what he was trying to do. Sakura was amused by it, but Sasuke couldn't imagine anyone wanting to emulate that man. "That sounds nothing like him." Sukea spoke in a higher register and had a rural dialect.

"I dunno, that sounded a bit like your sensei," Chōji remarked.

"Not who he was trying to imitate," Sasuke retorted.

"I will be his apprentice," Sai vowed, much to former program kid's teammates' amusement and sensei's consternation.

"You're still my genin, don't go replacing me," the man with the rather intimidating eyes practically whined.

"You really shouldn't idolize, Sensei," Sakura warned the boy even as she turned and began to hobble toward the hospital.

"You don't want to be on the Godaime's list like us," Sasuke added as he too began to hobble toward the hospital.

"What list?" Ino asked as she chased after them. Her teammates began to follow them too as did Team 1.

"She called it her 'Reckless Idiot List'" Sasuke commented.

"I thought it was the 'Prone to Chakra Exhaustion List'" Sakura replied.

"Trust me, to the Godaime, it's the same difference," Sasuke muttered. "I was the one who stayed conscious the most out of you two. I heard her complaints."

Team 10 looked at Sasuke and Sakura in a mixture of disbelief and concern. "What were you all doing that took so much chakra?" Ino asked, almost worried.

"Winning a bet," Sakura said with a smirk.

"Ah, I was wondering how you convinced Tsunade-sama to return," the Team 1 sensei commented.

Sakura preened while Sasuke scoffed. "It was more like Sensei and Sakura antagonized and worried her enough into returning."

"We did finish our bets!" Sakura argued.

"You two did, but she never saw evidence that I did," Sasuke countered. "Stupid curse seal," he muttered under his breath. "So technically, we didn't win the bet. It was all or nothing."

"But you did master one-handed signs for your jutsu repertoire," Sakura retorted.

"With my left hand, but I never got to prove it with my right," Sasuke explained.

"But I saw you making one-handed jutsu with your right hand," Shikamaru pointed out.

"But Tsunade-sama never did," Sasuke emphasized. "Ergo, our bet was never won, and she still became Hokage because you and Sensei annoyed her into it." He said this part to Sakura.

"Wouldn't annoying her make her not want to be Hokage?" Chōji asked in confusion. It was warranted, but he did not understand the absurdity that was Sensei or his corrupting influence on Sakura.

"Which is why, Sai-san, you should not try to emulate Sensei," Sasuke told the pale boy—how was he even paler than Sasuke? "Sensei makes the absurd reality, don't be like him."

"How am I absurd?" Sakura asked now. She sounded offended.

"I saw how you purposely antagonized a Sannin into fighting you and then laughed about it even as she broke your bones," Sasuke replied in a deadpan.

"She started it!" Sakura defended herself.

"In the beginning sure, but then you became the instigator," Sasuke retorted.

"You attacked her too!" Sakura protested now.

"Yes, because she was saying I couldn't relate to her grief, but I never antagonized Tsunade-sama once we had made our bet. You and Sensei kept doing it."

"We've heard what your part of the bet was, but what was Sakura's and your Sensei's part?" Shikamaru asked with a nonplussed look—he clearly didn't want to think about the death wish Sakura and Sensei clearly had.

"I had to learn and consistently perform the mystical palm jutsu," Sakura stated with a shrug.

Only Team 1's sensei looked shocked. "A-and what was Senpai's task?"

"Master his mangekyō sharingan ability," Sasuke replied flippantly.

"Ah," the wide-eyed jōnin said almost faintly. "I thought it might have been mastering the hirashin seal."

"Oh, that's what made him a blur?" Sakura asked with mild surprise. The rest of the genin, save Sai who just looked like he admired Sensei more, had frozen in shock.

"I'm certain he had figured that out a while go but never had the chakra to power it until Tsunade-sama began sharing her chakra with him," Sasuke reasoned.

"Man, Sensei really needs to learn that Sage mode thing," Sakura muttered. Sasuke nodded.

"How soon do you think Godaime-sama will order him to learn it?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura hummed, "I think after he wakes up."

Sasuke shook his head, "I think she'll wait for him to train in a new Spymaster. He'll be gone too long otherwise."

"Should you be openly talking about who our Spymaster is?" Shikamaru asked in alarm.

Sasuke just shared a smirk with Sakura. Even if everyone knew Sensei was Spymaster, it wouldn't prevent his work thanks to his Sukea disguise. God, Sasuke hated how lazy but effective the disguise was.

They were now at the hospital and instead of going to Sensei's room to watch him sleep like a creep (Sai [and Sakura]), he went to Asuma-sensei's room. The bearded man was awake but still recovering from his rather harrowing fight with Orochimaru. A lot of the damage the jōnin had sustained couldn't be healed by the medics on hand, but now that Tsunade-sama was back, well, several people were on the mend.

"Asuma-sensei," Sasuke greeted with a bow. "My condolences for your loss."

Shikamaru kissed his teeth and muttered something about sensei-stealing. Sasuke ignored him. Ino immediately began to give her own condolences along with the rest of her team. Soon, Sasuke was listening as the Ino-Shika-Cho team laughed with their sensei. He smiled and wondered if this was what a sane team looked like.

Kakashi had finally recovered, and Tsunade was settled into her role as Hokage. He and his team were waiting outside the woman's office as she talked to those who had been in the finals of the Chūnin exam.

Everything still ached from all the chakra he had used during the invasion, and even more so once he had released his hostages from the Kamui dimension—fortunately Madara had not tried to kill them (or had not been aware of them) and the soldiers had had rations with them to survive while Kakashi was unconscious. A tentative peace was being brokered with Suna, especially since Konoha had a clear upper hand (read: a ninja with the ability to use the hirashin again [or so they think] and almost a full battalion held hostage on another plane of existence). The peace was only allowed because Suna had been misled by Orochimaru, as discovered when their Kazekage's corpse was left as a shed skin-suit at the top of the stadium.

Perhaps four more minutes of waiting passed before the Konoha genin, who had been in the tournament, left. Shikamaru and Sai were carrying flak jackets. The other three genin walked stoically away, though it appeared the Hyūga was barely keeping his distress at not passing to himself.

Kakashi used the body flicker jutsu to leave via the window of the waiting room and then perch at the window of the Hokage's office. His genin rolled their eyes and walked into the office through the open door like fools.

The window was opened so Kakashi could enter the room as well. Tsunade looked at them tiredly, her ever-youthful visage remaining on her face. "Maa, Hokage-sama, you appear well," he greeted her.

"Brat, as soon as I can, I'm handing this hat off to you," she snapped. Sakura hid her laughter behind a cough while Sasuke openly smirked. Traitors.

"But Hokage-sama," Kakashi replied in a cheerful tone that would annoy the woman. "I don't have the reputation necessa—"

A bingo book was thrown at him. It was from Iwa. "You have a flee-on-sight order, congratulations," she drawled. The blonde then sighed and rubbed her temples. "Honestly, if we didn't have loose ends to close that required you in the field, I'd already have handed over the hat."

"But that would be reneging on our bet," Kakashi pointed out.

The Sannin gave him a look. "I never saw the Uchiha-brat do one-handed signs with his right hand. I know he can do it, but I never saw it before we left the monastery." Which technically means their bet wasn't won. Sasuke seemed rather smug about this, and Sakura was pouting.

"I told you," the boy whispered to the girl. She elbowed him in the side as a retort.

Tsunade made a gesture that Kakashi inferred she wanted to talk about the "loose ends" which meant putting up privacy seals. Kakashi sighed but got out his sealing paper. He put up the standard privacy barriers and then put up his newest anti-kamui seal. Now that he understood what Madara had been doing, he was better able to create a barrier that prevented the teleportation, though it was still draining to maintain the seal.

Once the protections were in place, Tsunade addressed Team 7. "I am disbanding your team." Kakashi's eyes widened, and his genin stared at her alarmed.

"What?" Kakashi asked quietly.

"You can't do that!" Sakura yelled. "You can find a replacement genin, you don't need to disband us!"

Sasuke was pale and shaking slightly.

"My predecessor, may he rest in peace, seldom took into consideration the mental health of his ninja. Your team is already showing signs of codependency in the wake of Genin Sato's passing. Moreover, you are all showing an alarming disregard for your personal safety," Tsunade's eyes were fixed steadily on Kakashi, but they glanced to Sakura and Sasuke briefly.

"Is this about the chakra exhaustion?" Sakura asked, her voice desperate.

"Partly, but need I remind you that you purposely took a kunai to the gut in order to incapacitate an enemy during the invasion," Tsunade addressed the girl.

Kakashi and Sasuke both looked at the pink-haired girl who just blushed and ducked her head. Kakashi should not feel proud of this, he knew he shouldn't but, damn it, he was. His genin was so good at medical jutsu, she knew she could take a gut wound in order to most efficiently take out an enemy. Sasuke looked slightly awed but mostly concerned.

"It's temporary, though, right?" Sasuke asked after he composed himself. His attention slowly moved back to the blonde woman in the Hokage's chair.

"Your genin team is disbanded but you may, in the future, be assigned together for missions."

"We're going with him when he looks for that Naruto person," Sasuke announced. "We already know about the mission, so it would keep the circle of knowledge small."

Tsunade hummed thoughtfully. It was solid reasoning. "If you are both at least chūnin by then, I will consider it. We don't know what threats lie on that other planet."

Both genin nodded in determination, and Kakashi felt his chest swell with pride and adoration for his cute little genin. They wanted to support him. But he wouldn't be their jōnin instructor anymore. No, he had other tasks to do.

"What would you have me do, Hokage-sama?" he asked his leader.

"You need to train a new spymaster," she replied.

Huh. He thought he'd be ordered to start learning from the Toads. Sakura jerked slightly and looked concerned. "Shouldn't Sensei first learn this sage mode thing?" Sakura asked nervously. Sasuke was smirking for some reason.

"If the invasion has shown us anything, it is that we need an active Spymaster," Tsunade reasoned and damn it, but she was right. "I know you haven't had the time to properly settle into that role, Jōnin, but given your recent…exposure, we will need to train in a new one—you're no longer destined for the shadows." She was smirking slightly as she said this. Yeah, he got it, he was next in line for Hokage, and he wasn't going to get a say in it.

The woman then shrugged and added, "Besides, we don't know how long it will take you to get Naruto back." That was another good point. Damn it.

She must have sensed his resignation because she proceeded on. "Now, I hear you have an eager volunteer to be your apprentice and, given his time in ROOT, I believe he could be a decent candidate once his social skills improve."

His genin started again at this, but then Sakura was laughing while Sasuke was scowling. Kakashi blinked once and then sighed. He supposed, since his Sukea disguise was the only way he could get information now anyways, it would make sense to train in the new spymaster as an apprentice of his cover craft.

"Very well, I will train Sai-kun to be the new spymaster." Normally the candidate would need to be at least a tokubetsu jōnin. "How much of my skillset am I to pass on to my apprentice?" he asked neutrally even though he was internally crestfallen.

Tsunade saw through him to the root of his question and hidden concern when she said: "Whatever is applicable, but you are more than welcome to save your signature or more recognizable jutsu for your, now former, genin."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama." He was glad to be wearing his mask again as it hid his relieved smile.

"Okay, fine, but shouldn't Sensei begin learning sage mode sooner than later?" Sakura pressed.

Sasuke rolled his eyes now. "Don't be a sore loser. I was right, accept it."

"Never," Sakura hissed at the boy before smoothing her expression and regarding the Hokage.

"Did you two make a bet on when I'd order him to learn Sage Mode?" she asked the genin a little awed.

"It was an inevitability," Sasuke stated calmly.

The blonde woman smirked. "Well, I would like Sai to be trained in some but any down time opportunity you have should be dedicated to learning Sage Mode, brat," she addressed Kakashi with a playfulness now.

Kakashi sighed and both of his genin looked triumphant, at least until they realized the other thought they had won their bet. In fact, they began squabbling about it in front of him.

"Maa, you both technically lost, so stop. My chakra is flagging from holding up this privacy seal."

His genin pouted but he caught Sakura muttering about how this was evidence for why he should immediately start learning sage mode. Kakashi ignored her and turned to the Hokage. "Is there anything else we need to discuss with the seals activated?" he asked.

She shook her head, so he went about deactivating the seals. As he did so, the woman addressed his now former genin. "Now, you two will need to be reassigned. There are two vacancies in exist—"

"Asuma-sensei" "Team 10, please!" His genin spoke at the same time and were now glaring at each other.

"I've already trained under Asuma-sensei," Sasuke argued.

"I'm best friends with Ino-chan," Sakura retorted.

"You two haven't been friends since you started that stalker club," Sasuke countered.

Sakura scowled. "So, you'd rather be on a team with a 'stalker?'" she asked.

"You were a one too when I first joined—Yamanka will get over it too," Sasuke said dismissively before smirking at the pink haired girl. "You just don't want to be on a team with that weird-eyed sensei."

Sakura began to pout and then looked away. "Well neither do you," she said instead of defending herself.

"I'd like to be on a normal team for once," Sasuke said instead. "You'll fit in better with Team 1."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Sakura asked sharply. Kakashi gave his student a mock hurt look—though he was a little offended.

"Maa, Sasuke-kun, you don't think I'm normal?" he asked betrayed.

Sasuke gave them each a deadpan look before turning to the Hokage and bowing slightly. "Hokage-sama, for my mental and physical health, please put me on Team 10."

Sakura began spitting like a cat as she tried to come up with a retort. She failed, especially given how amused Tsunade looked. "Your request is accepted, Genin Uchiha. Genin Haruno, you are hereby reassigned to Team 1."

Kakashi sighed. He'd have to cheer up his, now former, genin. "Maa, let's have one last team meal?" he suggested.

His genin sobered immediately, but still agreed. The Hokage dismissed them, and the three surviving members of Team 7 left the Hokage's office. It would be the last time they did so as a genin team, but perhaps someday they would be on a different team together once they had all spent a little time apart.