A/N: My beta reader finds less and less wrong with every chapter.

I do not know if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

This one is a little shorter than normal, just an interlude to help clarify a few things and, of course, to answer the most common chunin exam question…

There's probably gonna be one more slow/intermediate chapter before the start of the exams, cause the plot of the fic is picking back up then and I like procrastination.

Also because this interlude didn't want to be from any of the kids' POVs we don't see at least one more thing I want to show before we start that arc…

As always, thanks for reading!

Kakashi slips into his office with the soundless grace he would expect of an assassination-specialist.

Hiruzen waits for the younger man to speak first, and only gives in to their silent battle when Kakashi begins to reach for his book.

He breaks the silence with a sigh, and Kakashi freezes mid-motion, before falling back into a parade rest.

"You've made a lot of excuses not to report to me over the past month, Hatake-san. But this…" he rests his hand over Kakashi's report and watches the former ANBU's shoulders sag. "Duragneel has been on your team for a month, and I trust you. So I have given you leave to handle it your way. But this was too close to disaster. Report, Shinobi."

Kakashi takes a deep breath, and Hiruzen wonders at the implications of that.

"I'm sure I'm only reiterating what Yamanaka-san has reported to you before, but Natsu is a genuinely good person. Speaking frankly, perhaps too good, morally, to succeed in shinobi life. I believe that's why you're still looking for solutions to return him home, rather than induct him into the village?" Kakashi trails off and tilts his head, but Hiruzen just nods him to continue. Inoichi had a lot more to say than just that Dragneel wasn't a threat. "He works well with Team 7, and genuinely worries about Sakura as well. He acts younger than his years. I wouldn't have assumed him over fourteen or fifteen if not for the henge he used to show his own body, after all. He is used to a very unusual way of utilizing chakra, as I described in my report. He-"

"Kakashi." Hiruzen interrupts, though he silently despairs. Just the way Kakashi dodged around what he wants to know is answer enough, after all.

Kakashi must realize as well, because his posture slumps. "Naruto looks up to him, and even Sasuke follows his lead more often than not, these days. Whether it's a matter of age or just charisma, he's slowly stepped into the position of leader between the three of them. He's not bad either, for all that he's sometimes a bit reckless, he genuinely cares about them and does his best to take care of them. Naruto's feeling a lot better since their conversation about the kyuubi-"

Kakashi cuts himself off as Hiruzen pinches the bridge of his nose. He almost doesn't want to ask. "When we find a way to return Duragneel to his home, will Team 7 look for him?"

Tellingly, instead of saying no, Kakashi dances around the question. "They don't have the resources to explore the outer continent, and Natsu hasn't been forthcoming with the details of his home outside of what Inoichi already asked. It would be quite the undertaking, as I'm sure they know. We can impress the details upon them as well, if you're concerned."

"You'd help them, wouldn't you?" Hiruzen asks, more to himself than Kakashi. He knows Kakashi wouldn't flee the village for it, but if his other students found a reliable lead, well…

Both Inoichi and Kakashi agree that Natsu Dragneel is a good person.

Hiruzen thinks that might be the problem, and he pulls out his pipe, taking his time to light it and smoke idly for a minute.

Now for the hard part.

"Team 7 will not be participating in the Chunin Exams."

To his benefit, Kakashi does not immediately object, taking a moment to relax his posture before responding. "I understand that there is still a significant difference in strength between Natsu and his teammates, but I do not feel it is so wide as to be worth holding them back from advancement because of it."

"Would Team 7 accept a different teammate for the exams in place of Duragneel?"

Kakashi sighs. "They would, but… they wouldn't be able to work together right from the start. I'd need time to help them adjust."

Hiruzen nods. "I had hoped, as I'm sure everyone involved has, that this would be an easy problem to solve. But all Inoichi's expertise has failed to provide a resolution, and Duragneel himself does not even know how this happened, only that he attempted an unusual jutsu and ended up here. But it is as you say - he is a fundamentally good person, and it would be unwise to promote him and expect him to perform jobs that might stand in contradiction to that. And even you agree that Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun would not be able to immediately accept a new teammate in time for the exams. As such, they will not participate. You may explain the reason to them if you wish, and run exercises with other teams at your own discretion, as long as you believe Duragneel can keep this matter from spreading."

Kakashi doesn't flinch, too well-trained to have such a tell, but the way he starts to relax is as obvious to Hiruzen as anything more obvious.

He takes a deep drag of his pipe.

"Who has found out?" He asks, careful to keep any emotion out of his voice.

"Umino Iruka and the Ichiraku chef, Teuchi. His daughter was out of earshot, and I asked him not to say anything after the others left."

Not as bad as it could have been then. Teuchi was investigated by the ANBU after Naruto started spending a lot of time at his stand, and all the Academy teachers were more thoroughly investigated after Mizuki's betrayal, but still…

"I see." Hiruzen says at last, drawing slowly on his pipe. "I would truly prefer to keep this from spreading. I understand it may be an unreasonable request, especially as the longer Duragneel stays here, the more difficult it will be to keep him away from those who could guess that something is wrong. At the very least, it must be kept quiet until after the Exams are done. Once the other villages have withdrawn their shinobi, it might be best to inform people ourselves, but I would prefer to keep such a glaring weakness quiet."

Kakashi nods. "Of course, Hokage-sama. But, if I may ask, how will we explain to those on the advisory council why Team 7 is not participating? Danzo-sama at the very least will be suspicious."

Hiruzen scowls around his pipe. "He already is, if I am being honest. Not necessarily of Sakura-chan and Natsu themselves, but of why I have deliberately held Team 7 separate from other teams. He has questioned me about it, not so directly, but as our biggest argument has always been regarding teamwork and how strongly it should be pushed to our shinobi, the fact that I have discouraged Team 7 from working with other teams has stood out to him and left him quite bold. He makes insinuations of danger, mostly against Naruto-kun, and I'm sure others on the council will begin to believe him when Team 7 is not nominated."

"Then what will we do?" Kakashi asks, voice tinted with concern. Hiruzen is old, and makes choices he regrets more often than choices he doesn't, these days, but it still warms him to see how Kakashi has grown.

"I will tell them the truth: that Naruto-kun lost control of the kyuubi and killed an enemy shinobi on his last mission, and that we would not wish to inflict that on the villages participating in this exam. It may distress some of them, but in truth it is the only excuse we have if we wish to avoid giving Danzo the support he needs to… reeducate Naruto. Some may still support him in pushing for that, but as long as we make clear that we have the situation under control, he will not have so much support as to begin making things difficult."

Kakashi nods. "Danzo will find out about Natsu sooner or later, Hokage-sama. And you and I both know how he would react to such a situation. How will we deal with that?"

The question alone makes Hiruzen feel ten times his age. He has not interacted with Natsu much, has deliberately kept himself impartial, but he knows Danzo's draconian methods all too well. And he would not inflict such methods on anyone less than his enemies. He sighs.

"We will delay that for as long as possible. Even his paranoid mind will not immediately jump to such a conclusion, as long as we can keep Duragneel out of his eye. And afterwards…" He trails off, ideas flitting through his mind one after the other.

It would be a mistake not to plan for Danzo's eventual discovery of the situation, but it is far from a simple matter, after all…

Kakashi saunters up to Team 7's meeting grounds twenty minutes late, and grins behind his mask as Naruto jumps up to lambast him.

"Maa, someone's feeling better. I suppose that means you feel you did rather well writing your report last night?"

Naruto freezes, then laughs nervously. "Ehehe, I mean, I got it done…?"

Kakashi raises an eyebrow. "Really now?"

"Don't sound so disbelieving! I totally did it, 'ttebayo!"

"Mm." Kakashi turns to Sasuke and extends a hand. He fishes the report out of his pack and hands it over, staring straight at Naruto the entire time. Kakashi's blond student splutters, scrambling for his own pack and pulling out a stained, poorly-folded, and slightly ripped sheet of parchment. Oblivious to Kakashi's horrified stare, Naruto digs back into the pack and comes out with two more equally-tattered sheets which he squints between before putting them in the right order and handing them over with a triumphant expression.

Kakashi doesn't know what to say as he accepts the papers, and he glances between the report and Naruto a couple times. "What did you do to it?"

Naruto looks at him, confused, then glances back down to the report. "Ooooh, the paper! Apparently there was a leak in my apartment while we were gone, and the owner didn't get it fixed until like, two days ago, so I don't have any good paper and when I tried to dry that out I tore it a bit… We haven't got our pay yet so I couldn't buy anymore, and even though Iruka-sensei helped me figure out how to write it, I left to write the real thing by myself because if I'm gonna be Hokage I can't have him reading over everything, but I hadn't realized my paper was ruined until afterwards and I couldn't just go all the way back to his place to borrow more! It was good enough to write on, 'ttebayo!"

There are a lot of unusual things Kakashi would consider 'good enough to write on', and the paper in his hands is exactly zero of them. But the handwriting looks somewhat legible, so he sighs and gently places it into his own pack alongside Sasuke's.

That can be the Hokage's problem, as far as he's concerned. Once he's certain the report won't be damaged any further he turns toward Natsu, steeling himself for despair.

"I thought you were going to go over them with us?" He asks, cheeky, and Kakashi chuckles.

"If Naruto's wasn't in genuine danger of falling apart with the slightest gust of wind I would, but I'm afraid I can't risk it. Consider yourself spared, ne~?"

Natsu laughs, sticking his hand in his kunai pouch and Kakashi is already thinking up apologies for the Hokage when he pulls out… a properly bound scroll?!

"Kiza- ah, I mean Sakura-chan's dad helped me write it out, and he let me use one of the old scrolls he still has? Though he said he doesn't have any properly-colored ones because he never had enough rank to need them…"

Kakashi takes the scroll and stares at it for a moment. It's against all protocol for Natsu to have discussed the mission with anyone not cleared for briefing, and he thinks about reprimanding the pinkette, but…

He rolls the scroll over between his palms and slips it into his own pack.

He's not going to complain about a good thing.

At least Natsu put in the effort, which is more than he honestly expected.

Now, for advice…

"Maa, if you go to the Administration desk you can request a properly-coded scroll for any mission rank or circumstance. This is your first report, so I'll let it slide, but in the future I expect all of you to turn the reports in on proper scrolls, and not…" He glances down to scowl at his pack, then smiles back at Naruto. "Not whatever scraps of water-damaged tissue you manage to scrounge off the floor. Ne~?"

Naruto crosses his arms and grumbles about how Iruka-sensei didn't tell him that, and Sasuke responds before Kakashi can.

"He covered it in the mission prep classes, dobe."

"Wha- I didn't see you turning your report in on a scroll, dattebayo!"

"Hn."

Naruto leaps up and tackles Sasuke. "You totally forgot didn't you! Ha! The great Uchiha Sasuke, forgetting his lessons! Eat dir-!"

Kakashi stands back and watches as Sasuke throws Naruto into the air, rolling over and pouncing on the blond as he lands.

Kakashi gets the vague impression that he should perhaps do something about this, but…

Natsu rushes past him then and tackles both the other boys as they just regain their footing, quickly turning it into a three-way free-for-all, and Kakashi steps backwards, carefully fading into the background.

The bad news can wait until after they've exhausted themselves in a sparring match he decides, and if he throws a few chakra threads here and there to trip them up and keep the fight going as long as possible, well…

They can hardly call themselves shinobi if they're not watching out for sabotage, now can they~?