Team UR/Enemy Mine

Enemy Mine

Iruka ran, sand sliding beneath his feet as he struggled to keep up speed on the uncertain surface. Limbs, usually strong and responsive, were growing leaden, shot through with the pain of oxygen starvation. Breath sawed through his burning throat and his eyes felt full of dust and grit. And beneath all that, his chakra coils throbbed in steady counterpoint, dragging energy from a body already reaching the limits of what it had to give. He was in trouble here, serious trouble, and not the kind he could fight his way out of either. Because this time it wasn't shinobi snapping at his heels.

As he reached the top of the next dune, he stopped, panting as he dropped the hood of his travelling cloak to glance back the way he'd come, and really wished he hadn't. What had been an ominous pinkish glow on the horizon had now darkened to a visible bank of moving sand, its seething mass punctuated by flashes of lightning. If he didn't find somewhere to hole-up before that hit, he was going to die. There'd be no second chances and no last minute reprieves, because that was no ordinary sandstorm. This was Shi-fū, the Deathwind. Suna's most powerful defence and not something you could dig in and ride out under a cloak. This sand storm would hunt him down, swallow him whole and in the aftermath they'd be lucky to find anything larger than a few scoured bones.

The ground moved again, and this time he had no choice but to go with it as the sheer slipface of the dune collapsed, sending him chakra surfing down sand that cascaded like water down a 50 foot drop. It was a stupid risk to take, moving against the flow of the terrain like he was, but he had no choice. He had to find shelter and, according to the map he'd memorised, this was the shortest route to the only sizable rock formation in the area.

With the gathering storm starting to blow gusts of gritty wind into his face, Iruka put on a burst of speed to get him up the back of the next massive dune and only years of discipline stopped him from gasping in relief as he reached the top. Beyond his feet, the ground dropped away, dunes steadily reducing to long regular ridges of sand and from them rose sandstone cliffs, their faces pocked with darkened shadows that had to be caves. The light from the setting sun striped the outcropping gold and rose, scarlet and pale blue. Any other time and he would have stopped to admire such a spectacular view. But right now, he hardly saw their beauty. All he could think was, 'shelter'. And finally. He was almost there. He could do this.

He fumbled in his pouch for his last chakra pill, choking it down without water, and sighed as its tinny, empty energy spread through his body easing some of the ache. He would pay for this later, but at least taking it now meant there might be a later.

His ponytail whipped across his face, temporarily blinding him with sand and hair. The wind had changed direction. Iruka glanced back over his shoulder, and it immediately became obvious that the noise he'd thought was blood racing in his ears was actually the storm. It boiled towards him, a hell of a lot closer than he'd thought, and still gaining rapidly. From this distance he fancied he could see the spirit of it, ichibi, the great tanuki demon, reaching out with teeth and claws to snap up invaders, just like the kyūbi did through Konoha's vast and towering forests.

Whether Suna had set this storm to hunt him specifically after their ambush failed, Iruka didn't know, and he wasn't about to hang around to find out.

He took off at a flat sprint, interspersing as many body flickers as he dared, towards the base of the cliffs. The closer he drew, the more they loomed over him, so much taller and more imposing than he'd first assumed. Here and there traces of human workings showed in the rock; footholds and crude stairways winding upwards towards flattened ledges in front of the larger caves. He aimed for one such route, taking the roughly chiselled steps as fast as he could, feeling and hearing sand grate under his sandals. Getting inside wasn't going to be enough, he realised. He either needed a cave deep enough to hide from the wind completely, or he was going to have to block the entrance somehow. And not with chakra. The Shi-fū hunted chakra and using any amount of it would just draw its fury straight to him.

Static electricity prickled across his skin as he leapt from level to level searching for something suitable. Most of the caves were wide-mouthed and shallow, carved by the wind and scouring sands to shallow bowls and dips that would do nothing to keep him safe. What he needed was a crack in the rock, a fault. Something the wind and sand hadn't had a chance to hollow out. Something that went deep and narrow. Something… like that!

His eyes lit on a dark line just visible in the rock a few hundred yards away. He sprinted towards it, heart thumping hopefully as it continued looking good even as he drew closer. Around him, the air was getting thick with dust. He pulled his hood across his face as he ran, covering his mouth and nose. They were dry enough already without adding more sand to the mix.

He was less than twenty yards from possible safety when a figure suddenly appeared in front of him. Iruka yelped, skidding to a halt and dropping into a defensive crouch, mirroring the newcomer.

Dark clothing covered in the same tan coloured cloak as his own met his considering gaze. For the briefest of moments, Iruka experienced a surge of hope. Was this another Leaf shinobi, someone sent to help perhaps? But no. Less than a heartbeat later, the strange nin sprung up from its crouch, kunai out as it attacked. Their blades met, slid and sprang apart as Iruka twisted sideways, aiming for the slit in the rock. He didn't have time for this. The air around them was turning dirty yellow and the wind had risen to a dull roar.

Apparently the other nin had the same idea. They reached the opening in the rock together, and again their blades clashed.

"This is stupid!" Iruka yelled over the closing storm. "If we keep fighting, we're both going to die!"

"So stand still and let me kill you!" the other shouted back, earning himself a curled lip and a spinning kick. It caught the nin in the shoulder as he tried to duck out of it, his movements sluggish and favouring his right side. Injury or chakra exhaustion, Iruka couldn't be sure which, but it was likely one or the other.

"I don't think you're in any position to argue!" Iruka yelled, following up his attack and kicking the nin backwards, sending them both into the narrow-mouthed cave. The nin stumbled with him, colliding with the far wall and sliding down it for a second before catching himself and pushing upright.

The cave was small, and not as deep as Iruka might have hoped, but they might survive if they pressed to the far back wall and covered themselves with their cloaks. He was on the verge of suggesting they do exactly that when the strange nin jerked his head towards something behind Iruka and said, "How fast can you build walls?"

Iruka turned to see neatly cut stone stacked on one side of the cave mouth, just as though this place was set up as a refuge from sandstorms. He spun back. "Faster than you, I bet," he said, stripping off his pack and tossing it into the corner. "You pass 'em, I'll lay 'em?"

The other nodded, rising tiredly, and they started to work.

Despite being strangers, they worked well together. Each time Iruka extended a hand, a stone of the right size and shape was placed in it, and not once did he have to ask for help holding something in situ as he slotted the next stone into place. But even with them building as quickly and efficiently as they could, the entrance was only half blocked by the time the storm closed in.

Wind whipped past the makeshift wall spraying them both with choking levels of high velocity sand and dust. Iruka found himself coughing uncontrollably when a lucky gust ripped apart the bottom catches on his hood exposing his mouth and nose to the full force of the wind. Hands too full of precariously balanced stones to close it again, he dragged his cheek across his shoulder in a vain attempt to at least cover himself. No such luck. All he managed to do was push the hood back entirely and now his eyes were exposed as well. He averted his face and tried to keep building by touch alone, knowing that without the wall, they'd be in real danger when the brunt of the storm hit them. But it was useless. He couldn't do it. Without being able to draw on his chakra, his sense of touch wasn't good enough, and using chakra would be asking for trouble. The task was impossible. He'd have to drop the stones.

Before he could, a voice close to his ear said, "Here," and a second later hands that weren't his own tugged his hood back into place, securing the broad collar across the lower part of his face. Iruka nodded his thanks and caught sight of one gleaming eye beneath the other nin's hood before he got back to work.

They finished just in time, Iruka shoving the last few stones into place in pitch blackness filled with flying dust and the wailing scream of the wind. He gave the final stone a thump and slid to the floor, shaking with exhaustion. His mouth tasted like a sand pit, and he tore his hood down with trembling hands to hawk and spit, trying to clear the worst of the grit from his teeth. Water would be good, except it was in his pack, which was somewhere in that direction, he thought.

Something nudged his hand. Iruka twitched, too exhausted to react properly. Somewhere in the back of his mind he realised that he should be more alert. He was in enemy territory, sharing this space with a ninja of unknown origins. Letting his guard down was just asking to end up dead. But he couldn't help it. His headlong flight from the ambush site, compounded by popping more chakra pills in the last twenty hours than anyone in their right mind would ever try, meant his body had reached its limits. The last thing he registered as consciousness fled was his companion letting out a disgruntled sigh.

*

As Kakashi watched the sleeping Leaf nin out of the corner of his eye, he spun the kunai restlessly between his fingers. He should kill the guy. Now, while he was out for the count. There was no point in letting him wake up, they'd only end up fighting. Still, it'd make a mess, and he didn't actually want to share the space with a corpse. Not this early in proceedings. If this storm was anything like some of the others that swept through this area, it could last for days. Though there was something about this one that made him wonder if it wasn't different somehow.

He raised his head, listening to the screech and wail of the wind as it battered his home. It didn't sound like the others. There was an edge to it, like it had some kind of elemental intelligence. It reminded him of the lightning storms in the mountains around Kumogakure, the ones that legend said hid the real form of the nibi. If Suna's guardian was behind this storm, then it had to be looking for someone. Probably this fallen Leaf, which simply added to the argument that Kakashi should slit the guy's throat now and throw him outside.

Except that would expose his location and then he'd have to move house. And frankly he didn't want to. Sure it was a hole in the ground in the middle of nowhere, but that was why he liked it. Half a day's hike from a reliable water source, it was off the beaten track, which meant Kakashi didn't have to worry about some idiot stumbling over him while they went about their own business.

He cast a jaundiced glance at the curled form, dimly lit by the guttering light from the hurricane lamp. Well, normally he didn't. There were always exceptions.

He could take the guy prisoner, he supposed.

And then what?

Kakashi leaned back against the wall and stared up into the darkness. It was difficult enough feeding himself out here, without adding a hanger on. And even if Leaf didn't come looking for him, the guy would probably try and escape. Unless Kakashi restrained him.

He tried to imagine life burdened down by someone he'd have to keep tied up all the time and quickly reached the conclusion he'd kill himself first before that happened. He supposed he could genjutsu the guy, make him believe he was back home and happy. Though that would mean using the sharingan, and he'd have to wait before doing that. His chakra levels were far too low to risk uncovering it right now.

Which brought him right back to the killing, and why he wasn't doing it in the first place.

Because he'd saved Kakashi's life? Or, strictly speaking, they'd saved each other's lives. The injury Kakashi had picked up from his run-in with the patrol from Sunagakure would have made blocking the entrance in time, alone, damn near impossible. Together, they'd done it, and saved each other. They were even. He didn't owe the Leaf nin a blood debt or anything stupid like that.

So why wasn't he killing him again?

Kakashi sighed heavily and finally allowed himself to study the Leaf nin with an honest heart. Dark hair currently caught back in a messy ponytail that was almost grey with sand. Skin that, as far as Kakashi could tell under the dust and dirt, was tanned several shades darker than Kakashi's own. A sturdy build with the type of solid muscle all practising shinobi boasted. Regular features. A scar that bisected the bridge of his nose horizontally. The guy wasn't particularly handsome. Nor was he young and pretty like some of the shinobi who'd passed through Kakashi's bed over the years. But the laughter lines around his mouth and eyes spoke of someone who felt joy and showed it, and it was years since Kakashi had been around anyone who smiled just for the sake of smiling.

Such a stupid reason for not killing someone, and yet there it was. The kunai had been in Kakashi's hand for hours and he was yet to use it.

The Leaf nin stirred, eyelids fluttering open and brow pulling down into a confused frown. Kakashi froze, knowing he was all but invisible in the shadows but not wanting to risk drawing attention to himself anyway. He'd been rather enjoying his quiet contemplation of this man and a part of him would have liked it to continue. Now the nin was awake, it was bound to end in a fight, wasn't it?

"I know you're there," the guy said as he rolled onto his back and draped an arm over his face.

Kakashi stretched out one leg, knowing the movement would immediately situate him in the cave even if it hadn't put his foot right into the pool of light that lay between them. "Not like I could leave," he said. "Bit of a wind blowing."

The Leaf nin smiled, his face lighting up just as Kakashi imagined it would. "I noticed," he said, then lowered his arm and peered over at Kakashi. "I also noticed I have a pillow." He patted the bundled up cloak Kakashi had shoved under his head when he couldn't stand the angle the guy's neck was at any longer. "And a blanket." Tanned fingers stroked over the second cloak Kakashi had slung over him when the sound of teeth chattering started to get louder than the wind. "Thank you," he said, pausing before adding quietly, "And thanks for not killing me either."

Since the wind chose that precise moment to drop from near-deafening to almost silent, Kakashi heard him perfectly. A fact the Leaf nin realised, going by the way he shrank back into his make-shift pillow and scrunched up his face. Such obvious expressions for someone who had to be at least chunnin.

"You thought I would?" Kakashi asked, curious at the reaction.

A shrug. "I hoped not. To be honest I was too tired to care, or do anything about it if you tried." With an expression that tightened as he moved, the Leaf nin shoved aside the cloak covering him and levered himself upright, quickly finding his water bottle that Kakashi had left beside him, since he couldn't trust the contents not to be poisoned. He gave it a shake, nose wrinkling at the almost empty sound, before opening it, taking a tentative sniff and swigging back a mouthful. "I'm Iruka, by the way," he said when he was done and the bottle recapped. His voice was light, and soft, even raised as it was to carry over the wind raging outside. "From Konoha, though you probably guessed that much." He tapped the hitai-ate that was still tied firmly around his head.

No family name. Not that Kakashi expected one. Could he risk giving his own name in return? It was unusual as names went, though not exclusively his. And most read it as a nickname anyway. "Kakashi," he said, before he could second guess himself, and then realised he had no village to offer alongside it. Damn, he was getting sloppy. This was what happened when you avoided human contact for so long. You forgot the bits you were supposed to tell and the bits you weren't.

If Iruka noticed the omission, he didn't say anything. "Good to meet you, Kakashi," he said, voice rising as the wind picked up yet again sending dust devils dancing across the floor and making the candle in the hurricane lamp burn sideways for a brief second. "Thank you again for… everything."

Silence fell between them after that. Kakashi was glad. He hadn't been enjoying the way Iruka's voice filled up the spaces in the cave with unfamiliar sounds. In fact, he hated it. As soon as the storm stopped, he'd make Iruka leave and then stand in the middle of the cave and shout until all traces of Iruka's voice was gone.

And what sort of name was that anyway. Iruka. Stupid name.

Movement caught his eye. Kakashi glanced up to see Iruka hugging his knees, both cloaks wrapped around him and he was still shivering. He was in the warm corner too. Not that Kakashi had put him there on purpose. He'd just fallen closer to that side and so it had been easier to just cover him where he lay.

"Cold?" he asked.

Iruka nodded. "I think it's the chakra pills I took," he said. "Too many, too quickly. It's screwed up my temperature control."

That or a fever. Kakashi pushed himself to his feet and trod across the cave to crouch in front of the Leaf nin. Closer to, he could see the flush on the guy's cheeks and leaned over to tuck his fingers just inside Iruka's collar. At the touch, Iruka flinched and hissed, not a surprise given how warm he was to the touch.

Kakashi rocked back on his heels. "Bit of a fever," he said, "Out in the sun too long." Which explained why the guy was so chatty, sharing his name with a stranger and such. Not dangerous though, and nothing a decent bit of sleep wouldn't cure.

"Two days altogether," Iruka said with a crooked smile, "And I didn't sleep last night. I had to keep moving." His eyes, too bright in the reflected light of the lantern, darted to the bricked up entrance. "I knew the storm would come after me once it found the others."

So it was the Suna defence. Kakashi found his own eyes drifting towards the door, his ears straining to find meaning in the wailing screams of the wind. "Big group?"

"Ten. Four chunnin and six genin. We were escorting them to the chunin exams." Iruka's face twisted. "I don't suppose they'll make it now."

"Don't tell me, Suna got the drop on you."

Iruka's head whipped round. "How did you know?"

"Eh, they did the same thing to us a few years ago," Kakashi shrugged.

Iruka stared at him unblinking for a long second and then his eyes widened. "You're him!" he gasped, shuffling backwards even though there was no backwards to shuffle into. "The Copy-nin. You're supposed to be dead!"

"And yet here I am," Kakashi said, standing up and giving a twirl. "My murdering self, in the flesh." He glanced down at Iruka's amazed expression. "What, surprised I haven't got baby's skulls dangling from my fingertips?" He gave them a wiggle and Iruka's nose wrinkled.

"No, more like reassessing the reports we had of the incident that started it all," Iruka shot back. "Was it Suna who killed all those civilians?"

If only his own superiors had been so willing to believe, Kakashi might still be back in Kumogakure instead of pretending to be a dead missing-nin. "It wasn't me, if that's what you mean," he said, hunkering back down again, his sudden flash of exhibitionism fading as the memories returned.

Iruka gave him a quizzical look. "And?"

Kakashi shrugged. He'd never told anyone what had happened that day. He hadn't had a chance when he made it back to Lightning. It had been all he could do to get away from the Raikage with his skin intact, and had spent the next year and a half running to stay ahead of the Hunters that Kumo sent after him. And after that? Well, there just hadn't been anyone. Until now.

Kakashi looked up at the Leaf nin sitting braced against the wall, his face open and interested, non-judgemental despite what Kakashi represented to him. The Copy-nin. The bearer of the stolen Sharingan. Not as strong as the Uchiha who populated Konoha's upper echelons, but still a thorn in their side. Proof that their clan, and their village, were vulnerable.

"You really want to know?" he asked.

Iruka nodded. "If you don't mind. I mean, I know you're probably going to kill me rather than let me go, so it's not like I'll have the chance to tell anyone else."

Kill him? Kakashi stared down at the kunai gripped in his fist, the one he'd taken from Iruka's weapon's pouch when he'd stripped it off him. He supposed Iruka was right; he would have to kill him. If he let the Leaf go, he'd simply tell his village that Kakashi was still alive and news like that travelled faster and further than any borders, geographical or political. Letting Iruka go would be signing his own death warrant, and Kakashi wasn't in the habit of committing suicide. He wasn't his father.

So telling Iruka was probably okay. Though something about the whole situation made Kakashi feel a bit hollow inside. Like maybe he'd got it wrong somehow. He shrugged the feeling off, looked up and said, "The Raikage was trying to formalise the loose alliance between Kumo, Konoha and Suna. The argument went that without having so many fronts to fight on, we'd stand a chance of restoring our borders with Mist and grabbing back some of the islands."

"I remember," Iruka said, matching Kakashi's forthright tone. "Though Earth Country was more of a problem for Konoha, and for Suna, I think."

"The initial meeting was held in neutral territory-"

"The Land of Iron," Iruka put in.

So that much was common knowledge. Kakashi wondered how much more had filtered out over the last few years. At the time, the Raikage seemed to think Kakashi had to be the traitor since no one else was supposed to know details. But then he hadn't been rational at all after what happened.

"Yeah. The idea was that one representative from each village, plus one bodyguard per, would lock themselves in the room and stay there till they thrashed out something they could take back to their Kages. Six people, one room, as much time as it took. It was a good plan. Security was tight. No one was getting in or out."

"Except something went wrong," Iruka said, "because only you came out unscathed."

The sharingan throbbed in memory. Kakashi shoved his fingers under the bandanna, digging them into the eye socket to try and ease the pain. "Yeah, which is where it starts making no sense." This was why he'd never tried explaining. "Everything was going swimmingly until the guy from Sand stood up and punched a hole through B's chest. Then all hell let loose."

"But the evidence -" Iruka began.

"Said that it was my raikiri that did the damage. Yeah, I know," Kakashi said over him. "But it wasn't. It was the guy from Suna. I was standing right behind B when it happened. The Sand bodyguard came at me, the other one at B. I didn't even see him move. One second he was sitting down, and the next his hand was through B's chest and out the other side. B didn't even try to avoid it. It was like he'd been put under a genjutsu, except I'd have noticed if he was." He tapped the sharingan to show what he meant. "Only another sharingan could have slipped past my defences and neither of the guys from Konoha were Uchiha."

"No, they were Yamanaka Fū and Shimura Danzō." Iruka's expression turned thoughtful, his brows tugging down.

"Right, and while I was trying to beat the Sand guys down, the Yamanaka tried one of his clan jutsu on them. Only it didn't work and they turned on him."

"Shimura-san testified that it was you who killed Fū. And he is a much respected member of the Konoha village council and one of the Hokage's advisers."

Kakashi clenched his fist around the kunai and sprang to his feet. "I know, but it wasn't me. I don't know why he would say that it was." This had been pointless. Why would Iruka believe him over one of his own?

A few limping strides took Kakashi to the other side of the cave where his meagre belongings were stacked in a pile. Sooner or later the wind would die down, and as soon as it was safe, he was leaving. Screw this place, and the people who seemed set on forcing him out. He'd go of his own accord and find somewhere better. Somewhere he didn't have to put up with sand in his underwear twenty-four seven.

Behind him, Iruka made an odd sort of noise and said, "Aren't you going to tell me what happened next?"

"Eh?" Kakashi said, glancing back at him. He honestly hadn't expected him to ask, not after his comment about Shimura.

"That wasn't the end. You didn't say how the civilians died," Iruka explained.

He looked so openly earnest that Kakashi couldn't hold his gaze. It was too intense. He didn't know what to do with expressions like that, not any more. Instead he lowered his eyes to the spare flak jacket he was holding and sorted through the memories, disjointed and incoherent as they were. Was there really any point in sharing this? No one in their right mind would believe it. He should just ignore the guy. Let him stew in his own ignorance.

"Please, Kakashi?"

Damn. How had Iruka known that he had a weakness for good manners. "The guy I was fighting leeched his opponent's chakra," Kakashi began as he turned and slid down the wall to sit on his heels. The jacket dropped unnoticed to the ground between his feet. "And my reserves aren't huge at the best of times. He drained me of everything I had and that's when the other one took over."

*

As he listened to Kakashi unravelling the familiar tale of murder and mayhem and reweaving it into very different cloth, Iruka could hardly believe his luck. Three months ago, what Kakashi was saying would have seemed preposterous. Iruka would have disbelieved him on principle and written him off as a proven criminal and a faithless liar.

Now though, he listened with an open mind because, in describing the way he found himself driven to his limits and then controlled by something outside his body, Kakashi had inadvertently touched on something close to Iruka's heart. Because three months ago Iruka was one of a select group charged with covertly investigating Shimura Danzo. Specifically his links to Sasori of the Red Sand, puppet master extraordinaire, who was now on the run from Sunagakure after he'd been discovered turning living people into puppets for his own amusement. And what eye-witnesses had described as happening there was exactly what Kakashi was describing here.

"It was like I was sleep walking," Kakashi was saying. He had his head down so all Iruka could see was grubby white hair erupting like a demented powder puff from around the bandanna he wore to cover the stolen eye.

How old had Kakashi been when the sharingan replaced his own eye, Iruka wondered? And did he volunteer to have it done? Iruka hadn't been born when the Kumo nin had crept into Konoha and kidnapped young Uchiha Obito, and Kakashi didn't look that much older than himself. He must have been young, too young to truly understand what was being asked of him.

The story continued. "My limbs weren't my own," Kakashi explained. "I couldn't think straight. There was only enough chakra in my body to keep my heart beating and my lungs moving, but it didn't stop them from using me to slaughter people." Kakashi's voice was flat, resigned. It went with the rest of him, Iruka thought. Barring a few flashes of dry humour, the man seemed to be barely treading water emotionally, which was not what you'd expect from a notorious missing-nin. Shinobi left their villages for many reasons, most of which involved a desire for more power, money or recognition. They almost inevitably went on criminal rampages that ended up with them dead.

Which was what everyone thought had happened to the Copy-nin. And yet here he was, spilling his story to a complete stranger.

"I don't like killing civilians. The Raikage tried to get me to join black ops once, but I turned him down. There's no honour in assassination. As a front line ninja, I know I'm fighting other nin and I can do my duty to my village better that way."

Missing-nin didn't pretend to be dead to avoid conflict and speak about honour to shinobi from enemy villages.

"It went on for days. I'd still be with them except I struck lucky and ran into a creep from Yugakure with a religion fetish. He tried some sort of possession ritual on me which didn't mesh with whatever the Sand guys were using and the whole thing back-fired. Spectacularly. Took them all out as far as I could tell." Kakashi raised his head and Iruka caught sight of a lop-sided smile before the darkness swallowed most of his features again. "To be honest I didn't hang around to check. I headed for Kumo as fast as my legs could carry me." His fist clenched tightly around the kunai. "Not sure why I bothered. By then Sand and Konoha's version of events was everywhere and no one wanted to listen to what I had to say. Especially not the Raikage. Screw all my years of faithful service to the village, he just saw his little brother's murderer and that was it." Kakashi made a choked sound that could have been a laugh if the joke had been funny. "It took me over a year to get far enough ahead of the hunters he sent after me to fake my own death. I'm not sure why I expected anything else. A's not the most rational guy at the best of times."

As one of the Fourth's personal assistants, Iruka had been witness to numerous occurrences of the Raikage's legendary temper. In the beginning, it had worried him. He'd honestly thought, after one particularly rant-laden missive, that all out war was about to be declared, until the Fourth rolled his eyes and wrote it off as a storm in a teacup. 'At least he's honest,' Minato would say when the Council complained about the Raikage's rudeness, 'which is a step up from his dear old dad.' Which was true. Most of Kumo's old tricks had stopped when A inherited the position of Raikage. And despite his bad manners and impetuous nature, Iruka couldn't see him ordering the theft of a child just to get its eyes. Though any who fell on the battlefield would be fair game.

A lingering, not entirely comfortable, silence fell between Iruka and Kakashi once the tale was finished. Iruka sipped at his water and leaned back against the wall, listening to the wind as he turned things over in his mind.

When he'd first set eyes on the man whose space he was sharing, he'd felt nothing but sympathy. He might still have been half-asleep and more than a bit feverish at the time, but he wasn't so far gone that he couldn't recognise someone in dire straits when he saw them. For one thing, the guy was too thin, to the point of emaciation. The fingers which gripped the kunai so desperately were bony, and his cheeks and eyes had a sunken look that definitely wasn't healthy. His clothes were worn and patched, his voice scratchy, possibly from disuse. And the way he'd spoken to start with - a little disjointed and short, like he'd forgotten the niceties - suggested he hadn't been around people for a long time.

Plus there was the dirt that Iruka had noticed on his arms and neck as he tucked his fingers under Iruka's shirt to take his temperature. It was ingrained in a way that only happened when someone hadn't bathed properly for a very long time. And when the guy had given his name with no village attached, Iruka had just assumed he was someone who'd been invalided out and then fallen on hard times. It happened. It wasn't even uncommon.

Now he knew the truth, a huge helping of respect had been added to the sympathy and compassion he'd already been feeling. The Raikage might be short-tempered and impetuous, but he was also clever, and he surrounded himself with the type of shinobi who made things happen. Eluding the combined strategic might of Kumogakure for any length of time was a remarkable feat.

"How did you do it?" Iruka asked, "Stay ahead of them, I mean."

Kakashi's shoulder, just visible in the dim light, rose and fell. "By being better than the rank and file, and sticking close to places with demon protection to lose the others." Iruka heard him shift and the fingers around the kunai relaxed slightly. "Kumo's top hunters are chakra power-houses, if they tried anything inside another village's purview, they'd always set off every defence in the area which gave me the heads-up to move on."

"That makes sense," Iruka concurred. Most nation's high-ranking shinobi were the same. It had lead to a strict division of labour where jounin, and other ninjutsu specialists, were restricted to border skirmishes and home defence, while those with other skills and innately smaller amounts of chakra, normally chunnin and tokubetsu jounin, were sent out on missions to other nations. Normally hunters had to balance the two. The ideal would have superb skills and less chakra, like Kakashi, but there was always a tendency to send out people with a lot of power, even if they did end up attracting all the wrong sort of attention.

Iruka had often wondered if that had been part of the Great Sage's design when he'd sealed the tailed beasts to the land the way he had. It had certainly created havens where non-combatants were mostly safe and stopped all-out ninja war raging across the continent. Of course it did mean that most villages spent half their energies trying to foment rebellion amongst their neighbours since they couldn't invade them directly. Which made people like Shimura Danzo, backroom wheeler and dealer, both vital for a village's survival and completely terrifying. Especially if they turned against you…

A horrible thought rose in Iruka's mind. He'd assumed that the ninja who'd attacked his team were Sand, since they'd been wearing Suna uniform and hitai-ate. But as every shinobi knew, evidence like that was easy to fake.

What if they'd been Konoha?

Even though the investigation into Shimura was supposed to be a secret, it was certainly possible that Shimura had found out about it and was seeking to put a stop to it somehow. But if he was, then losing Iruka from the team was hardly going to achieve his goal. He should be targeting one of the more important ones. Like Tsunade, Konoha's Chief Medic and Senju Hashirama's grand-daughter. Though the other member of their three man team, Uchiha Itachi, ANBU captain and heir to one of Konoha's founding clans, probably ran her a close second.

When Iruka had first been appointed, he'd tried protesting that he was surplus to requirements amongst such illustrious company. The Hokage had simply laughed in that carefree way of his, and said, 'That's why we need you, Iruka-kun. You'll keep our feet firmly on the floor and stop us forgetting the regular people.' Which was a typically Minato way of giving a compliment. The man would never be accused of having a silver tongue. But the truth remained, compared to the others, Iruka was easily replaceable.

And easily captured, especially when he was outside the village.

His eyes flicked to Kakashi, who'd fallen silent and seemed to be half-asleep propped up against the wall over there. Had he been sent to catch Iruka? Was his story just that? A tale to catch Iruka's interest and make him let his guard down?

That seemed a little complicated, even for someone as devious as Shimura. It was far more likely that they'd simply hoped to grab Iruka during the ambush and had somehow lost track of him in the aftermath. But if they had been chasing him, he hadn't seen them.

Though that didn't necessarily mean anything. They'd probably been running from the storm as well. And in fact, if the ambushers had been Konoha then it suddenly made a lot more sense that Suna's defence systems had activated. The storm had probably been hunting one of the them, not Iruka at all, since Iruka and his team had had permission to be there.

"The storm's dying down," Kakashi said. "If it keeps this up, we could drop the wall." He was right. Iruka hadn't noticed but what had been a persistent background scream was now just an intermittent wail.

As Kakashi spoke, Iruka stared pensively at their hastily constructed barrier, his mind still chewing over the facts. Going by the way the storm had stuck on his tail, whoever was after him had to have tracked him across the desert, and been right on his heels when he reached the caves. Which meant they probably saw where he hid and that he wasn't alone before they sought shelter themselves.

And now the storm was dying down…

The wall exploded inward with not even a hint of warning. Iruka launched himself across the cave towards his weapons pouch, aware of Kakashi leaping over him in the opposite direction to meet whoever came through the gap. When Iruka came back up armed and ready to join the fight, he faltered. The white figure in the doorway looked human, except there was something subtly off about it. For one thing, it was naked, and fighting in the nude wasn't something anyone did if they had a choice.

"Floor!" Kakashi yelled.

Iruka threw himself upwards just as the ground beneath him erupted to reveal another of the figures like the one Kakashi was fighting, except this one was different. It was still naked and white, but it was oddly malformed down one side as though its limbs weren't complete. That didn't stop it going for Iruka with its other hand. As it attacked, the hand shifted shape, becoming longer and pointed like a stake. Iruka ducked under it, throwing out one leg to try and sweep away the other's feet. It leapt over him, clinging momentarily to the wall like a spider before throwing itself back into the fray, its second arm and hand starting to grow properly.

A surge of chakra came from the doorway. From the corner of his eye, Iruka caught a glimpse of bright flickering light and heard a high-pitched sound that made his teeth feel like they were vibrating. Kakashi was using his signature technique, raikiri. Not that Iruka had time to think about such matters. Not with this thing - clone, monster - whatever it was, coming at him.

Both arms were complete now and, as Iruka parried another attempt to stab him through the belly with the stake, he realised the second arm resembled something more like a whip. Or maybe a long root, he thought as his kunai dug a furrow up the thing's inner elbow, sending up a shower of what looked like splinters. The woody flesh immediately began to repair itself and Iruka started to get a really bad feeling about what they're were up against here.

The root-like arm whipped out. Iruka ducked out of its way, skidding back across the sandy floor, both hands out in front of him to help keep his balance. A sudden tug on his chakra made him snarl and slash at the tendril that had snaked it way around his wrist in the gap between his sleeve and glove. The fleshy tendril parted spraying greyish white fluid, and he shook the remains off his wrist before peppering what remained of the whippy limb with shuriken in the hopes of slowing it down a bit.

But that pull on his chakra had been real enough. Iruka yelled over the sound of the wind and combat, "Kakashi, are either of these the ones who got you before?" Because if either could drain chakra, Iruka wanted to know now, before he ended up in trouble.

Kakashi, his bandanna shoved up to reveal both eyes, leapt up and over one opponent's rapid thrusting jabs, to slice the second through the side of its neck with a fist that sparked with electricity. "No! And aim for their heads. They can't regenerate if the head's gone!"

Which he would know, how? Iruka thought before catching a glimpse of a headless body at Kakashi's feet. He'd already downed one! And was fighting two more? Iruka frowned. This might not be a competition but it was still up to him to show what Konoha could do. The thing lashed out again, and this time caught his upper arm, the regrown tendril winding tight round the biceps. Iruka hacked at it, expecting to feel the drain on his chakra any second, but it never came. Instead the thing groaned, its mouth opening impossibly wide, and another tendril shot out at his face. He swung at that, ducking low and feeling it brush past his face and the slight tug on his chakra that went with it.

So, it needed bare skin for its tricks, did it? That made life easier. Knowing which parts he had to protect meant he could go on the offensive properly. Iruka redoubled his attacks, pulling out all the stops to force it deeper into the narrow cave. There wasn't much space to manoeuvre, which Iruka was hoping to use to his advantage. He didn't have huge ninjutsu skills, but what he did have were firmly earth element oriented, and if he could push the thing far enough back, he could bring the roof down on it. He'd like to see it regenerate under half a ton of rock.

The creature retreated under the barrage of attacks, parrying more slowly as though it was tiring. Was it time limited? Some kind of chakra imbued doll? It didn't matter. Iruka pressed harder, aiming for the neck and head. Each wound he opened re-closed within moments, though not as fast as it had and the shape of the thing was shifting again, slumping more on one side. If this turned into a war of attrition, Iruka was pretty sure he could win it.

The sounds of battle still came from the doorway and Iruka wondered how many of these things Kakashi had defeated by now, and if there were more coming. And if so, who the hell was making them and sending them. For a brief moment he worried that this was all pointless and no matter how many he and Kakashi killed, more would fill the gaps, then the wooden clone ninja thing hit the back wall of the cave.

Iruka snarled, getting up and into its face, heedless of the thing's attempts to latch onto him again. So long as he could protect bare skin, it was welcome to touch anything it liked. What he needed was enough breathing space to make the handseals and to get a hand on the rock. The thing's mouth opened again, a tendril whipping out and glancing off Iruka's hitai-ate. He sliced through it, continuing the move to slit its throat and then down again to open gash across its wrist where the tendons that controlled the hand would normally lie.

Not with this creature, of course, though the moves still did damage. Enough for Iruka to shove his kunai in his mouth to free up his hands. Enough to buy him the time to perform a rapid series of handseals and channel the chakra he needed into the jutsu. The creature stirred as he reached past it and he growled, shoving his forearm against its throat and jerking its head up as he leaned close to slam his palm against the rock behind its head. "Earth release: Landslide!" he said, getting a visceral jolt of pleasure from the way its eyes widened with fear as the carefully shaped chakra poured out of him.

But instead of permeating the rock and finding the perfect point of instability to set off the rock-slide, the chakra slid away from his control, flowing back along the route and into…

Iruka's breath caught in his throat as the thing under his hands changed shape yet again, absorbing the chakra he had sent into the wall. Its body softened into flesh, its skin darkened, hair sprouted from its head and a mark erupted across the bridge of its nose. Between one moment and the next, Iruka found himself staring into an exact duplicate of his own face. "Holy crap!" he yelled, leaping away across the floor. "Kakashi, these things can shape change!"

"Yeah, got that!" Kakashi yelled back, and Iruka glimpsed him battling three of the creatures, one of which looked more like an octopus with the number of arms it had.

"That's not what I meant!" Iruka shouted. As he was speaking, the second Iruka came at him and as they clashed he got an good idea of just how much it had been holding back before. It was, frankly, embarrassing how easily the thing parried his blows. It was like it knew what his attacks were going to be before he made them, which was impossible. Iruka might not be jounin, but he was good enough not to telegraph his moves. "I mean really change shape. Like become people!"

"What?!… Shit!" A short pause filled with the sounds of vicious violence followed Kakashi's outburst then, "Iruka?" he said in a worried voice.

"Yes?" the creature replied, at the exact moment Iruka said the same thing. They both froze. Iruka stared at it, and it stared back, mirroring his expression perfectly. It had even reproduced his clothes, Iruka realised, and his weapons. It had copied everything, from the flyaway hair that never stayed in his pony-tail, right down to the bruise on his big toe where he stubbed it against a rock in the sand. It was him. Except, there was one thing that couldn't be copied, wasn't there?

"Which one of you is-" Kakashi began.

"Chakra!" Iruka snapped back just as the clone shook its head and said, "No, it's even copied that." It glanced over at Kakashi, expression pleading. The damned thing was going to try and convince Kakashi that <i>it</i> was the real Iruka. Screw that! Iruka opened his mouth to challenge it, to tell Kakashi that he was the real deal, not this fake, when the clone's eyes widened, and it yelled, "Behind you!"

*

At the bellowed warning, Kakashi swung round, only just deflecting the blade in time. It skittered across the back of his glove, gouging a deep slice up his arm. He cursed at the thing, fired up yet another lightning cutter and this time demolished its head. When the body slumped back lifeless to the ground, he turned to find both the Irukas staring each other. They were absolutely identical, right down, as the one had said, to their chakra. And Kakashi could tell. The sharingan could read chakra like nothing else.

Except why bring the issue up? Had that one been the clone? Though the other hadn't argued the point, so as a stance it proved nothing. Nor, really, did the warning the other had given.

The easiest solution was to kill them both. In fact, Kakashi wasn't sure why he wasn't, except that it apparently fell into the same category as killing Iruka alone. And for some reason killing Iruka had become off limits. So simple murder was out, which left him with two possible Irukas to distinguish from each other and precious little information about the real thing to base his judgement on.

For one thing, going by the way they were both glaring at each other, what one knew, so did the other. The copy went deeper than skin and chakra then. So how was he going to tell them apart?

One of the bodies at his feet twitched. Kakashi spun the kunai around his finger, caught it in his fist and drove it into the thing's neck, using the momentum to completely slice off its head, spilling even more of that whitish fluid. Blood from the gash in his arm dripped into the puddle and, seeing the two together made Kakashi ponder what colour Iruka's clone would bleed? It would be an easy test.

He raised his bandanna briefly and glanced surreptitiously up at the Irukas under the cover of checking the other bodies and finishing them off. Definitely the same chakra.

The fight between the two was still in abeyance, though the way they were squaring off suggested that wouldn't last for long. He could let them fight, he supposed. Most fights resulted in injuries to both parties, so he'd be able to see then who bled red and who white.

Sure enough the fight started up again, and it pretty quickly became clear that one of the Irukas was being pushed hard. It also proved that the cloning really was deeper than skin and chakra, as both bled as red as the other, which brought Kakashi right back to the beginning. It was disturbing, actually, watching them and not knowing who to help, who to root for. If the wrong one lost, he'd never know. Until they stuck a kunai in his back.

The wind, though it had dropped considerably was still sending flurries of sand and dust through the entrance. Kakashi stepped out of its direct path and hunkered down in the lee of the wall to watch the fight and to stand guard in case any more of those things made an appearance. If they were clones, it stood to reason they were clones of something or someone and their originator was probably somewhere nearby.

Which raised another question.

Kakashi peered out of the empty doorway at the clearing sky. The sun had been up for a while and as the cloud and dust cover thinned, the sun was burning through. He wasn't going to go out and check, but it looked like the storm was gone. The Shi-fū, the chakra hunting storm that tracked non-Suna chakra and consumed those who dared trespass on its territory without permission. And not five minutes ago, while the storm was dying away, Kakashi had been using raikiri to cut down the clones. Not to mention the fight going on right now. Neither combatant was a chakra powerhouse, but they weren't stinting on it. Though, if anything the one that was winning was using slightly less.

The other, very marginally slower than the first and bleeding from several wounds, dropped to one knee, panting heavily. Sweat dripped from his chin, his hands shook from exertion, and Kakashi could tell that it wouldn't be long now before victory was final. In fact it should have happened already. But instead of following through, the first Iruka stood over the beaten one, and that was the only clue Kakashi needed, because he was pretty sure that Iruka, the real Iruka, wouldn't hesitate to kill his clone if he got the chance.

He went to move, to raise his kunai and do the deed while the thing was distracted by Iruka on the ground, and singularly failed to move. For a second he thought it was maybe chakra exhaustion. His reserves were pitiful these days and when he used the sharingan it could sneak up on him. But no, he would have known. He would. And there was no headache, and the ache at the back of the sharingan was below the threshold that warned him he was pushing it too far. So not chakra exhaustion. But something was freezing him in place.

That was when he felt the threads. So cleverly had they been drifted onto his skin that he'd mistaken them for dust in the wind. Only now that he needed to move could he feel them inside his body, infesting his chakra system through tenketsu still not fully healed from the last time, and immobilising his limbs. But not his head, not yet. It wasn't, quite, too late.

He opened his mouth to call a warning to Iruka, only for his lungs to contract harshly, driving the air from them in a quiet strangled sound. His heart leapt into his throat, pulse suddenly hammering. But not from anything Kakashi had done himself. The impetus for that was coming from outside, and Kakashi had felt it before. It was a warning. A message from the puppet master that he was back in control.

Trapped in his own head, Kakashi spared a thought for Iruka, the man Kakashi was probably going to be forced to kill. Perhaps if Kakashi had mentioned who'd been controlling him all that time ago, Iruka might have been prepared. Not that Iruka was in a position to do anything to defend himself right now. And not just because of the clone. There was something else going on. A white substance, like the stuff the original clones were made of, erupted from all over Iruka's body, wrapping around him until his torso and legs were completely encased. Iruka struggled, yelling at Kakashi to get off his ass and come and help, and calling out the clone for being a bastard and a mutant creep.

Helpless Kakashi watched as the clone reached out and deliberately drew its kunai across Iruka's face, reopening the scar over his nose. The scream Iruka let loose was half pain, half frustrated rage. Blood poured from the wound painting his cheeks red. The clone leaned forward and licked across it. Kakashi gagged, not surprised to find that basic instinct unrestricted. The puppet master was too good to get bogged down in the minutiae. Kakashi's body had been running itself for a long time, and would continue to do so even under the puppet master's guiding hand.

"Don't damage him too badly, it may confuse his thought processes," a voice said from behind Kakashi, and he didn't have to be able to move to know who it was.

Appearance-wise, the young man who stepped into his line of sight couldn't be any more ordinary. Pale-skinned, dark-haired and dark-eyed, he was of average build with forgettable features. Not that Kakashi would ever forget them. This was the Suna bodyguard from the peace conference, and the one who had systematically kept Kakashi's chakra levels low enough so he was easily controlled. He was also the one who could use mokuton, which meant he had to be, in some way shape or form, related to Konoha's founder, Hashirama Senju, the only other known wood release user in the history of the shinobi nations.

In addition, so Kakashi had discovered afterwards, he was a puppet himself.

To be fair, the set up wasn't obvious to the casual observer. It had taken most of the three years since his faked death for Kakashi to work it all out. But eventually, after numerous questions in unwary ears and kunai to several unsuspecting throats, a picture had emerged of an obsessively secretive man who never showed his own face. Whose puppets were lifelike enough to pass as human. Of the way he would use those puppets to control other human beings if he felt so inclined. And behind it all, one name, whispered in the darkest places, in the quietest, most fearful voices. Sasori of the Red Sand.

According to Kakashi's sources, this man, whose hand now rested on Kakashi's head like a master's on his dog's, was Sasori's prize creation. Rumour had it that he was originally a survivor of Konoha's notorious criminal Orochimaru's human research, freed when the Fourth Hokage had discovered the laboratories. Though how the man - Yamato, his name had been - had subsequently fallen into Sasori's hands, remained shrouded in mystery. Someone in Konoha must have done it, and Kakashi suspected it might have been Shimura Danzo, though he had no proof to back up his assertions.

Chakra was being drawn from Kakashi's body in a steady flow, his mind slipping away with it. He did his best to fight back, swimming through the molasses of his mind to stay focused on Iruka. Despite being defeated, on his knees in front of the creature who had stolen his body and memories, Iruka's dark eyes burned with defiance. His mouth was a hard line, lips pressed pale beneath the blood, and he held his head high, gaze strong and level as he stared at the man standing beside Kakashi.

"Let him go," Iruka said. "I don't know what you're doing to him, but he's not a part of this. Let him go and I'll co-operate."

Was this what they meant when they spoke of Konoha's Will of Fire? Kakashi had rarely faced Konoha on the battlefield, but they had a reputation for never leaving a man behind, whatever it took.

He'd like to tell Iruka to forget it. That he wasn't Iruka's friend and that he wasn't worth wasting time and energy on, that Iruka should concentrate on saving himself. But he couldn't even open his mouth.

"Since we have all the co-operation we need simply through your continued existence, your argument is moot," Yamato said. "As for this one not being a part of this, you're right. But he is mine. I chose him and now I finally have the chance to transform him properly. He will take Yura's place in my collection."

Yura was dead? No, gone. He was already dead and had been for years, as Kakashi understood it. He'd just looked alive, another one of Sasori's 'living puppets' like Yamato. And soon Kakashi himself.

The hand on Kakashi's head pressed down once and then lifted. If Kakashi could have, he would have slumped into a heap. His head hurt, the sharingan throbbing in the socket, though his reserves weren't dangerously low. If necessary his body would survive with them much lower than this, and even perform adequately so long as the puppet-master pulled his strings. Being under Sasori's control was something like going sleep and never quite dropping off. Like those endless nights of fitful tossing and turning, when the body demanded action but the mind was never conscious enough to enforce its will. It was a half waking nightmare, and something no one should have to endure even once. To face it again was a horror beyond imagining.

It made the idea of being turned into a 'living puppet' almost attractive.

"Your collection?" Iruka said, and Kakashi saw exactly when realisation dawned. Iruka's gaze shot to the standard sized pack Yamato wore on his back, the one that was just feasibly large enough to conceal a small person, and he said, "Sasori of the Red Sand. Where's Shimura?"

Outside a sudden cry of an eagle pierced the sky. Yamato cocked his head. "Just arriving," he said. "Shall we go out and meet him?"

The threads brought Kakashi to his feet and sent him across the cave to pick Iruka up. The stuff binding Iruka's legs and torso had hardened into a cross between paper and wood. Whatever if was, it was tough and fibrous and very strong. As he carried Iruka in his arms, Kakashi could see his muscles straining to tear it.

After a moment or two, he seemed to give up, grinning at Kakashi a bit ruefully. "Guess I should have done more training," he said, quietly. "I'm sorry I let them get the drop on us like this. I should have warned you that Sasori might be involved."

He'd known? That was confusing. Kakashi has assumed that Iruka was some kind of innocent victim here, but perhaps not. Though he was hardly in a position to complain about keeping secrets since he hadn't mentioned Sasori himself.

Outside, the sun was well and truly breaking through, beating down from a sky bleaching out from the heat. The rock beneath Kakashi's feet burned through the thinning soles of his old sandals. Thankfully he and his burden were sent towards another cave, this one shallower but much larger and blessedly cool in its shaded depths. He placed Iruka on the floor against one wall and then stood beside him at ease, Sasori's preferred position for his human puppets when they were off duty. He'd explained once that it put the least strain on the joints and blood supply and so kept the bodies in prime condition. Presumably so they weren't too broken when he turned them into 'living puppets'.

Four others entered the cave behind Kakashi. Yamato, the Iruka clone and two others. One was Shimura Danzō, still as sour and miserable looking as Kakashi remembered. The other was a boy with paper pale skin, ink black hair and clothing which didn't meet in the middle. From the way he stood, absolutely alert, and just behind and to the right of Shimura, Kakashi assumed he was a bodyguard. To be charged with such a duty when so young must mean he was exceptional. Perhaps even a genius.

Iruka made a disgusted sound. "He should still be doing D ranks," he muttered. "And look at him. What sort of a childhood has he had? I hate Root."

Were they Konoha's Black Ops? All villages had a code for the specialist teams who did the really dirty work and 'Root' fit the mold perfectly. Kakashi guessed that was just one other thing he would die not knowing.

The clone, Shimura and Yamato were standing together in the shaded entrance of the cave, Shimura questioning the clone intently and the clone answering him in short bursts. A debrief would be Kakashi's guess. If they were planning on the clone taking Iruka's place, which seemed the likeliest scenario, they'd want to know if it could pass master, and how better than to have it interrogated by a councillor from Iruka's home village. Even if he was corrupt.

Was it an assassination attempt? Kakashi wished he bothered to ask Iruka what he did for a living. That information would at least let him make an informed guess as to what going on. Damn, this was so frustrating! He finally had something to start fighting for and no way to fight for it.

Shimura's normally dour expression soured further. He glanced over at Iruka with his single dark eye and his lips twisted. "We'll try it your way first," he said, as the three of them headed further into the the cave, towards Kakashi and Iruka.

Iruka's feet scrabbled a little at the floor. He was probably trying to break free again, Kakashi thought. Didn't he ever give up?

At a gesture from Shimura, the bodyguard hauled Iruka upright and propped him against the wall, holding him there by his hair. The clone crouched in front of him with one hand against the woody restraints around Iruka's body.

"You are one of Minato's administrative assistants, correct," Shimura said.

Iruka, eyes still defiant, glared at him silently.

The clone however replied in a perfect replica of Iruka's voice, "I am. And have been for the past three years. It's rewarding work, though sometimes frustrating when Minato is too distracted to do all his paperwork. On those-"

"What distracts him?" Shimura interrupted.

A flush crept up the clone's cheeks. "His wife. She sneaks into the office and locks the door and even though they're quiet, everyone knows-"

Shimura growled. "Forget the woman. Anyone else?"

"His son, Naruto. He's a good kid, but loud like his father and together-"

"Do you know the boy well?"

The clone looked hesitant and Kakashi realised that it was reading Iruka's thoughts through the wood. That was… incredible, and also terrifying. He'd never come across an ability like it, unless you counted the Yamanaka clan. But then Yamanaka Fū had been one of Shimura's too. Had they found some way of incorporating the ability into the mokuton?

"I'll rephrase," Shimura said when the clone failed to answer. "Does the boy trust you?"

Not an assassination, a kidnapping. What would Konoha's Yellow Flash do if he thought some other nation had stolen his son? Going by the horrified expression on Iruka's face, nothing good.

"I think so. We often eat ramen together at lunch if his dad's too busy to take him," the clone said.

"Would he leave the village with you if you asked?"

A short pause. Iruka's eyes looked glazed and Kakashi wondered if he was trying a blocking technique. If he was, it wasn't good enough. A moment later the clone replied with a happy smile, "Sure. I'll offer to show him the Forest of Death. He's always nagging me to take him in there."

Shimura's attention shifted immediately to Yamato. "And you will bring the child the rest of the way."

Yamato nodded. "Kurama can't sense my chakra past Hashirama's. I come and go around Konoha as I please."

"Just make sure you're in Suna territory before you slit the boy's throat. There needs to be no doubt in anyone's mind who's responsible for this atrocity."

The sudden clang of metal against stone was accompanied a heartbeat later by a huge explosion of chakra smoke. The bodyguard made an odd gurgling noise and then someone said from right in front of them, "And that would be you, wouldn't it, Danzo."

Kakashi's body leapt to the alert, the bandanna shoved up, sharingan whirling. Chakra already building for a raikiri, even though he no clue who he'd be facing.

It was Iruka who identified the newcomer for him.

"Minato-san!" he choked out and, as the smoke cleared to reveal a blond man in a long white coat, Kakashi realised Iruka was right. This was the Fourth Hokage, Namikazi Minato. But what the hell was he doing here? At his feet lay the clone, or what remained of it, mostly just mushy white pulp. The bodyguard, he held against his chest, kunai pressed to the boy's throat. A thin trickle of blood oozed from under the blade leaving a crimson trail down and across the boy's collarbone. The boy was unconscious.

"Iruka-kun," Minato said, "I apologise for using you this way, but it was necessary." As he spoke, his eyes didn't shift from Kakashi, Shimura and Yamato. All three were in battle stance and though Konoha's Yellow Flash had a reputation for speed, Kakashi didn't think he could kill all of them alone.

"It's my privilege to serve, Yondaime-sama, in whatever capacity I'm needed," Iruka replied formally with an odd little jerk that Kakashi realised was an attempt to bow inside his bindings.

Minato shot him a wide bright grin. "Even as bait, huh?"

"Even then, sir," Iruka replied with laughter in his voice. Kakashi listened in utter amazement. Here, in the middle of what was bound to be a blood bath, they found time to laugh?

"This is perfect," Shimura said, ignoring them. "Rather than the son, we have the father himself. The council will never uphold the treaty with Sand after your body is discovered here."

"Perfectly true, however you're assuming I came alone."

Another explosion of chakra came from the doorway and three more figures appeared. "Kazekage, Tsunade, Itachi," Minato greeted each in turn.

"Too fast, kid," the small blonde woman with a huge rack said, waving a hand in front of her face. Although Kakashi had never seen her before, he would have known exactly who she was without hearing her name. Her 'reputation' definitely went ahead of her, in lots of ways. For a brief moment Kakashi was almost grateful for Sasori's hand on the controls since it stopped his eyes wandering towards places that would probably get him killed.

The two men were equally memorable, though he'd only ever seen one of them before. Sandaime Kazekage, the most powerful shinobi in all of Sunagakure, towered over the others, looking down his nose at the gathering before saying, "I can see why you required my presence, Hokage-san, though in future I would prefer it if Konoha cleared up its messes on its own territory."

"Oh, don't be such a stiff," Tsunade snapped at him. "This is as much Suna's doing as Konoha's." She pointed an accusing finger at Yamato. "Isn't he one of yours?"

"I believe originally he was one of ours," the third person said quietly. By a process of elimination he had to be Uchiha Itachi, though again Kakashi would have recognised him. Though perhaps not as distinctive as an individual, he was definitely unmistakable as a member of his clan since the sharingan whirled in both his eyes.

"He was," Minato agreed. "And his presence here is entirely my fault. I'm sorry, Yamato, I should have protected you better."

"Apology not accepted," Yamato snapped.

"I wasn't speaking to you, Sasori," Minato said, "I was speaking to the soul of the man whose body you've defiled with your tricks." His voice was as even as it had been from the very beginning.

The man had an incredible presence. Vast and calming. And generous. He lent that strength to everyone around him. Kakashi could almost feel it stirring his own sinews into action.

He flexed his fist around his kunai. Okay, perhaps it was more than just wishful thinking. Was Sasori distracted?

A second later, that glimpse of autonomy was gone and his heart hammered in his throat in reprisal. If he thought the bastard would actually finish him off with a heart attack, Kakashi would have fought back harder. When Sasori had taken him the first time, he'd tried once or twice, before Sasori worked out how low Kakashi's chakra needed to be to keep him mindless. After that, Kakashi hadn't had enough cognitive ability to fight back. It had been pure instinct that had carried him from the field when Sasori's control had slipped after the run in with Hidan.

As Kakashi mused, the tension between the gathered parties rose. Sooner or later someone was going to make a move and then all hell was going to let loose.

The honours went to Itachi, though not obviously. But then he was an Uchiha. They rarely did anything obviously.

It started with an odd wavering in the air. Kakashi found his arm moving of its own accord, and though it wasn't exactly a new experience, he got the impression that this time it wasn't Sasori's hands on the controls. Or rather, not entirely.

Yamato was on his knees and Kakashi's kunai was at his own throat before Shimura sent out a powerful pulse of chakra, and the genjutsu that the Uchiha had been weaving around them shattered.

Itachi's gaze immediately turned to Kakashi. He frowned as though confused by what he was seeing. 'It wasn't me,' Kakashi thought, wishing he could let the guy know. Apparently Itachi came to the same conclusion himself. Eyes wide and spinning, he turned on Shimura, who made an odd strangled sound and tore at the bandages around his head. Whatever he revealed make the Yondaime blanch and Tsunade snarl. Itachi's sharingan froze, and then all hell let loose.

Minato threw the bodyguard across the cave at the Kazekage, yelling, "Get him out of here, to somewhere safe." A witness then, whether he wanted to be or not, Kakashi assumed. As the Hokage did that, Tsunade chakra-punched the ground sending a fissure several feet wide shooting towards Kakashi, Yamato and Shimura. All three leapt to avoid it, Yamato towards Tsunade, wooden spears flying from his fists. She countered them with her own, spraying the air around her with lethal splinters.

Shimura went for Itachi, who met him with a katon which Shimura brushed aside like it was nothing. A moment later they were both gone, out of the cave, presumably with Shimura hot on the tail of the Kazekage. After all, there was no point in winning the fight if a witness escaped to tell the truth.

Which left Kakashi facing Konoha's Yellow Flash.

It would have been nice to think that controlling two puppets, both fighting different opponents, would have reduced Sasori's effectiveness. It didn't. Kakashi had no more control over his body now than he had before the fight started. His hands came together, the left gripping the right around the wrist ready to fire up raikiri.

Minato looked unimpressed, and Kakashi couldn't really blame him. If he was at full strength, Kakashi might have given the guy a run for his money, but as things stood, this was going to be over so quickly it was going to be embarrassing. Chakra began to glow in the Hokage's hand, growing and spinning until with an almost audible pop, it coalesced into a solid ball. Rasengan, the signature move which Kakashi's own raikiri was based on.

Except, before the Hokage could make his move, Iruka yelled out, "Don't kill him!"

"Excuse me?" Minato said, gaze still on Kakashi, though he didn't attack. "You do know who he is, yes?"

"Sharingan Kakashi, missing-nin. Yeah, I know!" Iruka replied, definitely sounding exasperated. "But Sasori's controlling him. Believe it!"

Minato visibly jerked at Iruka's choice of words. "A 'human puppet'?" he said, and though he didn't let down his guard, Minato's eyes narrowed as though he was reassessing the situation. Kakashi began to hope he wouldn't be wiped out in 30 seconds flat.

"Yes," Iruka said with a huff of relief. "He's on our side. He let me share this cave and-"

Before Iruka could get anything else out, Kakashi felt chakra flood into his hand. Even as it did so, his body started moving and the sharingan kicked into focus. Ahead of him, Minato appeared to slide into slow motion. From the corner of his eye, he glimpsed Iruka, mouth opening so slowly that Kakashi could have counted his teeth and checked for fillings as he passed by. The sound of twittering lightning filled his ears and he felt the burn of the transformed chakra as raikiri sprang to life.

Minato was dodging, falling to the left. Kakashi strained to turn, feeling the stress on his joints as he defied physics with chakra and forced his body to swerve. Yes, Konoha's Yellow Flash was fast, but speed didn't help if you couldn't see where you were going. If you couldn't track the opposition. To Minato, Kakashi would look as if he was still moving straight ahead, the dodge would look like a successful manoeuvre. It wasn't. Kakashi knew. He'd killed a hundred people this way, and he knew the right angle when he had it. Maybe it was luck. Maybe the Hokage was distracted. It didn't matter. Today, Kakashi was going to kill him.

And then he would kill Iruka, and help Yamato kill Tsunade. And then Sasori would turn Kakashi into a living puppet and use his body to kill thousands more. And Kakashi would never get to find out how Iruka could laugh when everything around him was going to shit.

For the first time in forever, Kakashi wanted to live more than he wanted to survive. And perhaps it was that which gave him the strength to break free. It wasn't much, a few degrees at most, but he managed it. Muscles screaming, he forced the extra millimetres through his tendons so that instead of plunging the raikiri through Minato's chest, it caught him high. In the shoulder. Still a nasty wound, but not fatal.

Time restarted to a cacophony of sensation. Rock falling, Iruka yelling, the stench of burning flesh and a pain in his side that made every breath an agony. Still Sasori wasn't going to let him stop. The chakra flow started again, but this time Minato was ready for him. As Kakashi lunged, he sensed the body flicker and heard the chink of metal. The tendons in his heel parted company. On a normal nin, it would have crippled them. It didn't slow Kakashi down for a second. Such things might help Sasori operate Kakashi's body, but he didn't need them. If necessary he could manipulate every cell independently using chakra.

Minato cursed quietly, flickering from one side of the cave to the other to evade Kakashi's attacks. His white coat was stained crimson at the shoulder and his breathing was becoming laboured.

Chakra still pouring out of him to power the raikiri, Kakashi could only chase, like a dog after a ball. It was a pointless strategy. The only thing it was going to achieve was to drain them both of chakra and then they'd both end up dead. Though that might not bother Sasori so much as Kakashi thought. He really had no idea if the puppet-master needed him alive or not to turn him into a 'living puppet'. Perhaps dead was more convenient.

At some point Yamato and Tsunade must have taken their fight elsewhere. Kakashi couldn't say that he'd noticed when, but he hoped the extra distance might make breaking free easier. He redoubled his efforts just in case.

"I fought your father once," Minato called, apropos nothing as he appeared at the other end of the cave. "He was a good man. Honourable."

No, he was a traitor and a coward, Kakashi answered in his head as he spun and chased Minato down again.

"What he did that day saved hundreds of lives, on both sides."

What he'd done was make Cloud look like bumbling fools. The old Raikage had been furious. He'd stripped Sakumo of everything, even his son.

"His actions should have been praised, not condemned."

Black Ops had come to the house. Kakashi had hidden from them, wary of their masks and the way the servants had been marched away. They'd found him, dragged him out of the trunk kicking and fighting as hard as any well-trained three year old ninja could. All he'd had was his practice kunai, but he'd got lucky with it and caught the shinobi who was carrying him in the neck. She yelled at him and boxed his ears. It hurt more than anything he'd ever felt before. There was blood on his face and he couldn't hear properly. They took him to the hospital. Kakashi thought it might be for his ears but they didn't care about those. They just stuck needles in him and made him go to sleep, and when he woke up, one of his eyes had a bandage on it that made his head hurt and his ears still didn't work right.

"I was sorry to hear he'd taken his own life."

But even without working ears, Kakashi had known the Raikage was mad. His face, all twisted up and purple with big veins popping out, said so. Scared and hurting, Kakashi stayed on his hands and knees, his good eye screwed shut, hoping for papa to come and save him. He stayed there for so long, until his knees hurt and his feet went numb, until he thought his head might explode from the pain in his eye, until someone caught his arm and dragged him to his feet.

Then he'd seen it. Blood. So much blood. A vast spreading pool of it and in the middle, someone slumped on their side. Which was dumb because why would someone sleep in a pool of blood. Except it wasn't just someone. It was Papa.

"He didn't deserve to die."

A hand between Kakashi's shoulder blades shoved him forwards. He stumbled a couple of awkward steps before falling over numb feet. Cooling blood splashed against his face as he landed and his palm slipped on something pink and slimy. Insides, he realised. 'The small intestine, also known as the duodenum,' a voice recited in his head. Papa's voice. He'd read it aloud from a big book while Kakashi sat beside him and looked at the pictures. It was one of Kakashi's first memories.

He looked up and saw his father's empty eyes staring back at him, and then world went black.

*

"Kakashi? Kakashi!" Iruka struggled against the stuff binding his arms and legs. He'd watched the fight, getting increasingly worried as both Kakashi and Minato-san's chakra levels kept dropping and both of them kept bleeding. Minato's shoulder in particular was very bad, his coat stained crimson all the way to the hem on the right side.

And then Minato had started talking, about Kakashi's father of all things.

To start with, it hadn't seemed to make any difference. Kakashi kept attacking and Minato kept dodging, but slowly Iruka realised that Kakashi's moves were spacing out. Minato was getting a moment to breath before Kakashi turned on him with another chidori or a katon. And the attacks themselves were losing power, getting wild and less accurate. One water dragon came close to drowning Iruka and, as he coughed and choked on the water, all he could think was thank goodness it wasn't a fire ball.

And then, when Minato said, "He didn't deserve to die," Kakashi froze on the spot. For a second, Iruka thought that maybe Tsunade had managed to beat Sasori, but no, the sounds of them fighting were still loud from outside. So had Kakashi's body run out of chakra? He was still breathing. And Sasori hadn't struck Iruka as the type to stop playing with his toy when it started breaking.

It was only when Kakashi collapsed that Iruka really started to panic. Which was stupid. He'd only met this guy a few hours ago and now he was worried he might be dead? What the hell was wrong with him? It didn't matter. All that mattered right now was getting to Kakashi.

Iruka redoubled his efforts to get free, conscious of Minato kneeling next to Kakashi and pressing his fingers warily to his neck, a kunai held ready in his other hand. "Is he okay?" Iruka yelled, kicking and thrashing at his bindings. They seemed looser somehow. The water from the dragon maybe? He wriggled more furiously and yes, they definitely gave against his arms.

"He's still alive, if that's what you mean," Minato replied, glancing over at him. He frowned. "Do you need a hand?"

Iruka, teeth embedded in the top of the papery stuff where it had slipped up his body, curled his lip and shook his head. The paper finally tore. Iruka ripped it free with a cry of triumph and crawled out of the rest on his way to Kakashi, throwing himself to the floor next to the man and pressing his own fingers to the pulse point in Kakashi's wrist. It was too fast and too light, but it was there. He was, as Minato had said, still alive. Something inside Iruka unwound in relief and he suddenly found he could breathe easily again.

A massive explosion from outside heralded Sasori's demise. At least that what Iruka thought it probably was since Kakashi's exhaled once and his body slumped completely to the ground, falling quickly into a deep, and Iruka hoped, healing sleep.

"He needs help, and he's not the only one," Minato said, levering himself painfully to his feet. He limped towards the door, where he was greeted by a filthy and furious looking Tsunade.

"That-That thing!" she yelled, pointing back over her shoulder. "It had another body. And then another one inside that. And then more flaming puppets!" Shoving both hands on her hips, she demanded, "Have you any idea how many of the disgusting things I had to destroy?"

"A lot, I should imagine, and I'm abjectly grateful to you, Tsunade-sama," Minato replied. "Now please could you heal our guest and then fix this hole in my shoulder?"

Tsunade's expression changed immediately to one of annoyance. She glared at him, briefly over at Kakashi and then back at Minato's shoulder. "What have you done to yourself this time?" she asked, reaching out.

Minato flinched away. "Kakashi first," he said. "I hit him in the side with a rasengan."

"And he landed a hit back," Tsunade said. When Minato still wouldn't let her look, she hissed at him. "Alright, I check the other boy first. Just go and sit down over there before you fall down." She pointed to a rock ledge.

Minato dutifully shuffled over to it and sat down, while Tsunade came to look at Kakashi. With Iruka's help, she rolled him carefully onto his side to assess the damage. "You missed," she called out as she pressed green glowing hands to the wound. "All muscle damage. Nothing deeper than that."

Minato smiled ruefully. "I think I can honestly say that this time I'm glad," he said.

Iruka, nothing like as worried about Kakashi as he had been, smiled at their bickering. He was used to it, in the same way that he was used to Naruto yelling obaachan down the corridors and Tsunade screaming insults back. Deep affection hidden under rude words and insults.

"I'm not so sure about his eye though," Tsunade added a moment later.

Iruka peered over her shoulder, sensing Minato limp over to do the same. Blood oozed from under Kakashi's left eyelid and when Tsunade lifted it, the entire thing was crimson. "It's too early to tell," she said, "and its a sharingan. For all I know, this could be completely normal."

Back-up from Suna arrived not much later bringing news that the bodyguard was in secure holding, and that Itachi and the Kazekage had managed to defeat Shimura Danzo, though they'd not been able to take him alive. One of the messengers, a tall guy with a headdress that covered half his face, pulled Minato to one side and spoke furiously with him for several minutes. When Minato came back to join them, he said, "We need to get back quick. I'm going to have to do some major damage control."

"Trouble?" Tsunade asked, brows raised curiously. She was working on Kakashi's severed Achilles tendon, having cursed Minato out, loud and long, for cutting it. Apparently they were particularly difficult to fix.

Minato cast a glance at Iruka, who immediately stood up to leave, only to be waved back down again. "No, you might as well stay. The rumours will start soon enough." He took a deep breath. "Danzō had another sharingan implanted in his arm under the bandage."

"What!" Tsunade said.

Iruka didn't say a word. He'd half wondered if it was possible when Kakashi had told him what happened during the negotiations. 'Only another sharingan could have slipped a genjutsu past him,' he'd said. And with his face bandaged the way it was, Danzo was the name in the frame as far as Iruka was concerned. But he could understand why it came as a shock to the others. Kakashi's testimony was the missing puzzle piece that had put it all together for Iruka.

"The Uchiha are going to go mad," Tsunade continued. "Does Itachi know whose they were?"

"Yes, which makes the whole thing worse," Minato replied, clasping his hands between his knees. "They was his cousin's, Shisui."

"Crap," said Tsunade, heavily. "The one who was supposed to have killed himself in the river." She punched the floor beside Kakashi's leg softly. "I examined that boy, Minato-kun, and I would swear he had both eyes."

Minato shrugged. "Like I said, we need to get home. There's going to be questions and I can't just brush them under the carpet. If there's someone else in cahoots with Danzo, we need to root them out quickly before the cancer spreads."

*

The world smelled of disinfectant. Kakashi wrinkled his nose, partly because he hated the smell and partly because it felt so damn good being able to do it again. The chakra threads were gone. His system still throbbed with the memory of them, but it was an empty ache.

The main pain was in his head, behind the sharingan, but that one he was very used to. That spoke of chakra exhaustion and pushing himself too hard again. The cloth he could feel around them was new. Had he done something to his other eye?

Having no answer to that, he turned his attention to working out exactly where he might be that smelt so strongly of cleaning fluids. Kakashi didn't remember having any in his cave and the softness of the surface he was sleeping on suggested bed rather than bedrock.

An institution of some kind would be his best guess. But what and where, Kakashi hadn't a clue. Except no, maybe he did, because he wasn't actually alone. Someone was sitting beside the bed, reading a book going by the periodic rustle of paper. And their chakra was familiar.

Iruka, the Konoha nin with the smiling eyes.

Which meant this was probably Konoha. But was he in prison or hospital?

Kakashi tried flexing his wrists and, finding them bound, felt his heart sink. Prison then. It had probably been foolish to hope for more.

"Oh, your awake!" A thump was followed by a metallic scrape - the book and a chair, Kakashi presumed - and then a warm hand covered his. "I'm sorry about the restraints. The nurses were worried you might try and take the bandage off your eyes."

It was… only for that? A lump formed in Kakashi's throat and he swallowed it down. It was too soon to hope. First he need answers.

"You must be dry. Let me get you some water." His hand was squeezed and then footsteps moved away from the bed. "Now then, Tsunade gave me a list of things I was to tell you, starting with - your eyes are both fine and the bandage can come off tomorrow." Relief swirled in Kakashi's gut. No permanent damage then.

"Secondly, she said, and I quote, 'You're skinnier than a thread noodle,' and she wants to see at least ten pounds back on you before you do anything dumb like train." The sound of pouring water came from nearby. "So I thought when you're up to it we could maybe get something to eat?"

More footsteps. Kakashi tried to keep up with the words and thought he was probably missing something important. The last thing he remembered was fighting the Hokage.

"Oh, and about your stuff. I packed up everything I could find in that cave. I don't know if you had anything else stashed, but if you did, I can go back and get it for you I guess." An arm slid in under his shoulders, lifting him from the bed and helping him to sit. It wasn't easy with the restraints, but oddly even being able to move that much eased Kakashi's worries. There was too much play in the bindings to keep him confined if he really wanted to break free.

A glass pressed against his lips. Kakashi took a sip, and then a larger gulp, chasing the glass. Gods, it was so cool and wonderful. How long was it since he'd tasted anything like it? To a palate grown accustomed to muddy dregs from half dried up rivers, truly fresh water was more welcome than the finest sake.

Iruka chuckled and pulled the glass a way. "Not too fast," he said, "You'll spill it."

He wouldn't if he could hold the glass himself. "Can you?" Kakashi asked, tugging on the restraint around his right wrist. He couldn't quite bring himself to ask outright, just in case. "I promise I won't try and remove the bandage."

Another laugh, this one slightly sheepish. "I should have thought. Stupid of me. I'll undo them right now."

There was a clink as the glass was put down, then fingers pried at the knots, and a moment later Kakashi was free. He grabbed Iruka by the arm and yanked, hearing the yelp and feeling him thrust out a hand to the bed to stop himself from falling. A solid shoulder landed against his own and hot breath gusted past his ear. This close to Iruka, Kakashi could smell him. And all of it together, the press of bodies, the heat, the scent, was a heady mixture, like the most addictive of drugs. Kakashi hadn't been this close to another person except to kill them in years.

And the last thing he remembered was fighting the Hokage. Crap. "Did I kill him?" he demanded. "Did I miss. Tell me I missed."

"You missed," another voice said.

Iruka squirmed away with a yelp, and Kakashi missed him immediately but let him go without a fight. The Hokage's arrival had answered his question so he had no more reason to hold Iruka close. He turned his face towards the blazing chakra signal by the door.

"Yondaime-sama, I'm sorry, I didn't hear you come in," Iruka was saying in an embarrassed rush.

"That's okay. I didn't mean to interrupt anything," came the reply.

Footsteps approached the bed. Kakashi got a sense of being watched and began to regret his promise to Iruka not to remove the cover over his eyes. Lying here being studied by someone who was technically his enemy made his skin crawl. It took every ounce of willpower not to make any sort of defensive move.

Then the feeling subsided and Kakashi realised the Hokage had been doing it on purpose. Some mild form of killing intent, maybe, designed to set off a shinobi's internal alarms, see how they'd react when threatened. Useful, and potentially lethal if you used it on the wrong guy. On Kakashi, it had worked beautifully, but then he was blind, half crippled and partly tied to a bed. You didn't get to be at much more of a disadvantage than that and still be alive.

"Are you here to debrief me?" he asked.

"In a way," Minato replied cautiously. Kakashi heard the sound of the chair being moved and then a creak as someone sat on it. He envisaged the Hokage sitting straddled on it, his arms folded across the backrest, bright blond hair glowing in the sun. "What we'd really like is your testimony about what happened in the Land of Iron," Minato continued, "backed up by a Yamanaka mind-reading."

Kakashi waited for the other shoe to drop. When it didn't came, he said, "Okay. Is that it?"

"Not quite," Minato continued, and then seemed to change subject completely. "I thought you might like to know, the Uchiha doctor who examined your sharingan said it was going to be fine. Something about emotional trauma and it evolving or…. I don't know, you'll want to go and speak to them about it. But anyway, the bandages can come off tomorrow."

"So Iruka said." There was still something else, Kakashi could feel it, and it was making him jumpy. "And?"

A squeak from the chair. "And…. the Uchiha… Well, its complicated, but the short version is, they've decided not to demand the eye back. Their only proviso being that you swear allegiance to the village, and as Hokage I'm not in a position to deny them that. So, I guess what I'm actually here for is to ask if Hatake Kakashi would like to join up with Konoha?"

So that was the truth of it. He could swear allegiance, or lose his eye. Just his eye? "If I chose not to stay," Kakashi asked, ignoring the small noise that came from where Iruka was still standing close to the bed, his chakra signal a reassuring pulse against Minato's fire.

"Then Tsunade will remove the sharingan herself and you'll be free to leave."

"After I've testified and let your mind readers rummage around in my head." It was a better deal than Kakashi could have hoped for.

"Exactly," Minato replied, "Though Inoichi did say to tell you he'll do his very best to stay away from anything private. And I can say from personal experience that he is extremely good at what he does."

"Tell him thanks, and that his reputation as a gossip hound precedes him," Kakashi shot back dryly, winning himself a delighted chuckle from the Hokage.

"I will. And I'll make sure to tell him in front of Shikaku too, just for added teasing value."

Nara Shikaku, the second member of the much feared Ino-Shika-Cho team. It was so strange hearing them referred to in such casual terms, but Kakashi supposed it was something he'd have to get used to if he was going to stay.

"So, are you?" Iruka demanded suddenly, "Going to stay, that is?"

Minato laughed and the chair squeaked again. "Give him a chance, Iruka-kun. Changing allegiance isn't a decision to be made lightly."

It wasn't, but given the right set of circumstances, it was one that could be made easily. "Yes, I am," Kakashi said, because he knew for a fact that whatever happened here was better than the alternative. If he went out on his own again, the Raikage would find him for sure this time and turn the fake death into a real one.

"Excellent!" Minato said, and Kakashi could hear the smile in his voice as clearly as the one in Iruka's excited, "Yes!"

"In that case, I'll leave you two alone to sort things out. Ah…" Minato hesitated, "Iruka's my personal assistant, just in case you got the wrong idea there. I didn't mean to imply… Hah, anyway, yes. I'll leave you to it." This time the chair squeak was followed by rapid footsteps. The Hokage was leaving.

Remembering his manners, and what Iruka had said to him that first night, Kakashi quickly screwed up his courage and called out, "Before you go, I erm… Thanks, for not killing me when you had the opportunity, Hokage-san."

Another laugh, from over by the door where Minato's chakra blazed so brightly. "Eh, it's nothing. Thanks for missing me with that raikiri. I know you had me right in your sights before you swerved."

He'd noticed? At that speed? And without a sharigan? That surprised Kakashi, but then he was starting to think that a lot about the people of Konoha was going to surprise him.

The door clicked closed. A moment later, the warmth of Iruka's hand covered his own and the bed beside him gave a little as Iruka sat down. Kakashi found himself smiling. In the past, he'd never much liked surprises, but he was starting to think it was just possible that, given the right circumstances, he could grow to love them in Konoha.

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