The Broken Arm

Perhaps it was in the way he fell but above anything else, it was the resounding snap as he landed that alerted his two teammates of their captain's injury. Tenzo spun around; fist meeting his opponents face and knocking him into a nearby tree. Itachi's eyes reverted to black as his own opponent dropped to his knees, unaware of his environment and drooling grossly.

"Captain!" Tenzo shouted, vaulting over a rock as Kakashi's opponent landed on his head beside him, causing a second sickening crack. Itachi glanced around the clearing, eyes scanning for the unlikely appearance of further enemies before moving towards Kakashi's panting body.

"Captain? Are you alright?" Itachi asked, eyes creased with worry as Tenzo hauled Kakashi upright. The fist met Tenzo's face before he could dodge, sending Tenzo stumbling backwards. He pulled off his mask roughly, wiping his now bloody nose with his bare arm.

"Hey Kakashi what the hell?" Tenzo demanded, backing up a little as Kakashi swayed on his feet. Kakashi's ANBU mask was in pieces, broken by the fall and currently residing at his teetering feet.

Kakashi looked up, his eyes dull and dazed. "Why do you have two faces Tenzo?" He slurred, rubbing his head with his left arm. "Haha, two faces…"

Itachi looked from Kakashi to Tenzo, who was still rubbing his nose with narrowed eyes. "Uh, Captain, we heard a snap, have you broken anything?"

"Broken anything? Nooooo." Kakashi laughed, raising his right arm for a brief second before grunting and keeling over. "Maybe a little broken." Evidently there was something funny in his words because Kakashi burst into laughter, chuckling to himself as he poked at his limp arm.

"I think he has a concussion Tenzo." Itachi diagnosed, struggling to keep his face from breaking into an amused grin as Kakashi winced from prodding his arm a little too hard.

"Yeah, wonderful prognosis doctor. I also more than likely have a broken nose to go with his arm, damn he can punch." Tenzo muttered, pinching his nose in an attempt to stanch the blood flow. "My nose really hurts."

"We should get back to the Leaf; he's in danger of making a nuisance of himself." Itachi told his sane teammate, crossing his arms as Kakashi leant against a rather large tree trunk, beginning to look a little pale.

"Yeah, but before he damages that arm further we have to splint it." Tenzo removed his hand from his nose and created a sequence of hand seals, ending with his finger extending into a sturdy splint for Kakashi's arm.

Itachi raised an eyebrow. "Did it have to be your middle finger?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

Tenzo approached Kakashi warily. "Okay Captain, I gotta bind this to your arm. Please don't hit me again."

Kakashi smirked. "Your reflexes are terrible, how did you even get into ANBU?" He slurred once more.

"Says the man who just fell out of a tree." Tenzo retorted, tying the splint a little too tightly, causing Kakashi to glare at him menacingly.

"I didn't fall, I stumbled, lost chakra and then I fell. Completely different things." Kakashi muttered, the pain seeming to clear his head a little.

"If you say so Captain." Tenzo muttered, finishing his splint and grabbing Kakashi under the armpits as he swayed and threatened to meet the ground momentarily. "You're pretty heavy Kakashi."

"What, do you think muscle is light?"

"Oh, is that what we're calling it now?"

"Shut up Tenzo, there's a reason I'm captain you know." Kakashi mumbled.

"Lord Hokage was drunk at the time, I know that much." Tenzo replied, dragging Kakashi's good arm over his shoulders to support him. Tenzo turned his attention to Itachi, who was barely holding back a smile. "Itachi, find the documents, I'm gonna start heading back with our deadweight Captain."

"This 'deadweight captain' can hear you, Tenzo."

Itachi nodded and immediately began ruffling through the pockets of Kakashi's dead opponent. Tenzo ignored Kakashi's comment and helped him to manoeuvre Kakashi back in the direction of the village. It only took a few minutes for Itachi to fall back into step with them silently, the only one of the three with a completely intact mask which currently resided by his hip, hiding the pouch containing the documents completely from view. Tenzo glanced at Itachi gratefully before picking up the pace and causing Kakashi to groan.

"Shut up you baby." Tenzo scolded, dragging Kakashi around to the ANBU entrance of the village, to which Itachi opened; glad to be of some use. They gained a few strange looks as they made their way through the small ANBU compound and towards the hospital.

"I don't need to go to the hospital I just need a drink. Tsunade is just going to break my other arm." Kakashi muttered, attempting to change direction.

"Oh no you don't." Tenzo grabbed him by the collar and began to march him back towards the direction of the hospital.

"I'll go give these to the Hokage." Itachi offered, backing away before vanishing.

"It's been two years and he's still scared of you." Tenzo scolded.

"That's your fault for telling him I once killed a man by accident because he woke me up from a nap."

"At least I was nice enough to tell him it was an accident."

"Yeah, well you—"

"KAKASHI!" A loud, female voice shouted from the end of the hallway. Kakashi flinched and Tenzo took a step back, leaving him to Tsunade's wrath.

"Oh, hello Lady Tsunade." Kakashi greeted, waving his splinted arm.

"What did you do to your arm?" She asked quietly.

"He fell out of a tree." Tenzo offered, ignoring Kakashi's glare of betrayal.

"Wonderful idea Hatake, let me take a look at it. Follow me."

"Right…" Kakashi mumbled, stumbling after her.

"You too, Tenzo." Tsunade called, causing Tenzo to jog after them.

It only took a few minutes for Tsunade to lose her temper.

"Tell me what you see Hatake." Tsunade ordered, biting her thumb as she stuck and x-ray film onto the board.

"My arm?"

"Continue."

"My broken arm?"

"Congratulations, here we see your shattered, I repeat, shattered, arm. How in the hell, did you manage this?" Tsunade spat, folding her arms and glaring at Kakashi, who stared back dumbly.

"I fell out of a tree."

"Yes, Tenzo mentioned that part. How did you fall out of said tree?" Tsunade gritted her teeth, holding her hands over his arm and starting to heal it. Her hands glowed green and Kakashi scrunched his nose up in distaste as his bone began to mould together.

"I ran out of chakra and —Ow, I think you forgot the painkillers." Kakashi muttered, jerking his arm away.

"What painkillers?" Tsunade asked, smiling sweetly as she dragged his arm back roughly.

Kakashi paled and watched Tsunade warily as she began working on his arm again. Tenzo leant against the doorway, smirking at Kakashi's discomfort.

"You know," Tsunade told him, taking gauze from a side table and wrapping at around his blackening arm. "I have a lot of work to do without you demanding attention by messing up your arm to this extent you little brat."

"Ha!" Tenzo spluttered, causing the two ninja in the room to glance at him.

"You shouldn't be laughing Tenzo, I still have to fix your nose and I may make a mistake while resetting it." Tsunade told him, smiling sweetly once more.

Tenzo stiffened and paled, rubbing the back of his neck slowly, trying not to look as terrified as he felt.

Finishing with the padding, Tsunade applied the cast, building it up so it ranged from his wrist to just over his elbow, limiting the movement severely.

"Can't you put it a little lower so I can bend my elbow?"

"Of course! Just let me break the cast so I can do that!" Tsunade replied, placing pressure on the cast and causing Kakashi to grimace.

"On second thought, it's fine the way it is." Kakashi muttered.

"I thought so." Tsunade turned her attention to Tenzo and beckoned him over, squeezing his nose with her fingers and frowning as he winced. "It's only a small fracture, I can heal it here."

As her hands glowed once more she began to speak, outlining how Kakashi was to take care of his cast. Kakashi nodded, not taking any of it in and Tsunade sighed. "Tenzo, look after him and let him sleep for a while, he has a concussion so you'll need to wake him up every few hours to— what?"

Tenzo's face paled. "You want me… to wake him up… Do I look like I have a death wish?"

Tsunade's face became cloudy. "I don't know, do you?"

Tenzo glanced from Kakashi to Tsunade before gulping and nodding. "I'll wake him up, don't worry."

"Good!" Tsunade smiled and put a hand on Tenzo's shoulder, squeezing it with her strength before patting his head. "Now both of you get out of my sight right now before I break some of your other bones."

"Yes ma'am!" The two shinobi jumped up and scurried from the room, Tsunade staring after them fondly for a moment before turning back to her earlier work.

Itachi was waiting outside for them. At some point during the time that Kakashi and Tenzo had been in the hospital he had changed back into ordinary clothes and was watching the entrance silently. At the sight of the raggedy pair he straightened up and made his way over.

"Captain Kakashi, how is your arm?"

"Jeez kid, we're not on a mission, it's just Kakashi now."

"Sorry."

"Don't worry about it Itachi, he's just grumpy because Tsunade shouted at him." Tenzo laughed, leaning his elbow on the twelve year olds head.

"Yeah? She shouted at you too asshole."

"See, he's just grumpy." Tenzo ruffled Itachi's hair and he flushed at the action, hastily flattening it back into the ponytail. As far as he was concerned he was far too old for hair ruffling but he wasn't about to tell Tenzo that.

"You haven't seen me when I'm grumpy Tenzo, and you don't wanna."

"Rather you than Tsunade."

"Sure about that? Because I—"

"Hey Kakashi, nice cast!" Asuma greeted, slapping him on the back. "How'd you get it?"

"He fell out of a tree."Itachi stated.

Asuma blinked for a second before bursting into laughter. "That's a good one kid, what really happened?"

Kakashi gave him a flat look and Asuma laughed harder. "Oh Kakashi that's great! You really are the best at making people laugh."

"Shut the hell up Asuma."

"Let me guess, Tsunade didn't give him any painkillers."

"You hit the nail on the head." Tenzo told him, waving goodbye to Asuma as he dragged Kakashi towards his house. Itachi tailed behind, not entirely sure if he was welcome. Tenzo turned his head and called back to the kid. "Come on Itachi, you want some soup don't you?"

Itachi nodded, hurrying to catch up to the two older men. When they reached Kakashi's house Tenzo turned to Kakashi expectantly , reaching out his hand for the key. Kakashi shrugged.

"Oh for God's sake." Tenzo muttered, moving to Kakashi's right and sticking his hand into Kakashi's pouch to get the key. He pulled it out triumphantly and unlocked the door, ignoring the amused stare that Kakashi was giving him.

The three entered and Tenzo shoved Kakashi into the living room. "Sit." He ordered before moving into the kitchen.

Kakashi slumped down onto the seat gratefully, leaning his head back and sighing loudly. "Owww"

Tenzo ignored him and continued to bang about the kitchen, removing tins and vegetables from Kakashi's cupboards. He frowned at the sheer mass of ramen lining the shelves and made a silent promise to himself to remove every single offending package of it. It only took him a few minutes before the soup was on and Tenzo was stirring it slowly, adding seasoning and some salt to the mix.

"I said owww." Kakashi reiterated, emphasising how much pain he was in. Itachi bit his lip and turned to Tenzo who sighed and pointed towards a high cupboard. Itachi looked up to the cupboard silently, raising an eyebrow and knowing that in order to reach it, he'd have to climb like a child.

Despite Tenzo's amused gaze Itachi walked over to the counter and pulled himself up, sitting on his knees on the marble top and stretching his arms above his head in order to grasp the handle of the cupboard and pull it open. Seeing as the bottom of the cupboard was still above his eye level it took him a few minutes of patting the shelf before he found the first box and pulled it down. Luck seemed to be on his side at first as he realised that the box was the one he was looking for. Once he opened the box however, his luck vanished as an empty sachet fell out.

Itachi slumped and turned his head to face Tenzo.

"Uh, Tenzo?" He asked, tipping the box upside down.

"Itachi? Why are you sitting on my kitchen counter?" Kakashi enquired, eyebrows raised inquisitively at the Uchiha as he leant against the doorframe.

"Tenzo told me to get you painkillers but there aren't any left." Itachi replied, squinting at the sachet and holding it at different angles as if that might make more tablets miraculously appear.

"Tenzo…" Kakashi growled, turning his attention to Tenzo, who was struggling to keep a straight face as his shoulders shook.

Itachi blinked and flushed a deep red, pushing himself off the counter quickly and landing lightly on the floor, his eyes narrowed at Tenzo whose face still struggled to stay straight.

"My medicine is in that cupboard Itachi." Kakashi told him, pointing to a much lower, easily reachable cupboard near the cooker, in front of which Tenzo was looking far too amused. Itachi nodded, glaring at Tenzo before grabbing a packet of painkillers from the cupboard and handing some to Kakashi, the poor kid looked like he had lost a few inches of height, it there was even any height to loose, over the last few minutes.

"Thanks kid." Kakashi told him, slumping miserably back into the living room with a glass of water, if he thought he could get any sympathy from his teammates he was very wrong.

Once Kakashi vanished Itachi turned to Tenzo who finally snapped, chuckling away to himself. Itachi's face flushed again which only made Tenzo laugh harder.

"It's not funny." Itachi hissed, glaring at Tenzo with some form of killing intent.

"It's very funny." Tenzo countered. "You're so trusting, I just had to do it, sorry Itachi, I won't do it again, for a while at least."

"The soup is burning," Itachi said as he hardened his glare, which was almost as scary as a kitten growling. He hoped that Tenzo had not noticed the precise fire jutsu that may or may not have been performed by an annoyed and vengeful Itachi while Tenzo had had his back turned to the cooker in order laugh at embarrassed twelve year old.

Tenzo's face paled as he spun around to save the soup. Good. Itachi thought as he allowed himself a small smirk of revenge and left the kitchen moving to sit on the seat opposite Kakashi in the living room.

"His ego only grows the more you fall for his tricks, you know that, right kid?" Kakashi muttered, oblivious to any revenge that may or may not have already been served; he rested his good arm over his eyes as he waited for the painkillers to take effect.

"I'm not a kid." Itachi mumbled, folding his arms.

Kakashi raised his arm slightly so that he could see Itachi. "You're twelve, Itachi. Definitely still a kid."

"To be fair Kakashi, you're only nineteen." Tenzo told him, appearing in the doorway with soup in hand.

"You're the one that started this Tenzo. Besides I'm the oldest, and the captain." Kakashi replied.

"Just eat your soup." Tenzo muttered, slamming it on the table and sitting down beside Itachi on the other side. Kakashi slid off the sofa and settled himself opposite the two, digging into the soup immediately. His two teammates were a little less vicious in their eating, Itachi the most polite of the three, having been raised in that way.

It didn't take long for the three of them to empty the delicious Tenzo-baked pot of goodness. Kakashi leant back and sighed happily. "That was good."

"Of course it was, I made it." Tenzo muttered, grabbing the dishes and balancing them on top of each other precariously. Itachi stood up and caught a bowl as it fell causing Kakashi to raise an eyebrow at him.

"Nice catch." Kakashi complimented, standing up and stretching his arms above his head, wincing as pain shot through his arm.

Itachi nodded, wheels turning in his head as he formulated another plan of revenge and innocently carried the bowl into the kitchen after Tenzo, where they dumped the dishes into the sink.

"Yo Kakashi do you want us to wash these?" Tenzo asked as Kakashi walked in.

"Well I can hardly do it now can I?"

"You're literally going to use that cast as an excuse for doing nothing aren't you Kakashi?" Tenzo muttered.

"Oh, yes." Kakashi grinned, pulling off his forehead protector. Itachi blinked and stared at Kakashi for a moment. Kakashi's gaze moved to Itachi and his eyes narrowed slightly. "What is it Itachi?"

"Your hair, it's got mud in it, and a twig." Itachi pointed out.

Kakashi immediately began patting the back of his head with his left hand, he seemed to miss his entire head several times before pulling out the twig and dropping it into the bin. Itachi noticed this and was grateful Kakashi had never tried to use his left hand for chidori while he had ever been nearby.

"You have to wash it Kakashi, that's disgusting." Tenzo muttered oblivious to the fact that Kakashi seemed to have less control over his left hand than he had over how fast Jiraiya wrote the dubious novels that Kakashi seemed to enjoy a little too much.

"Technically I can't."

"No, you're going to. I will not let you walk around with disgusting hair; they'll think you're homeless." Tenzo told him, his nose scrunched up as he watched his captain.

"Only if you wash it for me." Kakashi grinned, winking at him.

"No." Tenzo raised his finger as if to stop Kakashi with willpower. Both Kakashi and Itachi stared at him pointedly, Itachi struggling to hold back his laughter of revenge. "No!"

"This is ridiculous." Tenzo hissed as he massaged Kakashi's head roughly. His face was slowly turning a bright red, something which was not due to the heat of the room. Itachi had pleaded Kakashi's case with Tenzo but had then mysteriously disappeared as if he didn't want to be around when one of his teammates went for the others throat.

The two teenagers thought they heard a snigger from nearby but for fear of being accused of going mad neither of them mentioned it. Instead keeping their eyes focused on different points on the wall. After a few minutes Kakashi began to laugh."Ouch Tenzo, you're being a little rough." Kakashi grinned, shoulders shaking with laughter.

"I will kill you Kakashi and I'll make it look like an accident." Tenzo threatened, lifting up a bucket of water that may have at some point been warm but had turned as icy as Tenzo's mood and pouring it over Kakashi's head in one movement, causing him to duck from the force. Kakashi turned to glare at Tenzo who's eyes had widened in shock as he realised the new anime-pink shade of Kakashi's hair had not rinsed out.

"What?" Kakashi enquired. Tenzo was suddenly faced with the life or death decision between telling Kakashi about his hair or letting him discover his new look when Tenzo was as safe a distance as possible away from him and his rage which would accompany the realisation

"Nothing," Tenzo replied. "I Just remembered I left the pink scarecrows in the oven and realised I should have taken them out"

Kakashi gave Tenzo a strange look, suspicion barely held behind his eyes before pondering out loud, "Don't you think Itachi would look kinda like a girl with his hair down? " He shook his head causing droplets of water to cover Tenzo in a small shower.

"At least his hair is neat," Tenzo muttered, defending Itachi. "Yours just goes everywhere, a crazy-old-man-haired mess."

"I'm offended." Kakashi mused, standing up and fixing a towel around his waist, grabbing a second and using it to rub his hair dry, the movements clumsy due to his handicap, luckily for Tenzo he dropped the white towel on the floor without noticing either the pink towel or the pink trail he was now leaving everywhere in his wake.

"Get a haircut." Tenzo ordered, struggling to keep a straight face.

"Okay mum." Kakashi grinned, causing Tenzo to whack his head with the empty bottle of bubblegum pink formula that he had used to 'wash' Kakashi's hair.

"I despise you." Tenzo muttered as Kakashi passed a mirror resulting in Tenzo's heart stopping for a dangerous length of time before he turned away hastily to go and fetch his clothes, leaving Kakashi at a safe distance, looking confused as he stroked his hair backcombing it with his fingers and trying to figure out what had terrified his friend so suddenly.

In the changing room Tenzo's shoulders began to shake and he had to lean on the lockers in an attempt to stifle his laughter. As he wiped tears from his eyes he glanced around the locker room, gaze landing on a neatly folded pile of clothes, noticeably more neatly folded than any others he would normally see in the men's changing room and there was one person in Konoha who used the men's changing rooms and folded their clothes as neatly as that and that person had not been sighted in the bath. When the pieces of the puzzle finally clicked into place Tenzo couldn't stop the laughter that emerged from his lips, clapping a hand over his mouth as he leant against the locker once more.

By the time he had calmed down enough to straighten up and turn around, Itachi's clothes had vanished and Kakashi was wandering in from the baths, still looking confused.

"Tenzo, what exactly were you doing in here? Standing admiring yourself in the mirror? It can't take that long to get dressed." Kakashi asked, grabbing his pile of clothes and beginning to pull them on awkwardly with his uncoordinated left hand and wishing he hadn't spoken as he would probably be stuck getting dressed for at least the next half hour unless he chose to live through the embarrassment of getting help to dress.

Tenzo grabbed his clothes, hiding his face from Kakashi, fearing that if he looked at the older boy he'd begin laughing again. There was a low swear behind Tenzo, he turned and started laughing as he took in the sight of his captain.

Kakashi's face was hidden behind his jumper, which had evidently been caught on his cast. He was tugging at the bottom of the cotton, trying his best to pull it down with one hand. "Tenzo." He hissed, his face reddening beneath the jumper as his precious mask started sliding down his face, ears picking up on the barely stifled sniggers coming from Tenzo's direction. "Help me now."

It took a few seconds before the jumper was pulled down and Kakashi could see again. He glared at Tenzo's red, amused face before turning to grab a few more painkillers, dry swallowing them and causing Tenzo to scrunch up his nose in disgust, hand touching his throat as he watched in mild horror.

Kakashi glanced down to Tenzo's hands, tilting his head before looking up. "Tenzo, is there a reason why your hands are bright pink?"

Tenzo's gaze shot down to look at his hands. True to Kakashi's word, they had become pink, rather like the bad tan job that some of the ANBU kunoichi had been trying out. "Must've touched some wet paint." He told him lamely.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes before moving to the doorway and grabbing his sandals, pulling them onto his feet and standing up. Tenzo followed suit, hopelessly trying to rub his hands of the offending pink colour something he knew would be an instant message to anyone that he had both washed and dyed his friend's hair before following Kakashi out of the bathhouse and into the sunlight. As the two of them walked down towards the restaurant-heavy end of the village Kakashi soon became suspicious of all the side glances being thrown his way by various passersby. A small black haired figure joined them silently, and Tenzo patted his shoulder, silently congratulating him on a job well done. Kakashi glanced at the two suspiciously suddenly very palsy boys with a wary eye before looking forwards and spying Asuma ahead.

Asuma's face was filled with confusion as he approached and he opened his mouth to speak. Behind Kakashi; Tenzo was showing a very flamboyant display, involving a pantomime of slitting wrists and waving hands as the only team member with any brain cells walked quietly and innocently beside him knowing the overly dramatic sucker would get the blame. Asuma blinked and closed his mouth, causing Kakashi to glance back at his now extremely serenely faced team.

"Nice hair." Asuma commented, managing to keep a straight face as he glanced at Tenzo's pink hands.

"Kakashi, what happened to your hair? Why is it pink?" Kurenai asked, appearing beside Asuma and staring at Kakashi's hair with concern.

"What?" Kakashi asked, looking from Kurenai to Asuma before moving to a nearby shop window a few meters away. Itachi covered his ears as a sudden loud scream resounded from behind Kakashi's mask making the other team members flinch at the volume. None of the shinobi watching Kakashi freak out about his new, main-character-of-an-anime coloured hair had ever heard the nineteen year old make such a sound. In fact, none of them even realised the normally white haired copy ninja was even capable of making such a high pitched screech.

Kakashi turned to Tenzo, glancing at the teenagers hands which, coincidently, were the exact same offending shade as Kakashi's new hair. It took Tenzo very little time to pale and back up as Kakashi stormed towards him. "I know what this looks like but it was not me."

"Tenzo… Did you dye my hair pink?" Kakashi asked, his voice the exact metaphor of "the calm before the storm", heavily threatening and very, very dangerous.

Tenzo raised his pretty pink hands. "No, no I didn't." He looked desperately over to Itachi who remained passive, not looking the slightest bit guilty.

"Tenzo you washed my hair." Kakashi growled, taking a step towards Tenzo.

"Wait, Tenzo washed your hair Kakashi? Am I missing something here?" Asuma grinned, looking from Tenzo to Kakashi, a gleeful look in his eye.

"Since Kakashi broke his arm, he couldn't do it himself so Tenzo volunteered unwillingly." Itachi explained, watching Tenzo's look of fear at his captain's wrath with a barely concealed look of amusement. Asuma looked crestfallen for a second, upset that his gossip had been lost while Kurenai gave a small smirk in Itachi's direction, understanding the situation better than Asuma.

Kakashi's left hand began to glow, the sound of the chidori piercing the air. Itachi's face paled knowing what Kakashi was like trying to use his left hand, luckily for Tenzo's current stress levels but unluckily for his predicament he still hadn't noticed Kakashi's hopeless left-hand coordination. When Tenzo glanced to Itachi for help, the kid's face was passive once more, evidently going to be of no help.

"Kakashi, I swear I didn't know. You have to believe me." Tenzo pleaded, watching as Kakashi approached with a murderer's gaze.

"My hair is pink, your hands are pink." Kakashi hissed.

"It wasn't me! It was Itachi!" Tenzo insisted.

Kakashi glanced at Itachi, who looked offended at the accusation. "Tenzo, you're trying to put the blame on Itachi, at least pick Asuma or something."

"Hey!" Asuma protested. "I would have at least made sure his eyebrows got dyed too!"

"So would I!" Tenzo told him, waving the offending pink hands again.

"So you're admitting you'd stoop that low, are you Tenzo?" Kakashi hissed, leaping forwards and causing Tenzo to duck out of the way and make a run for it. Kakashi followed, taking to the rooftops after Tenzo. Itachi remained behind, folding his arms and letting his face break into a smile.

Kurenai followed the two rapidly vanishing figures with her eyes before turning to the real guilty party, ,"So Itachi, are you going to tell them it was you?" she asked sarcastically

"I have no idea what you mean." Itachi replied, the picture of innocence. "Pulling a childish prank like that is beneath me, I would never stoop so low."

"I think we should save Tenzo before Kakashi kills him." Kurenai laughed nervously, worry beginning to creep in.

"Nah, Kakashi has a broken arm, Tenzo'll be able to out run him." Asuma replied, enjoying the situation a little too much.

"Arm being the key word." Kurenai answered, biting her lip.

"Kakashi has an awful aim with his left hand, Tenzo should be fine." Itachi told them, shrugging his shoulders and not mentioning that even though Tenzo would be safe the village was most likely in great peril.

There was a crash and sudden, rather large cloud of dust in the distance, followed by loud swearing and an angry shop keeper screaming something about cabbages. The three shinobi glanced at each other before running towards the source of the noise.

Tenzo was apologizing profusely to the very angry vendor, promising to fix the broken stand once he visited the hospital. Kakashi was pale, his left arm looking limp by his side and when the three shinobi arrived beside him he shrugged, wincing at the pain. "I broke the other one."

"How the hell did you manage that?" Asuma demanded, glancing over to Tenzo who was still apologizing.

"I fell while using the chidori and crashed into that stand." Kakashi explained, glaring at Tenzo as he finished his apologies and approached the group.

It was at this very convenient point that a young bowl-cut haired youth decided to show his beautiful large eyebrows "I sensed the youthful energy of two men expressing their feelings of friendship through fist-fighting!" Gai exclaimed enthusiastically as he started stretching

"Bit late Gai, Kakashi already broke his other arm" Kurenai smiled at the overly exuberant ninja.

"Sorry Gai I think you just missed the friendship fighting," Asuma told him, shoulders shaking from laughter

"Why did no one come and tell me?" Gai asked, he looked on the edge of dramatic tears as he turned to the two filthy ANBU nin, Tenzo was trying to help his pink haired friend but was seemingly only adding more pain and embarrassment for Kakashi. Gai's eyes lit up as his eyes darted from Kakashi's pink hair to Tenzo's pink hands "I see what happened here" he exclaimed.

Knowing Gai's typical thought processes everyone appeared to brace themselves and even Itachi put on a slightly concerned expression "I see that kind Tenzo has made Kakashi's hair the colour a youthful pink newborn baby to help Kakashi to express his youthfulness and in gratitude Kakashi showed Tenzo a level of rivalry usually only reserved for me, his one true rival, I see that he pushed his youthful energy to the limits for his friend and even though I missed the fist-fighting I would like to dye my hair the colour of a new born baby, a picture of the epitome of youthfulness and train so hard that my own arms will break." During the speech Gai was tearing up in joy of the thought of something that he had greatly misunderstood.

"Yep, that sounds about right." Asuma grinned, an evil gleam appearing in his eyes.

Kakashi turned his glare to Asuma who immediately sobered up. Tenzo rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, looking guilty.

"We should get you to the hospital, again." Tenzo mumbled, looking sheepish.

"Yeah, no shit." Kakashi muttered.

Asuma laughed and touched Kurenai's arm. "We'll leave you guys to it. Gai, come on with us."

When Asuma and Kurenai had vanished with Gai in tow, Tenzo laughed nervously. "So, we should get going."

"If Tsunade tries to kill me, I'm pulling you in front of me." Kakashi threatened unaware that he wasn't capable of even pulling his hospital sheets over the bottom half of his face in his current condition, let alone a heavily muscled teenage boy who weighed a lot more than the average bed sheet.

"I swear to you I didn't put the dye in the shampoo!"

"Yeah, sure."

To say Tsunade was angry would have been a large understatement. The large medical textbook that she had thrown at Kakashi had left a large bruise on Tenzo's forehead as Kakashi, true to his word, had pulled the younger teen in front of him, Tenzo's bulky forehead protector finally came in handy as he managed to avoid potential brain injuries, leading to him making an unconscious decision to never take it off again, for fear of Kakashi getting him killed. Unfortunately, Kakashi had not thought his actions through as, once he had grabbed the younger boy and used him as a human shield, his arm had given up on being usable and he had keeled over in pain. Tsunade had not been overly amused at that turn of events either, biting her thumb in annoyance as her fingers itched to throw another heavy medical volume.

"If I see you in this hospital again for anything other than a check up, I will make sure to break the rest of your bones." Tsunade threatened, finishing off Kakashi's second cast. This one was much smaller, covering only his forearm, allowing him full movement.

At the sight of Kakashi's bubblegum hair she hadn't batted an eyelash, instead reaching for the medical book once she saw how awkwardly Kakashi was carrying his left arm. With more threats of putting him in seclusion until his bones healed, Tsunade handed him a bottle of dye stripper to change his hair back to its normal colour.

As Kakashi and Tenzo trooped out, the two of them bickering like old men, Kakashi still convinced of Tenzo's guilt and Tenzo pleading his innocence, Tsunade held Itachi back for a few moments.

"I have three things to say to you Itachi. First off, make sure that Kakashi does not, in fact, carry out his threat to kill Tenzo. Secondly, next time you dye Kakashi's hair pink, do not let him blame Tenzo, Tenzo cannot plead his innocence to save his life. Lastly, when Kakashi's hair turns blue, do not say a word." Tsunade told him, handing Itachi a small bottle of the real hair colour stripper unaware it would be poured down the sink as soon as the kid got home.

Itachi nodded solemnly and Tsunade struggled to believe that he could have pulled off such a prank against his superiors, she considered mentioning to Sarutobit about promoting him for his obvious intelligence and subtlety but quickly decided to hold off, knowing that he hadn't been in ANBU long enough to be promoted, despite his abilities. Excusing himself, Itachi grabbed the bottle from Tsunade's outstretched hand and left the room, leaving Tsunade shaking her head at the so called 'best ANBU team in the entire Leaf Village' —In which the most mature and intelligent member of the team was the youngest member, the eleven year old — and fetching the medical textbook from the ground.

As promised, when Kakashi's hair had turned blue the next day, Itachi did not utter a word. Tenzo on the other hand made himself scarce, hiding out until Kakashi's hair was back to white. Itachi never admitted to dyeing Kakashi's hair pink and even Tenzo began to doubt it, instead wondering if he had in fact, picked up a bottle of dye instead of the shampoo. Gai, with Asuma egging him on, had ended up with a vibrant shade of green hair. Kakashi, fearing further embarrassment, refused to be seen with the youth and quickly arranged for him and his team to be sent on a very long mission, long enough that, by the time he came back, Gai's hair was back to black.