AN/ What? An update? What is this?!

Yes, I am alive! I know, with how long it took to update this, one could wonder.

So, for the obligatory apologies: I am so effing sorry. The computer I used to write this crashed something fierce, and I couldn't get my files off of it for months, so this story sort of fell to the way side. Then I got an actual job! Yes, one in my chosen field! So then, of course, came the whole realization that school didn't actually prepare me for a "real job", so I spent weeks doing nothing but exhaustively trying to teach myself all the tricks of the trade so that I could, y'know, keep my job. And I did it! Yay! Other than those two things, however, I was just a lazy piece of poop. So any of you angry about the long-ass time it took to update, your anger is justified. :/ Sorry friends.

Now, onto the chapter! I hope you guys like it (and if you don't, don't hesitate to let me know!), because this beast did not want to be written. I'm serious, I rewrote this one scene probably like, a couple dozen times (no joke). You'll probably know which one I'm referring to by the choppiness of the story. Sorry in advance!

Disclaimer/ Yeah, this definitely ain't mine.

Warnings/ Hm... there's some blood and general grossness in here, but if you got through the last chapter you're definitely okay. I think that's it? Let me know if I missed anything!

Chapter Six

"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth."

- Oscar Wilde

Hiruzen Sarutobi was in a particularly foul mood, and it was wasn't even lunch. Sasuke Uchiha was still missing, and sources said the teen had already reached and passed the Sound country border, which meant that any move on their part to continue after the boy could be construed as an act of aggression and spark a war (which Orochimaru would no doubt utilize, his mind thought darkly).

He'd had to call back his forces, and officially label the Uchiha a missing nin – which his council hadn't taken kindly to. He'd been up well before the sun, after going to bed only an hour or two before to convene with the group of stodgy old-timers and argue about his reasoning, and they wouldn't see sense. He'd had to pull rank on them, which was never pleasant because now he'd have to spend the next several weeks hearing about it, and there's a council for a reason, Hiruzen, how dare you belittle us. They'd be incorrigible.

On top of that, shortly after they'd finished that argument and while everyone's tempers were still running high, one of his anbu had arrived to announce the return of Naruto and Kakashi.

Naruto and Kakashi.

He'd spent the four days half (two-thirds, now) of Team Seven had been missing and labelled top priority – right under that whole Sasuke mess – wondering what he was going to do. He knew the two would return, knew they'd do what they had to and come back, would accept whatever punishment he dealt them because they'd broken the law, but he hadn't expected them to get caught by the team he'd sent after them (they were rookies, none of them anbu longer than six months, they shouldn't have been able to get within a mile of Kakashi without the old captain noticing).

If they'd come back themselves, willingly handed themselves over to the law, he could have slapped them with a forced stay in the village for a month, maybe some limited movement for the first week or so, and that would have been that. No one would have been able to argue, because that was the general punishment for misdemeanours of this level.

And yet.

Here they were, apparently in the village proper and shackled, and Hiruzen had very few plans for what to do if the two didn't come back willingly.

He'd had just enough time to quiet the council down, move them to his office (informal setting, but clearly his space, should keep these old codgers from feeling too full of themselves) before the two had arrived for questioning, and then he couldn't think at all.

Kakashi looked fine enough, a little tired, a little worn, but he was walking free and had his hands in his pockets, so that was a good sign. Hiruzen could use his obvious willingness to minimize the punishment.

But Naruto...

The Hokage couldn't stop himself from rushing to his feet and slamming his hands on his desk, turning a glare that had made weaker men weep to the three man anbu squad that had caught up with Team Seven and was now stationed around Naruto, as if the blond were some S-class criminal, and say in his deadliest voice, "What is the meaning of this? You will tell me immediately why Uzumaki-san, a genin still considered a Konoha nin regardless of his crimes, is obviously in need of immediate medical attention and yet you have done nothing to help him. Now." The three anbu were seasoned enough, at least, not to fidget, but Hiruzen could see how uncomfortable they suddenly were, and how Rat shot a quick look to Danzo.

Danzo. Root.

Swearing explosively (he would have enjoyed Homura's and Koharu's startled looks if he wasn't so pissed) the Hokage shot a sharp glance at the old man, and saw the smugness plainly even if Danzo was trying hard to come across as aloof. He'd known the fool most of his life, he could see these things.

"Dog!" he called out, saw Kakashi start in surprise then turned his attention to the anbu operative that had just appeared, and motioned to the blond teen. "You will take Naruto-kun immediately to -"

"Not so fast, Hokage-sama. The boy is obviously well enough to stand there, and I refuse to put off his hearing because he has a few bruises. The hospital can wait." Koharu was glaring at the jinchuuriki, and her words came out harsh.

Hiruzen shot her a quick glare and spat out, "their hearing, Utatane." then turned to run an appraising eye over the teen. There was a lot of blood, but no life threatening wounds as far as he could see, and he sighed, knowing he wouldn't be able to veto the council on a matter that many would consider frivolous. So he nodded, but then turned to Dog and said quiet clearly, "Go and find Ugai-san, bring him here. Even if Naruto's bruises -" laughable, considering the blood soaking the teen's clothes, "aren't life threatening, they still need to be treated. Hurry."

Dog had just vanished when Fox spoke up, voice blank but body taut, "He did this to himself, Sir." Hiruzen just snorted, could see the anxiety brewing in these three anbu (they were rookies, how did they catch Kakashi?) and raised an eyebrow.

"Does that change the fact he requires attention?" he asked, made his voice hard before sitting back down in his seat, made sure to take a moment to re-arrange his robes, blatantly ignored everyone to let them stew as he thought frantically to find a way to make this work.

"Fox, Boar, Rat," he started, put extra emphasis on Rat to watch the ROOT member squirm, "are to wait in the hall -" here he had to talk over an objecting Koharu and Homura to be heard, "- until I call for you. You will talk to no one, will say nothing until I have debriefed you. Go."

He waited until they bowed and left, then turned to his two old friends and raised a brow. "Did you not want to commence the hearing of Kakashi Hatake and Naruto Uzumaki with all haste? Or was there something you wanted with that team?"

"They were witnesses to the case, Hiruzen, and you know that." Homura sounded almost petulant, and the Hokage had to stifle a mirthless laugh.

"Witnesses? To what? The capture of these two? Considering Kakashi-san here is free, they trusted him enough. His word on their arrest should then be more than sufficient."

"But he's still a prisoner, right now! He could say anything to try and lighten his sentence!"

"And we have ways of getting the truth, if we think him to be lying." as he finished speaking, Hiruzen made sure to make his stare hard, because he was not budging on this fact. That anbu team had acted inappropriately in regards with Naruto-kun, and if they were willing to forgo obviously needed medical treatment for the youth, they definitely weren't allowed to be considered witnesses to the teen's trial.

Homura subsided, thankfully, so the Hokage turned back towards Team Seven (just need Sakura-chan, but she's under house arrest under suspicion of helping these two), only to see that while he was distracted Kakashi had sidled closer to Naruto, and that the teen seemed to be leaning on his sensei, even though he was smiling and appeared relax. Hiruzen narrowed his eyes, clenched his teeth (because how was that not life threatening? Naruto couldn't even stand on his own!), but didn't say anything about it.

"Kakashi Hatake, Naruto Uzumaki; you are both charged with treason to your village and your Hokage. How do you plead?" please say guilty, please say guilty, please say -

"Guilty, Hokage-sama." Hiruzen smiled faintly when Kakashi spoke, nodded, and was just opening his mouth to speak again when -

"And the boy?" Danzo spoke. The Hokage smacked his hand heavily against the desk in front of him (because Naruto was opening his mouth and he could not say anything, couldn't waive his rights to be tried as a child without knowing he was even doing it).

"Regardless of their crimes, until they are declared guilty Kakashi-san is still Naruto-kun's commanding officer, and that means he has every right to speak for the both of them. As far as the law is concerned, Naruto-kun isn't required to speak a single word during this hearing; anything he does say can't even be held against him. I will not tolerate you breaking the laws as you see fit while you judge someone else for doing the same, Danzo. Remember that."

Danzo was glowering by the time Hiruzen finished, but he nodded, so the Hokage took that as a win and turned back to Team Seven.

"So you admit to expressly disobeying my order and leaving the walls of Konohagakure five nights ago, knowing that you had been suspended of active duty and expected to stay in the village?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Expl-" he just manages to get out, before Dog and Ugai appeared, the medic looking a little frazzled around the edges as he pries himself from the anbu's grip. Ah, so Dog just grabbed Ugai and dragged him along, apparently.

"Ugai-san," he starts, smiles apologetically as he waves towards Naruto, "I apologize for the inconvenience, but Naruto-kun here is in need of medical attention, and some didn't think it necessary to allow him leave to a medical centre. If you could...?" Ugai looks flustered for a moment more, then spots the blood all over the jinchuuriki and gasps, and is already rushing towards the youth as he says "of course, Hokage-sama!".

Hiruzen waves Dog away, and sits quietly for a moment as the medic starts to work, asking questions that the blond obviously isn't answering (the Hokage in him wonders if it's because the teen is taking his don't say anything too literally, while the grandfather in him thinks maybe Naruto-kun's fear of hospitals is acting up, doesn't linger on it) and waving chakra covered hands across his face, lingering at the teen's temple, and lip, and cheeks. Sarutobi hears "how long have you had this head wound? I think you're suffering from a concussion" before he forces his attention back to Kakashi. He would be of no help to them if he couldn't keep his anger in check.

"Now, Kakashi-san," he starts, before he is interrupted again, this time by the medic crying out in alarm. His focus is instantly on Naruto, only to find Ugai has moved behind the teen and is focusing intently on the blond's back, sweat already beading on his brow as the glow of chakra intensifies.

Hiruzen hears the tinging of metal hitting the ground before he sees the shuriken, and he's on his feet again, leaning over the desk. "Report, Ugai-san." he commands.

It's Kakashi that speaks, though, and his voice is a lazy drawl that does nothing to hide the contempt in his tone. "When Naruto-kun's head wound stopped bleeding, Boar decided it was... necessary to keep him weak." Naruto actually looks shocked at this, although his mouth stays firmly closed.

"By embedding a half a dozen shuriken in the boy's back? By Kami, he should be dead." Ugai sounds frantic, but he doesn't stop working, pulls out another weapon and un-caringly drops it to the floor as he focuses his attention on the now free wound.

"Dog!" Hiruzen barks out, doesn't even care at the moment how uncomfortable the council is starting to look (knows they had something to do with this because they don't look anywhere near surprised, damn them), "take Naruto and Ugai to the hospital, no-"

"No!" Ugai cuts him off (and he'd be getting really annoyed at this point, if the medic didn't have a good reason for doing so) at the same time Naruto makes an alarmed sound, "with the severity of these wounds and his chakra fluctuating so wildly from the inhibiting cuffs, moving him anywhere is a severely bad idea. We have to deal with the worst of this before doing anything else."

Kakashi, of course, who's been standing silently this entire time, letting Naruto continue to use him as support, just has to say, "Naruto-kun also had to run at chuunin speed for at least ten, fifteen minutes with the cuffs on." the jounin shoots a strange look at the blond when he says this, but Hiruzen doesn't have time to wonder about it before Ugai makes another distressed noise, stops working on the jinchuuriki's back to move around to his front, focuses his attention on the teen's chest. It's only seconds before medic groans and the chakra leaking from his hands flares, spreads to cover as much of Naruto's body as possible.

"Hokage, I'm going to need at least three more medics here, preferably four because this boy's chakra paths are severely damaged, and I won't be able to fix all the life-threatening sections myself, let alone his back."

Naruto is starting to look a little freaked out, eyes wide and glassy, and Kakashi looks shocked and... a little guilty? But neither say anything so Hiruzen ignores it for now, turns to Dog and commands, "Get Snake, Bear, and Cat, get to the hospital and grab the first four on-shift medics you find. Now!" Dog doesn't even bow, just disappears in a swirl of leaves and Sarutobi turns back to the scene in front of him, moves quickly around his desk to one of the stools in the corner and brings it over to Naruto.

"Here, Naruto-kun, you shouldn't be standing with your wounds." he helps the blond take a seat, ignores Ugai's muttered "I don't even know how he's conscious." and focuses on the council still in their seats.

"This hearing is officially post-poned until tomorrow. Once Naruto-kun is healed sufficiently, he and Kakashi will be brought to the hospital and kept there, with four anbu guards keeping them secure until we reconvene. Go." Normally, at least one of them would have said something about him ordering them around, but he's so angry and stressed and worried that his words come out ice cold and just as sharp, so they say nothing, just get up and slip out the door.

As Dog, Cat, Bear and Snake return with more medics, Hiruzen sighs and steps away, gives them room to work and motions for Kakashi to take one of the council's vacated seats. By the time they both sit all the anbu are gone and the five medics are surrounding Naruto, who's definitely looking scared now as they all crowd around him.

"How did this happen?" he asks, knows he sounds old and sad as he leans back in his chair and looks to the silver-haired man beside him, who's oozing into his own seat, obviously tired.

Kakashi is silent for a moment, and when he starts his words are cautious. "Naruto was... hurt, yesterday afternoon, so we spent most of the day resting. I was... distracted, so I didn't notice the approaching anbu team. By the time they showed up it was too late to run, and we were detained and cuffed pretty quickly." the jounin sounds guilty again, while he says this, and Hiruzen tucks that knowledge away for later. What would Kakashi have to feel guilty about? Not noticing the team sooner?

"Apparently their orders were to 'keep Naruto as secured as possible'. They were... well, within five hours of picking us up they'd broken protocol twenty-seven times, Hokage-sama." Sarutobi starts at this. His anbu did not break protocol. Even one infraction was enough to warrant jail time.

"How?" he says, demands. Kakashi's silent again, as he turns to examine Naruto.

"It started pretty small, refusing to allow him to talk, being generally threatening, but it escalated pretty quickly into outright violence and blatant verbal abuse. They obviously hated him, and I was worried that if we spent any significant amount of time with them, they'd end up killing Naruto."

Sarutobi pales at the words, turns to stare at Naruto himself, and wonders how this all went wrong so quickly.

"So what did you do?" he asks when the feelings have faded some, because he knows Kakashi, knows the man wouldn't just watch something like that happen passively.

"I convinced them to un-cuff me, then agree to let me carry Naruto-kun so that we could travel faster and so that I could keep the physical violence, at least, to a minimum."

"So the shuriken happened before this?" just saying the words make him want to scream, but he needs to know, because these three anbu are still sitting outside his office, and he doubts they'll tell him any of this when he brings them in.

Kakashi shakes his head, negatively.

"No, right before this Boar hit Naruto-kun hard enough to draw blood, which is where the head wound comes in. It was sometime after midnight, when we'd stopped for a quick refuel that Fox realized the wound had stopped bleeding and notified his... commanding officer. I hadn't even realized he'd done anything until I smelt the blood. At this point, even though they were very obviously Konoha anbu I was worried about what they had planned, so I had to go along with the... idea in order to keep Naruto close to me. I spent the rest of the night pushing our speed and keeping behind them so they couldn't get to him."

"Kami," the Hokage breathed, "and you travelled through the night?" Kakashi hummed in agreement.

"The anbu operatives were looking at Naruto in a way that made me particularly uncomfortable, especially Rat. I convinced them that stopping wasn't in their best interests. Hokage-sama, these three wanted to kill Naruto-kun, and they wanted it to hurt. I don't know why, and I'll admit I suspected your involvement, for awhile, but somebody is behind this team's actions. And you need to find out who, because I don't think they'll stop with this."

"Shit! Catch him!" one of the medics cried before Hiruzen could say anything, and both him and Kakashi were on their feet in an instant, watching as Naruto fell off the stool and started shaking, barely caught by the medic beside him.

"What's happening?" he demanded, but didn't step closer (getting in their way wouldn't help Naruto), and held Kakashi back from doing the same.

"We had to take the inhibiting cuffs off, and his body isn't assimilating the influx of chakra!" one of the medics (Mitake, or was it Mitate?) replied distractedly as he shoved a scrap of cloth into the teen's mouth, then continued sending healing chakra into a quivering thigh.

Sarutobi frowned, worry growing exponentially in his gut, but turned and forced Kakashi back into his seat, then took his own, perching on the edge. "Why was he made to run with the inhibitors on?" he asked, forced his mind away from the fear that Naruto wouldn't make it (he was supposed to protect the child, what had gone wrong?) and towards a situation he had the power to deal with.

The silver-haired man seemed to wilt beside him, guilt etched into every part of him. "About ten minutes from the village, Naruto told me I couldn't be seen carrying him into the village, that they'd 'kill me' if I did, and I got so angry because here was this boy, sensei's son and he was convinced that anybody seen helping him would be hurt. I thought I was gonna hurt him, I was so angry. So I let him down, backed away.

"I swear, Hokage-sama, I didn't know he'd react to channelling chakra like this. I didn't even know anything was seriously wrong until the medic said something! Naruto didn't look like it hurt at all, and I kept the pace as slow as I could without pissing off our ANBU guard!"

Hiruzen's frown deepened, and he stared silently at Kakashi for a moment before sighing, and placing a hand on the man's shoulder. "It isn't your fault, Kakashi. This is a bad situation all around, and you did the best you could. You got him away from three specially trained men planning on hurting him, and you got him home, where we can help him. Take pride in that."

Naruto was calming down, now, the shakes petering off into little shivers, and the medics surrounding him seemed to relax in unison, continuing their speedy healing but no longer looking frantic and worried, so the Hokage focused back on him (can watch without butting in to help now, making things worse) and gave Kakashi a moment to gather himself.

"How is he?" he asked, tired, and Ugai sent him a reassuring look.

"Almost well enough to travel, Hokage-sama. The wounds on his back are healed enough to no longer be life-threatening, so we're leaving them until we get to the hospital, and most of his major chakra paths are restored enough to handle the chakra flow. We just need to open up the rest, and then make sure we haven't missed anything important."

Sarutobi nodded, relieved, and motioned towards Kakashi. "Good. When you've finished prepping Naruto-kun for travel, please take a quick look at Kakashi-san here to make sure there are no other... surprises waiting for us. My ANBU will transport all of you to the hospital gates when you're finished."

Ugai nodded, looking haggard and a little worn after using so much chakra so quickly, then turned back to continue whatever he was doing. The Hokage called Dog, Bear, Cat, and Snake from where they'd hidden in the shadows.

"You four will be escorting these medics, as well as Kakashi-san and Naruto-kun, to the hospital as soon as Ugai-san and the rest are ready, and acting as guards for Kakashi-san and Naruto-kun on a rotating basis until their trial reconvenes tomorrow morning. I don't particularly care how you do it, but at least two of you will be with them at all times. You will not only stop them from leaving the room assigned to them, but stop anyone who isn't these five medics or authorized by me to enter. Understood?"

The four inclined their heads, and Hiruzen sat back in his chair, feeling bone-tired and knowing he still had over half a day of work. And that included dealing with the ANBU team cooling their heels outside his office, Kami help them.

"Hatake-san, please take a deep breath." he heard Mitate-san (and it was definitely Mitate) say, and looked to see Kakashi, looking quite disgruntled but too tired to say anything, being poked and prodded with green-glowing hands. Hiruzen smiled, and got a little more comfortable as he glanced around the room. They were home now, and even if they'd brought a mess with them they'd be okay. Sarutobi couldn't really ask for more.

Several minutes later found five medics, a slumping Kakashi, a sleeping Naruto and four alert ANBU operatives scattered in front of his desk, stepping into a carefully drawn seal on his floor that would move them to the front desk of the hospital. They wouldn't normally travel like this, but the group was too large to collectively shunshin, and the hospital was one of the few places this seal was linked to, so.

He nodded to the group, smiled encouragingly towards Kakashi, and then they were gone, the seal smoking as it activated. He glanced at it, sighed, knew he'd be spending ages cleaning it up, then turned to look out one of his office windows.

Without company to force his attention, Hiruzen's thoughts quickly turned towards the ANBU outside his door, and he scowled, reaching for his pipe and deciding they could wait a few more minutes. And then, after them, he'd have to have a word with Danzo, try and figure out exactly what that old man was up to infiltrating his ANBU corp with ROOT members. On top of that was the whole Uchiha blatantly turning to a known missing nin mess, which still needed to be dealt with.

The small, hopeful feeling in his chest withered underneath all these worries, and his mood quickly soured. It wasn't even lunch yet! Maybe he could keep that ANBU team waiting until he'd had something to eat, make them stew in their worry for a little longer. Or maybe he could call Ibiki-san, have him come stand in here while he questioned the team. That would certainly intimidate them.

Sighing, Sarutobi kissed any chance of having a boring afternoon good-bye.

Naruto sat quietly on the hospital bed he'd woken up in, trying not to wake Kakashi (who had already been asleep when the teen had woken, stretched out on his own bed). His knees had been drawn up to his chest, and he'd wrapped his arms around his ankles, and now he was staring out of the small, latchless window to take in the sunset.

He'd woken only a short while ago, and while he was nervous about being locked in the hospital (people with the authority to hurt him? No thank-you) with no memory of coming here, he had to admit the healing sleep had helped him. His thoughts had calmed, and that turbulent sea of emotion had drawn down low, away from the forefront of his consciousness.

He felt like he could pretend again. Not like in that clearing, after he'd had that attack, and his brain was still running on painhidefear and he'd tried to shove it away, tried to hide it, but like normal; before this whole mess happened and his top priority was spending time with his team.

More than that, though, was that he could see a way out of this mess. Oh, not with the whole Sasuke issue (he'd broken his promise how was he gonna face Sakura-chan?), but with Kaka-sensei and falling to pieces in that clearing. It wasn't perfect, and he doubted that Kakashi would give up a mystery that easily,but it was a way out. No more struggling in the dark, aimlessly trying to find an answer.

However, it meant creating a new mask, piecing together all his broken pieces in a different way in order to make someone new, someone just for Kakashi (because Naruto knew better than most: as soon as someone felt special, they were less likely to fish for answers, demand information, push). He'd have to start going to the jounin for his smaller issues, in order to make this work. Make Kaka-sensei think he was being let in, being shown what Naruto was. (A flash of fear no one can know gotta keep it hidden push it down).

Have to stop smiling as much around the man too, because if the silver-haired man hadn't pieced that together during the trip he would soon. The idea of not smiling though, of not using that happiness to force his darker emotions down...

No, he'd keep the smiles and sunshine and laughs, just... tone them down? Yes, that sounded like it could work. Kaka-sensei would be more alarmed than not if the blonde suddenly stopped smiling whenever they were together, and the entire point of this new persona was to stop Kakashi from trying to get closer (He's an Important Person so he needs to stay as far away as possible).

So... small smiles and quiet laughter. Sarcasm? Wit? No, those wouldn't work. Too close to his true feelings (just more focused, more refined) and much too different to his usual mask. Needed Kakashi to think the charade was something small, something inconsequential.

Thoughtfulness could work. Yes, could tie it into not wanting to worry everyone (not important enough never important enough stop) about his issues, wanting to focus on enjoying their company.

Should he still talk as much? It might seem too different to suddenly be faced with a quiet child where before there was screaming and laughter and talking a mile a minute. So... keep the word vomit, but tone it down? Seem comfortable with the quiet (drip, drip, drip, nothing but the tap in the kitchen for days because no one was coming no one cared, sitting in his living room day-in, day-out, all alone), but speak freely and about anything and everything brought up?

Yes... yes, that could work. Take the current mask, tweak it just a little, give it some depth and point it at Kakashi, make sensei feel like he was the only one Naruto would come to, and that should stop the interrogations, calm things down. Then he could slowly "heal", make the new persona brighter, happier, until eventually he was just like before and Kaka-sensei could feel the accomplishment of helping him, of making him better, and Naruto would still be safe. (No one can know, have to keep it hidden, push it down deep let it fester).

"Naruto-kun?" Came a soft voice to his left, and the blonde started before turning to look at his sensei, who was just finishing pulling in his mask from where it had been hanging beside the bed (Naruto hadn't looked, had felt guilty even seeing that flash of pale skin because Kaka-sensei was here because of him).

"Hey, Kaka-sensei." Naruto replied, twisted his lips in a soft smile and scrunched his eyes just a little. No time to start like the present, right? "Feeling better?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Came the dry reply, and Naruto forced himself to snort instead of frown (Kaka-sensei had been exhausted, chakra reserves almost completely empty because of their punishing pace, simply because Naruto couldn't keep it together).

"One of the few benefits to having a giant demon sealed in your stomach; I'm basically at a hundred percent already." A lie. The muscles in his back still refused to co-operate, twitching and aching sharply, and he could feel a dull ache through-out his body, most likely his burnt chakra coils protesting the Kyuubi's desire to heal his host as quickly as possible, uncaring of pain or discomfort. "You, though, you got nothing like that."

"Maa, well I guess that's true." The silver-haired man responded as he pushed himself up against the wall behind the bed and shot a quick glance out the window. "Evening already?" He asked, obviously surprised.

"Mm," the jinchuuriki hummed, shooting his own glance out the window. "About seven or eight, would be my guess."

"Huh... guess I was more tired than I thought." The jounin mumbled, to which Naruto replied with a dry look and,

"That's what I was saying. I overheard one of the nurses earlier after I'd woken up. You'd exhausted yourself, Kaka-sensei."

Kakashi apparently didn't think this required a response, as he simply hummed noncommittally and stretched his arms above his head, trying to pull the kinks out of his back. Naruto just frowned faintly at him, then sighed quietly and turned back towards the window. Arguing with him over this wasn't worth it.

There was quiet for awhile, during which the blonde could feel the jounin's inquisitive gaze on him several times, but Naruto had already decided it was now or never to start showing Kaka-sensei his new face, and once he'd decided something he never backed down (except he couldn't really say that, could he? He'd promised to bring Sasuke back, had decided he was going to do this for Sakura-chan, and look where that ended up), so he let himself continue to look out the window, watch the sun set and send brilliant light sparking across the rooftops, and added a small smile to his face.

This wasn't actually too different from what he'd be doing if he'd been at home. Sunsets had always seemed somehow extraordinary to him, and after the exhausting week he'd had, getting to sit in silence and soak in the lingering warmth of the day was soothing.

Of course, there was still Kakashi (and his questions and opinions and needs) to deal with, so when the silver-haired man hummed again, sometime later, Naruto readily turned away from the window with an inquisitive look on his face.

"Hmmmm, Kaka-sensei?" he responded, squinting his eyes a little and quirking his mouth a little more and trying to come across as just a little more mischievous (and Kami, but he'd barely started this and he'd forgotten how exhausting policing every nuance and twitch was, but Kakashi was an Important Person so he'd do this, he would). He watched as the jounin narrowed his eyes a little, studied him for a moment and then seemed to come to some sort of decision because the muscles in his face relaxed and he positively sprawled across the bed.

"Any chance you overheard one of the nurses mentioning a way we could get some entertainment in here? They always take my beloved Icha Icha away when I land myself in here, and if I have to spend the entire time locked here with nothing to do but sleep, I might cry." Kakashi's tone was offhand and, altogether, rather blasé, but this was the most familiar he'd been with Naruto ever, and the jinchuuriki took a moment to gape in shock before snorting and turning to muffle his laughter.

"I'm sure if you're patient enough, you can ask them yourself when they come to bring us food." the blonde responded when his chuckles finally wound down, wiping a stray tear from the corner of his eye.

"Patience." Kakashi responded, and even with the mask it was clear to see how displeased he was with the idea. Naruto snorted again, then shook his head and turned back to gaze once more out the window.

"I'm sure you can find something to occupy your time until they come back, Kaka-sensei." He replied without looking back, shifting until he could prop an elbow against his knee and place his head in his hand. The sunlight was doing that thing where it reflected off the orange and red rooftops, creating a glowing halo around the buildings that made Konoha look as if it were shining.

The jounin grumbled something incomprehensible under his breath from the next bed over, and Naruto's smile widened just slightly. Yes, if Kaka-sensei continued acting like this, he could definitely do this.

Danzo sighed to himself as he leaned back in his chair, eyes on the papers covering his desk but mind elsewhere. While some things had happened he hadn't anticipated, all told his plan had sufficiently succeeded. He'd have to wait a couple of weeks, of course, to tell whether or not his plan had been actually successful, but the groundwork, at least, was in place now. If things proceeded as he expected they would, he'd have himself a new soldier in a matter of weeks, a month at most.

His frown deepened as he thought this. He'd had to make certain (well informed) assumptions in order to carry out this plan, and one of those assumptions was proving to be a little less well informed than he'd thought. When he'd heard that both Hatake and Uzumaki had left the village, he'd jumped at his chance to crack that child just a little bit more while most everyone was occupied worrying over that little Uchiha brat (although those eyes. He would have liked to have those eyes. He carefully pushed that thought away for later plans).

When it had come to light that the two were probably together, Danzo had grown a little concerned, yes, what with Hatake's near fanatical belief about teammates, but it had seemed salvageable so he'd pushed the plan ahead. After all, while the White Fang's son was very big on saving teammates, it was well recorded that he cared very little for Uzumaki as a person, and since Danzo hadn't wanted to kill a future weapon, only harness it, he figured using Hatake as a safety net to keep anything too dangerous from happening was actually rather ingenious of him.

And then, of course, the two had returned to the village (much earlier than Danzo had hoped. He had thought he'd been rather clear on taking the long way around) and the old war hawk was displeased to realize that Hatake had protected the boy rather more than he'd anticipated.

Still, there had been a fragile edge to the teen's expression when he'd stood there. A couple of days, maybe a week or two around some of the more violent villagers (Danzo made a note to himself to push some with more... aggressive tendencies towards the boy's favourite haunts over the next little while), along with his teams usual attitude towards him, and the jinchuuriki should be close enough to the edge to be... appreciative of Danzo's intervention.

The war hawk had to admit, Uzumaki had held up admirably well over the years, breaking in all the wrong ways to be of use to him. But this, hopefully, would be the scroll that sent the whole pile falling, and Danzo would finally have the weapon he'd been aiming for all along.

He'd just have to keep an eye on how Hatake acted over the next couple of days, maybe send him on some sort of urgent mission if he appeared too attentive to the boy. Yes, that could work.

Satisfied his plan was soon going to succeed, Danzo leaned forward over his desk again, made a quick note to himself, then turned his attention onto the Hokage. He was hoping Sarutobi had only caught on to certain things, as his meddling would do nothing but help with his plans, but just in case he noticed too much, hm... yes, that could work...

The sound of pen on parchment filled the small, dark office, as Danzo lost himself to planning.

AN/ Wooooooow, shit just keeps piling up for Naruto, doesn't it? D: And also – wow! We know a little bit more about why these things keep happening, don't we? That old Danzo! Is he working alone? Just why does he want Naruto as a weapon? For the usual reasons, or something more... sinister? Who knows?!

This chapter's question: I was gonna ask (again, I think) what you guys felt about the switching POVs, but I just realized that no matter what you guys answered with, I wouldn't stop. D: I'm too big a fan of showing multiple people's partial views, and how those views effect how they reply to certain things (even when we know things they don't!) to stop, haha. So sorry. Hope that's cool with you guys!

Until next time (hopefully not a year from now)

Vaniix