Chapter 1: The simple task

Iruka had been sent on a diplomatic mission to Suna with team 7 as escort. There was word of trouble along the way, so Tsunade had arranged for Iruka and the kids to travel as a group, and Kakashi was to hover above keeping watch over them. If they looked like they were just a Team of training Genin, they could go unnoticed, but kakashi was too well known to be in the open.

Iruka had a scroll to deliver and was to wait for a response before heading back home.

The trip to Suna and inside Suna was all uneventful and seemed a bit of a waste of Kakashi's time and effort to be so hidden for such a long trip for absolutely nothing to happen. Only the occasional civilian passing by with goods to trade

It wasn't until they had just left the border again to head back home that trouble reared it's head. A civilian they thought they had seen still in Suna was heading towards them as though going back. Iruka smiled and nodded acknoledgement in their direction as they passed.

Suddenly, Iruka's surroundings pulsed and vibrated, followed by blinding lights and high pitched screeching. Team 7 was completely gone, and the civilian was no longer there, replaced by the image of Kakashi instead. His grey eye was almost black with killing intent, his Sharingan was still covered but Iruka could feel it was spinning madly.

Iruka's heart raced, pounding forcefully in his chest making it hard to breathe.

What happened to the kids? Why was Kakashi acting so strange?

"Umm... K-Kakashi-S-San?" Iruka stuttered, in hopes he may realise who he was stalking up to.

Suddenly Kakashi appeared behind Iruka, one hand in his ponytail yanking it back giving the taller man better access to his naked throat, kunai pressed firmly against his skin.

Kakashi's breath was slow, steady and almost silent even when it was right in Iruka's ear. 'What has gotten into him?!' Iruka thought to himself, 'Could he really be about to kill me? What did he do to the kids?' He was trying to keep his breathing calm, fighting his fear, his racing heart and the sweat forming under his hitae-ate.

His hair was yanked harder, causing a yelp in pain and shock, as he was thrown backwards accross the pulsing clearing into a tree. As quickly as he had made contact with the tree, Kakashi was back infront of the tanned gasping man, chakra rope wrapping around him around his chest and shoulders, feet just held off the ground.

"W-why are you doing this?" Iruka asked, hoping the Jounin would snap out of it. Suddenly a throwing star was sitting inside his mouth, digging into the insides of his cheeks. The heavier Iruka breathed, the more the throwing star would draw blood. He knew he had to calm down, as hard as it was as Kakashi wrapped chakra rope around the tree and his neck, holding him helplessly in place.

Iruka had closed his eyes, trying keep himself in a calm state to forget about the aching muscles all through his body while he fought with gravity to keep himself up in the chakra rope, rather than very slowly sliding down causing the rope to cut into his cloth covered arms and his bare neck, putting more pressure on his jaw which was still trying to hold a throwing star without cutting into the sides of his lips.

He was feeling himself getting tired and weaker, like hours had passed, by the time Kakashi was on the move again. He pulled off Iruka's hitae-ate and dropped it to the dirt beneath his feet. Next his jaw was being traced painstakingly slowly by a very sharp pointed kunai, breaking the skin as it went, before reaching the brunette ponytail, which he promptly cut at the base under the hair tie. Iruka gasped and tried to yell as his hair fell to the ground along with his hitae-ate, forgetting about the throwing star until it sliced his cheeks and tongue again, causing his mouth to fill with blood. 'Fuck...' Iruka thought to himself, suddenly giving up on holding himself up, letting the chakra wire dig in and cut into various places as he slouched, 'who am I kidding, this man is a trained killer since he was essentially a baby, he's probably been tortured more times than I can count, and now he's finally snapped. I can't fight an ANBU..." Iruka shuddered as he felt his now very short hair fall to his face. He could feintly feel the sharp kunai tracing down his his forearms, warm blood trickling down into his hands. Kakashi stayed silent as he meticulously worked his way around the Sensei with his kunai. Iruka's will was breaking, everything was hazy as he was slipping in and out of consciousness as he lost more and more blood.

A loud yell rattled through the Iruka's head as he tried to open his eyes. A blurry vision of Kakashi was infront of him, face to face with an orange fuzz standing behind him jumping up and down before complete darkness swallowed Iruka.

Kakashi had summoned Pakkun to track Iruka back down after he had suddenly disappeared from and his chakra couldn't be felt. When they found him slouching against a tree, breathing rapidly and bleeding everywhere Kakashi had slipped into killing mode, searching for any presence with his chakra. Pakkun had caught scent of a civilian who was now running from the scene, this was no ordinary civilian. Kakashi realised he had seen this man multiple times on their trip already, each time wearing different clothes, looking like he was from different countries.

"Keep an eye on him," Kakashi said to team seven gesturing to Iruka, "keep your distance, he may lash out if he thinks you are a threat." He turned to pursue the civilian Pakkun was chasing down, "Do Not follow me, under any circumstance, keep him guarded", with that he was gone, suddenly appearing behind the stranger, kunai to his throat. A cry for help quickly cut short as the Jounin made quick work of his prey. Pulling the hood away from the mans face Kakashi realised he knew the face as it skewed back to his true face. He was in the bingo book, he was known to be incredibly hard to track. Now it made sense, he was good at henging into anyone he had seen once. Kakashi's sharingan had been covered to conserve energy on their trip. He thought he was just being paranoid when he thought they had passed this man too many times. Now he felt a crushing guilt wash over him as he remembered Iruka was in a horrible state because he didn't listen to his gut feeling.

Quickly retreating back to Iruka, Kakashi sent Pakkun ahead with a message for a medical team to come and meet them to try and help the Sensei, he seemed to be fighting in his unconcious state, his face distorted in pain and fear.