Chapter 17: Venture: Quantum of Soliciting

*Checks watch* About...hmm, 10 months before the Massacre in canon. I need to kill some time and Kakashi and Kimimaro need some master-apprentice bonding. I guess some world-building would be nice as well.

Obviously, the answer is a Mission Impossible/James Bond style Arc. Don't worry, I have the outline all planned out and it should be about 7/8 chapters at most, with fast updates because I know what I'm doing.

Also, I have map of the Naruto-verse and have posted it on my Deviant Art. I would go and take a look if I were you, since you'll probably want to know where some of the locations mentioned in this Arc are. I would put a hyperlink but FF keeps wiping it, so just go onto Deviant Art and search slyfoxcub map.

Part 1: Quantum of Soliciting

'Hi, Obito, Rin. Sensei, Kushina-san. I haven't really had much time to really talk, huh? Well, I know you'll be pleased to know that I'm getting out of ANBU. I know that you were so disappointed about me joining in the first place Sensei; you punched me in the face, Kushina-san. The fact is, I've started slipping. And stagnating. I thought I could keep my ANBU and personal personas separate, but they've started to bleed together. At times I've been cold and professional as Kakashi and casual as Hound. I need to get out, or I'll just end up creating more masks until all I am is a hollow shell with raw nerves, trauma and instinct inside.

I thought being ANBU would let me escape. Let me be someone else. Let me run away from my feelings. But I know now that denial doesn't let you heal.

I don't know if it's because he's an Inochi Saido, but despite all he's been through, Kimimaro's more put together that I've ever been. He's still scared though. Did you know that he had a flashback and I was the only one there to hold him? He calls me friend now. Are you proud, Rin? I can practically hear you laughing, Obito.

Kimimaro just seems to rub off on people, I don't even know how. Itachi used to be such a serious little thing and now he's a master of sarcasm. And Shisui's taken to drinking copious amounts of alcohol. Not for the stress, for dealing with Kimimaro. He threw himself out of the window one time. It was hilarious.

I don't know; Kimimaro just likes to break the Universe as we know it. Tenzo's reaped the benefits though. Kimimaro saw that his potential didn't match up with his abilities and gave him a Curse Mark to fix it. You should have seen Danzo's face when he found out that his reject now had the chance to be the second coming of the Mokuton.

Look at me, gushing all over my student. I'm turning into Gai.

Yes, student. That shut you up, didn't it Obito?

Not really a true Apprentice, Sensei, he's much too advanced for that. Like you were to me; someone to help him find his place. I'm just hoping I don't mess it all up, but unlike me, he does have friends to keep him on the right path. Speaking of which, I think I'm going to stop running; I've neglected my potential, stuck in ANBU.

I've run away from everything that damaged me, so I never healed.

I've done some thinking, and...I'm still angry. And I still don't know why. But all the same...I hope you're at peace, Father.'

Kakashi turned away from the Memorial Stone, only to find Bear waiting behind him. "You're getting better at stealth; I almost didn't hear you."

"People say my chakra blends into the background now," Bear shrugged. "But I need your advice, senpai."

"What is it?"

In response, Bear swept out his cloak, revealing a sleeping Naruto Uzumaki wrapped around his middle like a baby monkey. "Help!" Bear hissed.

"Why...?'"

"Ever since Kimimaro threw him at me, he's gone and attached himself to me. Literally, in some cases!" He swallowed nervously. "They say that the Shodai could calm the Bijuu and I'm not used to-" he twitched the shoulder where his Curse Mark was -"but I can't, I don't know how-'"

Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose. "You've talked to him, haven't you, built up a rapport?"

Bear cringed. "I know, I know, remain detached and all, but I couldn't just not communicate with him! He's been asking me questions about the Uzumaki Clan and, well, I thought, 'that's just history', so I told him what I read in the history books and now he's asking if I know his parents! I mean, it's obvious, but I didn't say anything, but I'll be dishonourably discharged! Transferred! Sold back to ROOT! I'm doomed! Ow!"

He jumped as Kakashi tapped him on the shoulder with a dash of Lightning chakra.

"Bear. Tenzo. I doubt you'll be punished; you're too valuable because of your abilities and that the kid's attached himself to you," Kakashi reassured. "I was going to nominate you to replace me as Captain, but I guess they'll want to keep you close to him. You might not even get missions outside the Village for a few years." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Tell you what, about the related thing. Just dump him in the cemeteries and tell him to find a marker that says Uzumaki, make a list, then ask the Hokage; pass the blame on."

"Oh! That's a great idea! Thanks, I'll make sure to do that," Bear practically gushed in relief. "And did you ever find out exactly how the Academy were screwing him over?"

Kakashi sighed and leaned against the Memorial Stone. "Orphans that enter the Academy get kicked out of the Orphanage and into the Student Dorms as a matter of course to become Wards of the Village. Since it creates space in the Orphanage and keeps the Village Wards in one place. But they're supposed to get Life Skills Classes; things like cleaning a house, basic cooking skills, getting their reading, Math and Basic Science up to speed.

Unfortunately, Naruto somehow got overlooked when it came to signing the new kids up for those lessons. They hadn't even explained to him that for the last three years of the Academy, you have to choose Electives, so not only was he already struggling with classwork and housework, he'd have been stuck in a rut for his last few years in the Academy."

"You got it sorted."

"Sojiro Hizaki was not expecting to be dragged from his bed. Nor was Sandaime-sama very happy at such a sorry state of affairs," Kakashi grinned with a tilt of the head. "And, speaking of students, I have an appointment with my own one."

You'd think that with such a defining feature as white hair, people would view you as pretty distinctive and unique.

However, since I started doing missions with Kakashi-shishou, I've gotten some speculative, assessing looks from people, mainly the civilians. I've also been asked whether I'm any relation to Jiraiya or even Tobirama Senju(ignorant swine, the man was albino).

And the face Shishou made when one old civilian lady said that he should be proud of his son...I will treasure that memory forever. Well, not that I could see his face, but the blank whited-out eyes accompanied by an odd ellipsis knocking sound was a giveaway.

Itachi is very amused. Shisui took a bottle of sake out from somewhere on his person and swigged it liberally before bursting into hysterical laughter.

All jokes aside, Kakashi-shishou's a pretty good teacher when you're able to keep up with how he thinks. He's far more suited to coaching people already near his level which is likely why he comes off as a pretty sucky sensei in canon, before Shippuden specifically; he has that utter incomprehension of 'what do you mean you don't get it, I get it, so why don't you?'

The thing with never asking them what skills Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke actually have beyond the Bell Test before giving them D-ranks and only realizing they don't know Water Walking after the three of them fended off Zabuza and got nearly half-drowned in the process? Classic behaviour.

But seriously, once you get on his level, the man is a bloody goldmine of skills. I also now own a set each of neko-te and tekko-kagi in some sort of high-quality steel alloy, courtesy of whoever owned that old house. Aside from that, I've had lessons of the Basics in swords, tonfa, rope-weapons and polearms. And Kyakujutsu...explosives-making.

Did you know that Greek Fire exists in this world? It's called Bluefire powder, but semantics, sch'mantics. Set fire to the rain! Actually, no. Set fire to the mist! Because of the dispersed particles of water, you get a wide-area short-term inferno. Well, since it's over so quickly, it would probably only burn off the top layer of any exposed skin but Kami help you if you have your eyes open. Seared. Literally.

On a solemn note, Bluefire powder contributed to the Fall of Uzushio. Iwa set a ring of sea burning around the island to prevent a mass evacuation. Obviously a few escapees got through, but still.

But still, this is the day of my first mission outside of the Village. The butterflies in my stomach are Akimichi ones, I swear, because my intestines are being mashed into paté right now. I've checked and re-checked all my kit, I'm all stocked up on pretty much everything. At least if anything goes wrong, Kakashi-shishou's strong and skilled enough to get out of most things.

"It's only a C-rank, don't look so nervous," Shishou says over his shoulder as we walk into the Mission Room. "You'll be totally fine. Yo," he nods to the Chunin on one of the desks.

"Hi Iruka-sensei," I wave cursorily, still jittery from nerves. "First mission outside the Village, praying it all goes well, y'know?" Iruka's one of the few shinobi who isn't entirely convinced that I'm not related to Kakashi to some degree or another. He flashes me a polite smile, only for it to fall when Kakashi-shishou says his next words.

"The annual envoy mission to Benisu, if you please."

"Dear Kami, Hatake-san, you're taking him on a B-rank?!"

Naturally, the outburst draws the attention of everyone in a certain radius. Including me.

"You. Said. C-rank," I hiss sweetly at Kakashi-shishou, who merely rolls his eye.

"Oh please, this one's a regular and I've been on it before. It's C-rank level, but listed as B because it's vital to the Village Economy and the nature of the place we're going to. Benisu's a-"

"-A wretched hive of scum and villainy ruled over by warring bloated and corrupt corporations?"

"...I was going to say a busy trading centre with a reputation for seedy activities, but that works too."

The sea is calm, a rich shimmering blue as gulls dip and sway in the high winds, fluffy white clouds scudding past in the bright azure sky. Ah, the glory of nature.

If only my aching body and slave-driver of a Master would give me the time to even consider appreciating it. Right now, as far as I'm concerned, Nature can shove it's much-vaunted beauty right up it's-

"Why did you think we were taking the ferry rather than Water Walking?" Kakashi-shishou asks in exaggerated bemusement as he leans over my prone form.

"Nyuh...relaxation?"

"That would be wasting valuable training time. Good news, though, we're done for the day! Cooldown exercises, then we can go and wash off."

"Yay!"

"Oh, you've got that much energy left? Maybe I didn't push you hard enough."

"yay?..."

"Better."

Did I mention that we've been doing our training on the upper deck? And that we've drawn an audience? Since this is a ferry/cargo ship to Benisu Trading Kingdom, it's mostly farmers and other traders, with the obligatory smattering of crew members. The men are mainly observing in stony, interested silence, but the women, not to mention one or two of the men, aren't even being subtle about ogling Kakashi-shishou.

Since, because he's fair like that and also working on his own skills, he's getting in some training of his own while tutoring me.

And he's doing it topless.

Well, I'm doing it topless as well and it's a reasonable measure because of all the sweating, but still; the fanservice taunting is just pure Trollery on his part. Bastard.

"Hang on," he says once we reach the showers-slash-toilets. He plucks the tag off of the back of my neck and a shudder runs through me as I shake off his chakra to show my scars. Because it can lead to much awkwardness and sometimes impulsive accusations when civilians are suddenly confronted with the evidence that the world doesn't care how young shinobi can be. It's just accepted as easier to hide or gloss over such things.

"I'm sure I got it right this time," Shishou murmurs, showing me the tag he'd taken off, and drawn much earlier.

"The discomfort isn't your fault," I reply, rubbing my nape. "It's just that having a net of foreign chakra coating your skin always feels a bit off."

"Ah; makes sense."

The showers/toilets are really no more than two small rectangular cubicles with a drain in the floor and a large-ish tank just above your head and a pump handle in the wall. Pump the handle and seawater gets drawn into the tank. Pull a handle on the bottom of the tank and the water gushes out of a small sprinkler head. The water is always freezing cold, by the way. Oh, and it's still seawater; make sure you keep your eyes closed.

Fortunately, both of the two cubicles are available when we get there.

"When do we dock?" I ask to Kakashi-shishou in the next cubicle as we both preoccupy ourselves.

"Tomorrow, but early in the morning before sunrise; it gives all the arriving traders time to sort their permits and wares out before the morning rush. Despite the fact that Benisu is the City that Never Sleeps. Aaahahaargh! Ooh, that water's cold!"

"So there's no real point in getting a full sleep if there's only a few hours until we need to go and get that document signed? Aaha! Coldcoldcoldcold...'"

"No. Literally just walk into the guy's office, get him to sign it, wait a few hours for all the bits to be filed appropriately, then we're done. See? C-rank."

Finished, I wrap myself in a towel. "What're we going to do to kill the time 'til then?" Kakashi emerges too.

"Well, I kind of want to talk about your Henge technique. You use the D-ranked ninjutsu one not the E-ranked genjutsu one, don't you?"

"Heh, yeah. Can't do genjutsu and with the ninjutsu version you don't have to constantly maintain it with chakra and focus. A simple Holding Seal tag stops other people dispelling it, as I showed you when I taught you how to draw it."

"I was thinking about teaching you the Forced Transformation ninjutsu; it's C-rank, but I'd like to start you off on constant use to stretch your reserves. Plus, it can be kind of fun to turn other people into things."

"Hell. Yes." I can only breathe. "Please."

His response is to throw a pair of wool gloves in my face. "After the mission. Now get dressed and keep working on training your chakra Nature into Lightning."

Benisu is actually kind of beautiful at night; all the bright lights shining out into the black and reflecting off of all the tall towers lined with massive glass windows.

I'm struck with an almost tangible sense of deja vu as the soaring pagodas are almost overlaid with shining, sheer rectangular buildings. I shake it off quickly, but Kakashi-shishou hears my gasp of surprise.

"Something wrong?"

"No," I shake my head. "Just...memories. Old memories. Pretty strong too; I could almost see it."

"You going to be able to focus on the mission?"

"Yeah yeah, it was just the view of the city from the water that got me. I'm fine."

The docks are loud, even at this time of night. Tread-wheel cranes lift bulk cargoes and crates from the decks, powered by the massive, steady hoof falls of heavy horses. Their harnesses jingle as their caretakers stand beside the wheels, urging them on or to stop with soft, ululating cries that are almost lost among the bustle and grind of carts and shouts and songs of voices of every pitch, cadence and rhythm.

"Kakashi-shishou, how long's it going to take us to get to city centre?" I ask as our ship sounds it's horn and begins disgorging passengers.

"Ah, five minutes at a Shunshin. Why?" He hops onto the ship's railing to avoid a crush between a soup-seller and a trader with dozens of wicker bird-cages strapped all over his body. I join him; I'm less likely to get knocked about and trampled underfoot that way.

"Well, the trading company we're going to can't be open yet, surely? It's just that I've got a bit of spending money on me and I wanted to buy Yuyu-kun and my friends something."

"Sorry kid. City that Never Sleeps, not to mention this is prime-time for doling out permits. It'll be open. Save the spending spree for afterwards; we'll take the scenic route back here anyway because there's some unused beaches we can use to practice a bit of jutsu and I need to talk to a contact here. And speaking of your friends, doesn't it bother you how Yuyu Aburame spouts off those bizarre threats?" He hops off the railing down onto the jetty and I follow, shrugging.

"Well, no. I figure that she's comfortable that I won't get frightened, so that's why she uses them. It's kind of sweet, in a way."

Kakashi-shishou has this odd, bemused smirk to his eye. "Like how Itachi-kun annoys you?"

"Uh, no," I explain slowly. "YuYu's showing how much she trusts me. Itachi's just trying to get my attention; and succeeding."

"Sooo, she already has your attention?" I think he's got something in his eye; it's twitching like crazy.

"Duh; her kikaichu can eat through walls and I guess I'm kinda sworn to her service, or something like that? I'd be crazy if I didn't pay attention to her."

"Like Itachi isn't dangerou- Y'know what?" Kakashi-shishou cuts himself off and sighs, a fake bead of sweat falling down his forehead. "Leaving for the office building now, keep up!"

Kakashi-shishou slides an official-looking scroll across the desk of the CEO of Aokimo Cargo Inc.;I didn't know our mission was so important to warrant going up to the head honcho directly.

"The annual renewal of the Konohagakure no Sato agreement for transportation of medicinal supplies and metal goods, exchanged for lumber, alcohol and minerals."

The man, one Kou Michiru, smiles graciously. "Of course; this company is always glad to do business with Konohagakure. We thank you for making the trip out here, ah...'"

"Kakashi Hatake, my Apprentice Kimimaro Kaguya," Shishou introduces us. "No relation," he adds as an afterthought, having seen Michiru-san's little double-take as we entered the room.

"A pleasure to meet you both," his 100-watt smile drops a notch. "Though, I'm afraid I must inconvenience you. The agreement requires the signature of my Head of Staff and he is currently unavoidably detained down at the warehouses for the day. I don't know when he'll be back. If I could trouble you to go to him and have him read it over before the deal can be sealed, I would be most grateful."

"Of course, Michiru-san. We shall leave immediately."

I notice something as we near the Outward-bound docks, coming up to the Out-Warehouse section of the island. "Hey, why are the crane horses out of their tread-wheels?"

A split-second later, Kakashi shoves me behind him and pulls us both into an alleyway.

"Henge! Now!" He hisses.

Caught off guard, I instinctively use the Henge I've been working on much to Itachi's amusement and in response to the 'mistaken relation' thing with Kakashi-shishou.

Turning back around from checking the street, Shishou takes one look at me and double-takes so hard as to promptly bash his head against the wall with the force of the whiplash.

I'm smaller, softer; about four years old. My white hair now has a silvery tinge and is slightly fluffy instead of lying flat, my zig-zag parting removed. With the red markings gone completely along with my scars, my face looks more open. Eyes are a different shape; a little rounder and dark now, almost black instead of light green. In short, I look exactly like his kid.

Sure, sure, anyone with a brain would figure out that I would therefore have to have been conceived when Kakashi was barely sixteen, making it a bit skeevy if perfectly legal, since age of consent is fifteen. But the point stands that it is feasible and shock does the rest.

As it just did to Kakashi-shishou. He's currently breathing heavily, visibly trying not to look at me but still doing so in some sort of morbid fascination. "Kami-fucking-dammit!" He growls to himself. "You...obviously you're meant to be mine but bloody hell if you don't look like my father when he was a kid."

That...that was not the exclamation I was expecting. "Sakumo Hatake, right? I wasn't trying for that, I just- sorry- and it was the first form I thought of when you pulled us in here, since I've been working on it so much. I'm sorry if I brought up any...memories."

"No, s'fine," he mutters. "Just...turn your eyes green again, or I won't be able to focus." I do so, and he relaxes. "Good. Thank you. Now, take a look out there; that's why I asked you to Henge."

Of course, I immediately see what's got him so concerned. But even so, my eyes are instead drawn to the writing printed on the hi-viz vests of the hired security around them, stopping the cargo being loaded onto the Aokimo company ships.

"Kiri-nin," Kakashi-shishou murmurs, even as I read 'Gatou Shipping co.'.

Simple C-rank-level my left foot.