22

Chapter 22: flip the switch and watch them runNotes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"Captain," Hyuuga Daisuke appears at Raijin's side, "visual on target is confirmed."

 Nara Ensui looks up from the map he had been poring over. "ETA?"

"Seven minutes. They're by the mountain pass leading into the valley."

Exhaling slowly, Raijin nods. "Have Kumiko-san go into position and resume your post," he orders.

Daisuke strikes a salute and leaves.

Raijin turns to his vice-captain, eyebrow quirked. "Your shoulder still giving you trouble, Ensui-san?"

Map neatly folded, Ensui pockets it and rises to his feet, shrugging noncommittally. "I'll manage," he states plainly.

"Still, we shouldn't test our luck. I'll request to stop by a base after this mission."

Ensui rolls his eyes. "Just focus on not blowing up the entire mountain for now, please, Captain."

Snorting, Raijin flashes him a grin. "You don't let me have any fun, Ensui-san."

"It's my job."

This time, it is Raijin who rolls his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever," he drawls, waving his hand. "Go take your position already. Try not to pull your stitches again."

Irked, Ensui sniffs. "It's not like I do it on purpose."

"Tell that to Sumeko-chan."

Ensui makes a face and salutes shortly, whirling around to go take his post further up the mountain the team is stationed on. So far, Team Chi has been lucky with the weather and managed to avoid fighting in the snow, but their good fortune seems to have finally run out. Raijin eyes the building layer of snow with distaste and scoffs at it.

Konoha nin don't exactly have the best history of combat in high altitude and snowy areas. Put simply, it comes down to lack of experience. Konoha rarely gets snow even in their coldest months, and when they do, it doesn't stick around for long. Moreover, most of the Land of Fire is set in the plains. Their high-altitude areas are hills more than anything, and the few mountains they do have pale in comparison to those in Land of Frost and Land of Lightning.

They aren't used to fighting in the low visibility and freezing temperatures. Keeping themselves warm is difficult enough without having to worry about further regulating chakra so they don't slip on the ice and snow. Managing to fight an opponent only comes in later.

Well, there's nothing for it. They have their orders after all. They'll make do or die trying. Such is war.

Today's objective is simple enough in theory. Their job is to sabotage the company of shinobi carrying out the transportation of supplies to a tertiary Kumo base and take out the lieutenant colonel in command of the company. They are expecting 70-90 soldiers, most of them chunin. The supplies in question are the Kumo base's rations and weapons for the next three weeks. Sabotaging the delivery would severely cripple the base's operations and potentially allow Konoha to take advantage of the weakness and gain control of the base since its location puts one of their own major encampments in danger.

Raijin's squad consists of five shinobi, including himself. If they were to attempt a head-on attack, that would mean each of them would simultaneously have to take on over fifteen opponents each and then somehow destroy the supplies too. Needless to say, a frontal assault is out of the question.

This leads them to their obvious best option: blowing up the mountain.

Right from the start, Raijin had decided that casualties on his squad are unacceptable. He knows shinobi die on the job all the time; even more so in the middle of a war. Nonetheless, he has been appointed to the eastern brigade and given a team of his own to lead, and this is what that responsibility means to him.

Team Chi had been an eight-member squad prior to his assignment. Their specialty had been in hit-and-run ambushes of enemy squads and platoons until they lost half the team, including their previous captain, on a mission.

Now, there are five of them including him. Raijin's addition has taken them from a speed oriented team to a force oriented one, but Team Chi makes it work admirably. Raijin quite likes them. He wants to make sure all of them get home.

Ergo, blowing up the mountain.

While easy enough on paper, there's quite a bit of nuance to the operation. Too small of an explosion, and the impact isn't enough to aid their team of five against a company that is over ten times their size. But if too much force is applied, then they risk burying themselves right alongside their enemies. Ensui has been nagging at Raijin about the math behind the whole thing for a whole week now. At this point, he hears the lecture echoing in his ears even when the second-in-command isn't actually there.

Shuddering, Raijin sniffs against the cold and rolls his shoulders. He can just about spot the company of Kumo soldiers making their way around the bend in the road, which means it's time for him to get into position along with the rest of his team.

Raijin crouches like a fox in the snow, fingertips pressed to the trigger of a network of meticulously altered exploding tags sprawling across the mountain, lying in wait for his prey to move into place.

Twenty minutes later, a Kumo company of 85 shinobi has been buried in a tomb of ice and silence. 

Team Chi has a rather simple but strikingly effective way of functioning.

As a five-member squad, they slowly but surely begin to build a repertoire that speaks of an overwhelming sort of competence. It shouldn't make sense since they are markedly smaller than most other squads in Konoha's army, and yet, they rip through each assignment with ruthless efficiency, and they never lose another member. There are only five of them, but Team Chi is resourceful and well in tune with each other. It doesn't take long before there are eyes on their movements and expectations on their shoulders.

Their strategies tend to follow a similar pattern unless they are running an unusual mission, making full use of the extraordinary powerhouse that is Namikaze Raijin. His seals keep them warm and equipped with devastating explosives and impressive barriers. His penchant for solid clones gives them manpower even though they have fewer members than other squads. His flair for destructive jutsu tears through enemy armies as though he alone is enough to stand between Konoha and the rest of the world.

Kumogakure has always been a most difficult opponent. They are well funded, well populated, and highly defensible. Their strength lies in their geography—no other shinobi village is quite as well suited to fighting in the high altitudes with the punishing weather and thin air, nor are they used to the tough terrain of the mountains that Lightning is so proud of. Amounting an attack on them is a futile lesson in loss that the villages have learnt to not attempt anymore. With their position thus secured, Lightning gets to strike forwards without having to worry as much about retaliation to their home.

Very quickly, however, word reaches them of Konoha's slow but steady approach towards their borders as they choke off encampments leading in from Frost. One by one, their supply routes get ambushed, their storage houses raided, and their camps face attacks whenever they are at their weakest from a shortage in rations and equipment.

It doesn't take much to learn that at the heart of many of their primary concerns are the Hyuuga clan's byakugan which lets them see right through mountains and bad weather, and a sealing master who brings down the very mountains upon their shinobi time after time. A squad of Konoha nin who use Lightning's own natural defences against them with repeated success.

Even once their style and movements become predictable, they don't become any easier to deal with. How does one hide from an eye that can see through miles of solid stone? How does one combat an avalanche before they are buried?

It is a pensive Kakashi that Minato happens upon in the mess tent of the outpost they are both currently assigned to. The sight of his student's tense shoulders and furrowed brows has him making a beeline straight towards the boy before he can even think twice about it, the instinct to help and ease calling to him above everything else.

For all intents and purposes, Team 7 has officially been dissolved as a cell since all its members now rank chunin or above. Minato technically isn't their sensei anymore, and he isn't obligated to look out for them in any capacity. In fact, he and Kakashi are basically colleagues since they share a rank even if Minato is still of a higher standing in the wartime hierarchy. By all means, his job is over.

But Minato will never stop seeing those kids as his team. He will never stop wanting to look after them. Kakashi will always be the closest thing he has to a son.

"Hello there, Kakashi-kun," he greets, smiling.

Kakashi blinks, his features visibly softening at the sight of Minato, and nods in return. "Minato-sensei," he murmurs, shuffling over to make space for Minato on the bench. "I didn't know you were posted here."

"I just arrived a few hours ago. You must have been on patrol," Minato informs, setting his tray of food on the table. "I'll be here for a month."

"Ah." Kakashi's shoulders drop ever so slightly as his gaze turns towards his own half-eaten tray.

Minato hums. "You're leaving tomorrow," he infers, sighing. "That's a shame. It would have been nice to be together. I haven't seen any of you in a while."

"Yeah." Kakashi nods, idly playing with his food. "I had a brief recon mission in Wind with Obito a few weeks ago," he offers. A vaguely disgruntled expression crosses his face. "He was being extra stupid."

Eyebrow rising, Minato carefully says, "Oh?"

Shaking his head, Kakashi glances at Minato. "He said something about Uchiha clan laws surrounding the donation of a sharingan," he admits eventually. "Obito was being really cagey so I didn't get the full picture."

"I…may have heard."

"I figured." Kakashi sighs. "I'll look into it later."

Minato smiles empathetically, nudging his student's shoulder with his own. "Is that what you were thinking so hard about?"

"I wasn't—" The protest cuts itself off before Kakashi can even fully get into it and the boy gives up on it, slumping in defeat.

Obito's abduction had affected all of them, but it had hit Kakashi the hardest. These days, the youngest member of Team 7 makes a conscious effort to soften his rough edges around them, cutting himself off often to rephrase his words. Kakashi is quieter, more hesitant, more subdued.

Some part of Minato recognises that Kakashi would have had to learn to mesh with other people sooner or later since Konoha's functioning is so team-centric. He just wishes the growth didn't have to come from a place of so much pain.

"It's not that," Kakashi amends. "I received my next assignment."

He passes over the letter he had been so occupied with prior to Minato's arrival. Scanning it quickly, Minato finds his eyebrows shooting up.

"To Lightning," he notes. "Team Chi of the north-eastern platoon."

"Your brother's team."

Minato smiles. "That it is." He looks up at Kakashi and tilts his head. "They've been a bit of a hot topic lately. This is good news for you, Kakashi-kun."

Through the mask, Kakashi purses his lips. "You think so?"

Carefully folding the letter, Minato slides it back to its owner. "I do," he confirms. "Team Chi is making itself instrumental in our advance against Kumo—a front that we've been pretty stagnant on for nearly seven months. If you're being assigned to them, it means people high up in our chain of command have enough faith in your potential to expect great things of you despite the difficult environment. It's a good way to gain experience."

"I haven't been part of a long-term team in a while," Kakashi comments with a deceptively unaffected air.

"You'll do fine, Kakashi," Minato assures softly, carefully reaching to place a hand on his student's shoulder and squeezing.

Kakashi doesn't seem particularly convinced. "I'm the only other jounin on the team."

Shrugging, Minato counters, "Well, team rankings differ during wartime. Experience and skillsets factor in more than they might under usual circumstances. You'll all figure it out together based on what works best."

"We'd only be a six-member squad."

"A bit unusual," Minato concedes. Most squads have 8-10 members after all. "But it doesn't seem to be affecting their performance much at all since no one has done anything to change it."

For a long moment, Kakashi is quiet. Minato lets him be. He has some idea as to what this is about, but it wouldn't do for him to push.

Finally, Kakashi says, "Sensei, what if—I can't screw up again. I—" He breaks off, voice cracking, and curls his fingers into tight fists, gaze downcast.

"Kakashi," Minato says gently, "you can never control every single aspect of any mission. Sometimes things happen beyond our control. No plan can account for how things actually turn out in the real world. That's a risk all of us have to take as shinobi. What is important is how we respond to our mistakes. The only thing that matters is what you take away from your experiences and how you better yourself for the next step forward. You are not the shinobi you were a month or even a week ago. You have to trust that it will be enough."

He could be harsher about it. Jiraiya had once snapped at Minato mid-mission about how doubting himself on the field is what would get him and his allies killed. Shinobi can't afford that sort of hesitation. Not when there are lives at stake for every second they waste.

But Kakashi doesn't need that. The boy always has been and always will be his own harshest critic. He knows what is expected of him as a shinobi and Kakashi always delivers on that front. What he needs to figure out now is how to be a person beyond being a ninja. Uncertainty is a part of growing up. Conflict and struggle are unavoidable in personhood—they are what make the good parts in life worthwhile after all.

And at eleven, Kakashi is unmistakably still growing. He is learning to be more than a sum of his tragedies. It was never going to be easy, and ultimately, Kakashi was always going to have figure it out for himself. All Minato can do is be there to support and point him in the right direction.

"What if I screw up and your brother is the one who gets hurt this time?" Kakashi challenges. His posture and tone of voice are keyed up and abrasive but, when he looks up at Minato, there is only a very real fear in his eye.

Minato exhales slowly, offering Kakashi an upward quirk of his lips. "Raijin can take care of himself," he states. "You're going to be on a team of very capable shinobi. All of them know how to handle whatever is thrown at them, Kakashi. Mistakes are always possible on the field, but you will have competent and experienced teammates at your back who will be there to help you recover, and that is the best you can really ask for."

Sighing, Kakashi looks away. "I guess."

"Just do your best, Kakashi," Minato says. "That is all we can really do as ninja. The one thing you can control is yourself—your skills, your work ethic, your motivation. Choose to keep giving your best."

"Right," Kakashi mutters. He still doesn't seem entirely convinced, but some of the tension does leave his frame at least. Minato supposes that's the most he's going to get in one day with one conversation.

"Shall we talk about something else then?" he offers brightly.

Kakashi eyes him thoughtfully. "Sure," he agrees far too easily. "What do you know about the sharingan thing?"

Minato freezes. There's a gleam in Kakashi's eye that says he won't be escaping this conversation so easily. Minato sighs.

"About that…"

"I'm married?!"

Weakly, Minato tries to point out, "Technically, I'm sure you can choose to define your relationship however you want."

His efforts are rewarded by a wicked glare.

"But, legally, marriage is what it would be," Kakashi argues viciously. He isn't wrong. Konoha does acknowledge most clan laws as special clauses to its own constitution. He groans and presses his knuckles to his eyes. "That idiot—I'm going to kill him myself!"

"Now, now, Kakashi," Minato tries to placate, "murdering a fellow shinobi is frowned upon, you know. Murdering a spouse—"

Kakashi's glare worsens, and Minato wisely shuts his mouth.

"I don't want to be an Uchiha," he states, scowling. "They literally hate my guts." A look of realisation crosses his face before outrage quickly replaces it. "Those old hypocrites—they were going on about an outsider to the clan having the sharingan when, technically, I counted as clan the whole time."

Which… is actually an excellent point. That's a legit attempt to con Kakashi out of clan status he'd achieved by Uchiha laws.

"Maybe I should make Obito a Hatake and see how they like it," Kakashi mutters fiercely under his breath, crossing his arms.

Minato stares blankly. He doesn't know if Kakashi realises the strange special status Obito has in his own clan as a mokuton user or the possible ramifications of Kakashi choosing to revive his clan by stealing Obito away from the Uchiha by reversing the sharingan policy. With two members, he could even reclaim the Hatake seat on the council.

"Yeah," Kakashi is declaring, a violent sort of petty satisfaction lacing his words like venom, "fuck those ancient cronies. I bet Obito would be down."

Obito would be down, Minato realises with dawning horror. He'd definitely enjoy sticking it to the Uchiha elders. And the tax policy he'd been so fascinated by would be valid for the Hatake too. Obito could even negotiate with Kakashi for a claim to the Hatake inheritance.

His students are going to set off a political landmine out of pure spite.

Hatake Kakashi is a slight thing for all the talk of him being a prodigy.

Ensui know better than to take him at face value though. He has heard of the things Kakashi has done since becoming a jounin. He's as much shinobi as the best of them.

"We don't have missions this week," he tells the boy, leading the way to the tent Kakashi has been assigned to, "so we're going to use that time to fit you into our current go-to strategies. The captain and I have a few ideas; we'll brief you later."

"Who am I staying with?" Kakashi asks.

"The captain." The mask does a lot to hide Kakashi's emotions but Ensui notes the almost imperceptible passing of a strange expression across the boy's face. "Problem?"

This time, Kakashi makes sure Ensui can see his scowl. "No."

'Amusing,' he thinks, biting back a smile that will probably result in him getting his kneecaps stabbed by an eleven-year-old. "We're already doubled up in the other tents," he explains instead, looking away from Kakashi's defiant stare, "but if you want to switch with one of us, that's fine. Raijin wouldn't care either way."

"I don't," the kid insists fiercely.

Ensui shrugs. "Okay."

If the kid has beef with the captain, then that's not Ensui's problem. Neither of them would have made it to jounin if they couldn't work past interpersonal issues, and that's all that matters to him as Team Chi's primary strategist and second-in-command.

"How good are you with that eye of yours?" he asks, nodding at the sharingan that Kakashi keeps hidden behind his forehead protector.

Sparing him a sidelong glance, Kakashi replies, "Good enough. Why?"

Ensui hums. "Adding high quality genjutsu to the mix could really add variation to our current strategies," he says. "Kumo is starting to get wary of our known patterns. It's about time to switch things up."

"Is that why I was added to the team?"

"Not really," he answers honestly. "We needed more mid-ranged and senior ranked fighters with a well-rounded skillset. It was a policy issue: Raijin can't be the only full jounin on the team for the kind of missions they're starting to want to send us on. You fit the bill."

Ensui stops at Raijin's tent and waves Kakashi through the open flaps. Inside, Raijin looks up from the maps spread on the table and perks up at the sight of them, offering a wave.

"There you are!" Grinning, he nods at their newest addition. "Welcome to the team, Kakashi-kun. I look forward to working with you."

Visibly studying his accommodations for the foreseeable future, Kakashi nods absently. "Sure."

Raijin doesn't seem bothered by the lacklustre manners. If anything, he looks amused as he watches Kakashi toss his belongings onto the unclaimed bed pushed to the opposite side from Raijin's own.

This is why Ensui likes Raijin. Nara have never been too bothered with formality and seniority and the like, and Raijin is similarly lax about such things. If he'd been uptight and insistent on the team upholding rank hierarchy for the entirety of Team Chi's run, it would have been a serious drag.

"Get settled in first, and then we can give you a rundown on how we usually function on missions and where we're hoping you'll fit in," Raijin says, stretching his arms over his head. "After that, you can meet everyone else."

Kakashi turns around and inclines his head. "No, let's do the rundown first."

Ensui looks between the two jounin. He really hopes Kakashi isn't the type to be contrarian out of some misplaced sense of inferiority because that would make everything so much harder than it needs to be.

Remarkably unfazed, Raijin only smiles and shrugs. "Well, if you're sure." Turning to nod at Ensui, "Would you take the lead, Ensui-san?"

Ensui steps further inside, taking position at the head of the table while Kakashi shuffles over to claim the only other chair in the tent. "Team Chi is a hit-and-run or ambush based team," he explains. "Our objective isn't a decisive win or outright prolonged engagement with the enemy. We utilise surprise tactics to hit them hard and give them no time to prepare an organised defence, allowing us to either sabotage them and escape or to eliminate them, based on mission objective."

Stepping in, Raijin says, "The core of all our attacks is simple: misdirection."

Kakashi's frown is visible through the mask. "What do you mean?"

"Because we are so outnumbered, we need to constantly be outmanoeuvring the enemy. We keep them occupied and whenever they start getting into any rhythm, we hit them with a new surprise that they're unprepared for."

Ensui steps in. "Raijin-san starts off most of our attacks with something explosive and noisy meant to startle the enemy into chaos—"

"You use explosions?" Kakashi interrupts, voice high with incredulity. "In the mountains?"

Raijin aims a sheepish smile at the boy. "It's delicate work."

And Kakashi doesn't seem to know how to respond to that. Ensui can sympathise. He often doesn't know how to adequately react to their captain either. He's pretty sure Raijin is aware and finds it funny.

"We follow that up with an ambush from Akimichi Kumiko," Ensui says, bringing them back on track.

"Twenty-four, chunin, taijutsu specialist," Kakashi recites, probably word-for-word from the debriefing pamphlet he was given to review.

Raijin nods in approval. "Her job is a difficult one. She draws most of the infantry to herself since she, quite literally, appears as the biggest threat on the field thanks to Akimichi gigantification jutsu. Essentially, she is our primary decoy."

"Right when they start getting used to focusing on her, Raijin-san steps in as our next powerhouse. He overwhelms them with his clones and general flashiness—"

"Hey!"

"—and, in the meantime, the rest of us lay down inactive barrier seals. Following that, it is a matter of using the fight to guide the enemy into position before retreating. The barrier is activated to prevent escape, an explosive is set off, and the job is done."

The tent is silent for a minute as Kakashi presumably processes this.

"If we have a particular target," Raijin continues after a moment, "then I engage them in combat as decoy until Ensui-san can get into position to trap them and finish things off."

"Most of our missions target mountain passes, supply houses, routes, encampments and the like over the shinobi themselves. Of course, we've been tasked with dealing with them too, but simply put, our job is to deal as much damage as quickly as possible," Ensui summarises.

"Hit hard and hit fast," Kakashi muses. "Where do I fit into this?"

Ensui folds his hands together. "The scale of the missions has been rising. We need another powerhouse, but not someone on the same scale as Kumiko or Raijin, and it has to be someone versatile and quick. Your job is to take the edge off them since we'll be dealing with even larger numbers and locations."

"Both Kumiko-san and I tend to be really occupied, and Ensui-san usually has enough on his plate trying to direct all of us while also carrying out secondary mission objectives. The other two are close-to-mid-range fighters and unsuitable for this role." Carelessly twirling his brush, Raijin nods at Kakashi. "We need someone fast and decisive who can take on skilled mid-to-long-ranged fighters. Plus, having a sharingan user gives us a much needed boost in recon and genjutsu centric tactics since we've been risking becoming one-note for a while."

"What would 'genjutsu centric tactics' look like?" Kakashi asks.

"We're still considering the specifics so your input would be welcome, but for now, we were thinking about something to facilitate the entrapment," Ensui answers.

Grinning sharply, Raijin adds, "I've been working out the math for a possible combination of illusion based fuuinjutsu but my genjutsu casting skills are nonexistent. I could really use your help."

Looking thoroughly intrigued, Kakashi repeats, "Illusion based fuuinjutsu."

Raijin's grin manages to widen impossibly. There is something uncannily animalistic about it that promises nothing but trouble. "Most seals function as a store of chakra that can be triggered later on. You can't create something out of nothing after all. So, for example, in an exploding tag, I'd store a bit of formless fire-natured chakra and use a wind-natured or fire-natured array to multiply the effects, so that when it is triggered, you get an explosion."

Kakashi blinks, catching on. "So you want to what—store a genjutsu in a seal?" He looks bewildered. "Can that even be done?"

"Theoretically." Raijin shrugs, smiling. "I guess we'll be finding out."

Slowly nodding, Kakashi turns to look up at Ensui. "What about the others?"

"Ah." Ensui straightens. "Hyuuga Daisuke and Kiyoshi Sumeko."

"Sixteen, recon specialist, chunin," Kakashi murmurs. "Twenty-two, poisons specialist, tokujo."

Ensui nods. "Daisuke is fundamental to us even starting any operation since he's our primary source of visual input. The byakyugan lets him see through mountains, so we can be prepared well in advance and proceed unaffected by weather and visibility. Combat wise, he's a close-ranged fighter, but he's good at moving around in battlefields to lay the seals where they are required. Sumeko is good at everything you ask her to do. She's our primary infiltrator and she makes for excellent support in a fight, being a weapons and toxins mistress. She is also our main source of first-aid since none of us know even the basics of medical ninjutsu."

"She's super terrifying about following doctors' orders," Raijin adds helpfully. "Ensui-san is her favoruite to bully."

Ensui makes a face but doesn't argue. He suspected as much.

"Rin is like that too," Kakashi offers, ducking his head.

Ensui has no idea who Rin is, but he assumes she's a teammate. Raijin, at least, seems to recognise the name seeing as he brightens.

"I think it's a mednin thing," he shares cheerfully. "Maybe you have to be slightly crazy to learn iryo-ninjutsu. Or maybe you go crazy after learning it?"

Kakashi blinks. "I think it's the latter," he says. Then he frowns and looks thoughtful. "Actually, it might just be both."

Ensui rolls his eyes at them. "Is that everything for now?" he cuts in before Raijin can get carried away any further with this theory.

Shooting him a smile, Raijin nods. "Yes, that will be all, Ensui-san. You're free to go if you'd like."

Ensui nods and strikes a salute before spinning on his heel to leave. Behind him, he can hear Raijin dive into explaining the concept behind a genjutsu holding seal to a reluctantly inquisitive sounding Kakashi.

He sighs. It seems like he'll have to be on the lookout for those two potentially setting their tent on fire or accidentally causing the entire camp to mass hallucinate.

He really doesn't get paid enough for this.

Notes:

The Adventures of Nara Ensui: Unwilling Babysitter Extraordinaire. He's a canon character by the way.

It's about time I started developing a bond between Raijin and Kakashi. Team Chi was literally just an excuse to do that but I ended up quite enjoying coming up with its members and functioning.