CH_10.17 (384):

Early the next day, Takuma arrived at the designated spot where he was meeting Krait and the assault squad before they were leaving for Inahara. It was the city he had identified as the possible location of the kidnappings for the human test subjects used in the bunkers. It made sense that the courier also transported them with supplies and that a ROOT cell existed in the same city.

He arrived to see Krait standing outside a guard room next to a smaller secondary entrance in the city wall around the village during its inception, before it was expanded out and was now called the Inner City.

"Where's the assault squad?" he asked as he checked his strapless wristwatch.

"They're inside," Krait pointed to the guard room. "They're with their captain, so be on your best behaviour."

"Oh, who is it?"

He didn't know anything about the assault unit they were working with, except that it was the same squad Krait had taken to the bunker.

"It's Fox."

The cogs in his brain halted when he heard the codename.

"Let's go in," Krait said and walked to the door without giving him any chance to prepare himself.

There were seven people inside. The five-member squad, their lieutenant, and the captain. They stopped talking, and all eyes fell on the duo before they turned to look at Takuma, the newcomer, including the single eye of the silver-haired captain dressed in standard Leaf gear, hiding his transplanted eye under the fabric of his forehead protector.

He was Fox.

He was also Hatake Kakashi, a jōnin of the Hidden Leaf, and the shinobi given the moniker of the Copy Ninja, who had copied over a thousand jutsu. It meant a great deal considering that a clan of people with the same special eyes existed, and the moniker had still gone to an outsider, who only possessed a single eye.

"This is Ratel. As I previously mentioned, he'll be joining us today," Krait introduced him to the squad.

"Did you graduate from the academy yesterday? My god, you're young," said the sole kunoichi in the squad in surprise as she looked him up and down.

"I've heard that a lot," Takuma laughed it off. He didn't take it personally because he was used to getting that reaction. His gaze went to Kakashi for a moment before he forced himself to look away in case he ended up staring.

The five-member squad were all dressed in ANBU field gear like him. The lieutenant was also dressed in standard gear like Kakashi, which meant that only the squad was coming with them. He could see their lieutenant coming to see them off, but he wondered why a captain like Kakashi was there. Takuma hadn't even met his own captain yet.

As he looked at the squad, he saw someone he recognised.

"Yo, Thirteen. Long time no see!" The tall, young adult with a big afro on his head grinned as he waved. Despite his height and well-built physique, his most striking feature was still that broad grin full of unbridled joy that could brighten any room—even one with shinobi armed to the teeth,

"Ten," Takuma nodded.

Sonaba Yazo, one of the final candidates selected from Takuma's ANBU recruitment batch. None of the recruits from their batch had shared where they were placed inside the department. It wasn't for any particular reason other than that they hadn't met after their training period, instantly being wrapped up in the hustle of their new jobs.

That's why he didn't know where Amami was placed until he met her during the unit's welcoming surprise.

"You two know each other?" asked the lieutenant, looking between them.

"Same recruitment batch," Takuma replied as he sat down in an empty chair beside Krait. He couldn't keep his eyes from going to Kakashi, and suddenly found the future Hokage staring at him.

"Is something wrong?" he asked nervously.

"Have we met before?" Kakashi tilted his head and audibly hummed as he stared deeper at Takuma.

"Apparently, we did. You were there at the Genin Corp Basic Tournament that I participated in," said Takuma, doing his best to stay calm while everyone stared at him curiously. "I don't actually remember seeing you that day. I was too occupied"—getting the stuffing beat out of him—"but I was surprised to hear afterwards that jōnin had come to watch."

"Oh, yes. I remember going to the tournament that day. The actual tournament, not so much," Kakashi nodded in satisfaction at getting his answer.

That, too, wasn't a surprise. In the eyes of a jōnin, a bunch of fresh-out-of-academy genin, from the Genin Corp at that, probably didn't have anything of interest for it to stick in his mind.

"Please proceed with the briefing," the lieutenant said, moving the conversation forward.

Krait took the lead and addressed the group. "This is the same group we targeted on our last outing. The target we apprehended has been confirmed as a ROOT agent who transported supplies to the bunker. Our target this time is his base of operations in a city named Inahara—and yes, that means our target for this mission is a ROOT cell."

"Objective?" asked the squad leader codenamed Hopper, wearing a rabbit mask.

"Capture. The cell is a rich source of information for the department, and we want to capture as many of them as we can. I will repeat. Capturing the target alive is a priority," Krait said, looking at everyone, including Takuma.

"Target details? Their number and combat capabilities?"

"Our interrogations resulted in four confirmed ROOT agents, but we can't dismiss the possibility of more. As for combat capabilities, unfortunately, we don't have that information. The four confirmed are all males in their mid to late twenties, and their physiques indicated regular training."

"How do you know that?" asked Yazo, codenamed Shire, with a horse mask.

It had only been a day since they had brought the courier back to the village.

"Yamanaka," Takuma replied shortly.

They shared a glance and Yazo realised that he was talking about Amami.

"What's the time scale we are looking at?" asked Hopper.

"We fear the courier's absence alerting the cell and losing track of them. While I would love to have some time to scout our target, I believe we will have to move in quickly," said Krait.

As Krait addressed the squad, Takuma thought about Kakashi, who hadn't said a word. He looked so detached and unbothered that it felt like he wasn't listening, but he was moving his eyes to the person speaking, so perhaps he was listening.

Takuma thought about Kakashi and his role in the story. He was Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura's jōnin teacher. The trio was nearly ten years old and in their fourth year at the academy, but they were a little over a month away from their fifth year, meaning they had two years until the story's start. That made him wonder how long Kakashi would stay in ANBU. He couldn't remember when he left. Did he go right before the trio's graduation, or did he leave a little before?

He also thought about Kakashi's sharingan. There were plenty of rumours behind why the Uchiha clan had allowed him to keep their clan's dōjutsu. One such rumour was that he was secretly married to a Uchiha woman, which tied him to the clan and thus allowed him to keep the eye. Another rumour was that the clan valued one of the village's greatest geniuses and had allowed him to keep the eye to bring him to their side.

However, Takuma had talked about it with Mikoto, and she told him that the Uchiha clan wanted to study the sharingan and see how it would work in the body of someone who didn't have the Uchiha blood.

Kakashi also provided them with a fresh perspective. Knowledge about how to use the sharingan was passed down in the clan, which was something very important, but it also made it so that a few things became tradition, rigid, and an ideal image of how to properly use the eye was created that most people followed blindly.

As an outsider, Kakashi wasn't exposed to any of those things, and being a genius as he was, he had used the dōjutsu in ways they hadn't thought about or considered incorrect.

"He didn't really seem like a captain, did he?" Takuma commented after the briefing ended. He glanced at the assault squad out of earshot, discussing their plans. Kakashi was among them, but slightly on the side as the lieutenant addressed the team.

"You'll find that jōnin are rarely normal. Some might seem normal, but spend enough time and you'll find an eccentricity or two at the very least," Krait replied

"I guess, you have to be somewhat abnormal to become an absurd existence," Takuma sighed.

"You know, I heard a rumour about Fox," said Krait, his voice lowering to a whisper.

"Yeah?"

"Fox has been in the ANBU for over a decade now," said Krait. "Half a year ago, I heard that his contract only had a couple of months left on it, but he hadn't renewed it even though he was next in line for one of the ANBU Commander positions. He was really set to leave the department for good—until the ROOT thing happened and the Hokage personally requested him to stay because a captain leaving when the department was still dealing with the ROOT exodus would've left us very unstable.

"Only then did Fox extend his contract and decide to stay." Krait looked at Kakashi with a look of respect on his face. "A decade in the department is not easy. He was there when Lord Fourth died, and he fought in the Third Shinobi World War before that."

Takuma was having trouble hearing Krait's voice over the sound of his heart beating faster than an internal combustion engine.

Kakashi had decided to stay in ANBU. Why? Because ROOT had been run out of Hidden Leaf. Why did that happen? Because the Uchiha clan had accused Shimura Danzo of bloodline theft.

Why did they think that? Because Danzo had indeed stolen late Uchiha Shisui's eyes.

How did they know about it? Because Takuma had sent Mikoto a letter.

Takuma's face contorted in pain as he placed a hand over his chest because it was thumping so hard that it had begun to hurt. His ears started ringing, and he couldn't hear what Krait was saying. He looked in Kakashi's direction, and his vision doubled.

Had he destroyed the future? If Kakashi was staying, then who was going to teach them?

When the Uchiha clan lived, he considered it positive, even though he worried about Sasuke; he thought his lack of hatred-based motivation to kill Itachi could be replaced by his clan's support. But he didn't know whether Kakashi could be replaced. The jōnin might not have taught them much in terms of combat, but he had instilled the morals of teamwork and caring about one's teammates in their young minds. Sure, one didn't really take to them, but he played a big part in moulding a very important portion of their values, which in many situations was more important than combat ability.

Had his decisions ruined the world and his chances of survival?

"H-How," Takuma cleared his throat to hide his panic, "how long is he staying?"

"Maybe another year until things calm down a little. Can't be sure," Krait made an off-handed comment.

Takuma, who was having a problem breathing, suddenly felt a fresh, cold air enter his lungs, and he could suddenly see and hear again. One year was good. Kakashi could rest for one year before becoming a teacher.

"Hey, are you alright?! You're sweating," Krait softly exclaimed as he looked at Takuma and suddenly found him sweating as though they were in a steam sauna.

"I'm alright," Takuma said as he repeated to himself that Kakashi would still teach the leading trio and repeated his words. He had to repeat them because if he didn't, the fear would return.

"I'm alright."

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