Chapter 1
Kakashi was startled out of sleep by banging on his dormitory door. It was all the warning he had before two other ANBU guards barged in, swinging the door open with a bang.
His adrenaline was rushing, fighting against the sleep aid he'd taken after his last mission. He felt woozy and lightheaded, not at all ready for a fight- should he fight? These were his comrades.
"What's the situation?" he asked, getting out of bed with shaky legs. He tried not to flinch as his arms were grabbed firmly.
"You're needed in T&I," Mouse said. Her voice was cold and unreadable. "If you resist, you'll be immediately found guilty of high treason."
What was going on, Kakashi thought. Was this training? He opened both eyes, staring at his colleagues- he didn't know them very well, but there was no genjustu present, and their chakra signatures were recognizable.
"What are you doing?" Ram demanded from his other side. Kakashi immediately shut his eyes and went limp in their grip, offering no resistance as they roughly pulled him out of his dorm.
"I'm loyal to the Leaf," Kakashi vowed.
"Good," Ram said curtly.
This had to be a training drill. He'd been through drills like this before, when he was new meat. Was this how they renewed training for senior officers? He'd always been given a heads up in the past, a few hours at least to mentally prepare, but maybe that wasn't realistic for field conditions... But Ram has seemed genuinely scared of his Sharingan. If Kakashi was a traitor, Ram and Mouse would be the first he killed on his way out of the compound. Maybe he wouldn't make it out- Kakashi was damn good, but fighting his way out of the maze like barracks of the Special Forces, surrounded by hundreds of the best assassins in Konoha would be a tall order even for him.
He hadn't done anything- he hadn't done anything. He came back from his mission, he made his report, he took a shower and a sleeping pill and he'd crashed in his cot.
"I'm loyal," he repeated, as a patch was placed over Obito's eye. He felt the sting of unfamiliar chakra seal it to his skin, while Ram pulled his hands behind his back, locking him into chakra suppressing cuffs.
The walk to T&I was a long one, the concrete floors cold under his bare feet. He kept his head down, ignoring the stares of those he passed. A shinobi did not fear. A shinobi did not feel. Kakashi felt nothing. He has done nothing, and so he had nothing to fear. Either this was a training exercise, which he would endure with dignity, or this was a terrible mistake which the truth would quickly reveal.
And if someone was so bold as to try to haze him in this way, well. Kakashi would figure that out too, and make them pay.
He was pushed into an interrogation cell, forced to sit on a stool just a little too low for his long legs. His arms were tugged down, so the cuff connecting them could be chained to the rung of the stool beneath him. He shifted on his seat, unable to resist testing the strength of the bolts connecting the stool to the ground.
"Don't try anything," Mouse warned.
Kakashi bit his tongue, grateful they hadn't removed his mask. They left him alone in the small room, beneath the harsh lights. He looked around, as much as he could in his fixed position. There was a camera or peephole hidden somewhere in the cell, so he could be observed. He knew he was being watched right now. He thought back to his interrogation training. He was innocent. What did innocent men do? Should he sit here calmly, or would that look suspicious? Should he be angry and indignant? But if there was a real investigation, it wouldn't do to be uncooperative...
They let him stew for a while- probably fifteen or twenty minutes, but it felt longer with nothing to mark time by. The door swung open, and Ibiki Morino walked in. Kakashi's stomach flipped. He'd spent more than one agonizing session with Ibiki, learning to endure pain and resist compulsion techniques. He knew exactly what the other man was capable of inflicting on him, and he did not look forward to experiencing it again.
"Hatake Kakashi," Ibiki said pleasantly, sitting down in the chair across from him- a few inches above Kakashi's eye line, so he had to look up. The power plays were starting already. "How are you doing?" Ibiki continued.
"I'm alright."
"Really? The report said you were sleeping pretty soundly when you were arrested- they said you're fresh off an A-rank mission, that you were exhausted. You were woken up from a dead sleep, dragged here in cuffs, and you're alright?"
What the hell was Kakashi supposed to say to that? Ibiki clicked his tongue, shaking his head.
"Ah well. Would you like some water?"
"Maybe later," Kakashi said. He took a risk. "What's the objective?"
"Of offering you water?"
"Of bringing me here. What- why am I here."
"Why are you in an interrogation room, being interrogated."
"I don't mean- is this an investigation or training? Am I supposed to answer your questions or say nothing?"
Ibiki laughed at him. "It's really that simple to you, isn't it?"
"Am I under investigation?" Kakashi repeated tersely. Ibiki smiled at him, but it was cold.
"You're a person of interest. Are you loyal to Konoha?"
"Yes."
"Prove it. Walk me through the last forty-eight hours, from your point of view."
Kakashi repeated his mission report, as coldly and factually as possible. Ibiki nodded along, leafing through the papers in a file.
"So you went straight to bed afterwards. Didn't talk to anyone?"
"No."
"Anyone who can vouch you were asleep the whole night?"
"There are cameras, guards."
"Cameras and guards can be fooled. You're good at that, aren't you? Infiltration."
"When I'm ordered to be."
"Ordered by who?"
"The Hokage."
"Only the Hokage?" Ibiki asked idly.
Kakashi froze. Was this about Danzo? But Kakashi couldn't talk about that- he couldn't. He looked around again for the camera, hoping to find some sign as to what this was about.
"Who else are you loyal to?" Ibiki pressed. Kakashi looked back at him, keeping himself composed.
"I'm loyal to the Hokage and his duly appointed subordinates. I've never taken orders from someone I did not believe to be a legitimate authority."
"That you did not believe to be legitimate..." Ibiki repeated, tapping his finger on the file thoughtfully.
Kakashi didn't volunteer any further information, waiting for the next question. Ibiki let the thread go, for now.
"You completed this mission on your own."
"Yes."
"But you often command your own squad- Team Ro?"
"Yes."
"Tell me about your teammates."
"There's some rotation. Cat is my second in command and Weasel was just promoted-"
"Real names," Ibiki interrupted. "I wouldn't be talking to you if I didn't have clearance."
"... Tenzou is my second in command, Uchiha Itachi became a captain in his own right a few months ago. Uzuki Yugao is my tracker, and Aburame Youji just left to become Itachi's second. I can give you a full list of everyone else I've captained, but I'm sure you have that information in my service record."
"Why is there a lot of rotation on your team?"
"I get assigned a lot of- a lot of new recruits," Kakashi said. It wouldn't do to call them 'fresh meat' in so formal a context. "I'm good with them."
Ibiki laughed again. "Really? Do you know what's written in big red letters on every assessment you've ever received? 'Poor social skills'. 'Does not play well with others'. All the way back to your academy days- 'Hatake Kakashi lacks patience and does not get along with his peers.'"
"I didn't say I had good social skills, I said I was good at breaking in fresh- recruits."
"So you break them?"
"No." Kakashi was not a soft man. Whatever instinct he may have had for tenderness had been stomped out and stunted long ago. But he'd held back a comrade's hair while they vomited, had held their hand to keep them walking when they faltered, talked them through breathing exercises if they panicked. He did his very best to keep them from breaking. "I show them how to do the job, and I bring them home alive."
"Usually," Ibiki said casually. "Your aliases are also written in your file. Your enemies call you Copycat Kakashi. Do you know what you're called in Konoha?"
Kakashi shut his eye. He doubled over, the cuffs biting hard into his wrists, arms tugging painfully, pins and needles shooting up his limbs as they reminded him just how long they'd been held in that painful position. He breathed in sharply through his nose, and cursed himself for the obvious reaction. He was so fucking tired, and he hated that name, he hated it. He regained his composure and sat upright, looking away.
"It's really unfair, you know," Ibiki continued- because of course he did, Kakashi had just revealed a weakness to him like an idiot, like an amateur, like some brat straight out of the Academy. "The whole 'friend killer' thing. There was really only the one, wasn't there? Two if you're uncharitable."
Kakashi kept his gaze averted and his breathing steady, letting the words wash over him.
"All the others- you just brought the bodies home. Normal ANBU would leave them behind for a Hunter-nin team, if there wasn't time to do the process themselves but you- you go above and beyond, don't you? You've put yourself at risk to bring home every member of your team, every time."
"I don't leave teammates behind," Kakashi muttered.
"Neither did your father. It drove him to treason."
Kakashi clenched his teeth, but this wasn't anything hadn't heard a thousand times before.
"He put his teammates before the mission. Before the best interest of the village. That screw up plunged us into almost a decade of war. What would've happened if he'd left his teammate to die? Do you think Uchiha Obito would still be alive?"
"What?" Kakashi asked, heading jerking up.
"No war, no Kannabi Bridge mission, no noble sacrifice-"
"What the hell are you asking me?"
"I'm asking who you're loyal to."
"I'm loyal to Konoha."
"And what is Konoha?"
"It's-" these stupid questions were throwing him off. Kakashi really wished this were a training exercise. The point of those was not to answer questions. Especially not stupid impertinent hypotheticals designed only to dig for his tender points, rather than gather facts relevant to an investigation. "I'm loyal to the Hokage."
"Are you loyal to your teammates?"
"I wouldn't betray Konoha for them."
"What would you betray Konoha for?"
"What sort of question is that?"
"You've never thought about it? About what it would take to push you over the edge? Never taken out a missing-nin and thought what could drive them to that?"
"No."
"Never questioned the Hokage, not even for a moment, not even when he orders a comrade to their death?"
Kakashi's breath caught in his throat. Was this about Danzo? Had something brought the assassination plot to light? But that had been a test, and Kakashi had passed...
"You have, haven't you?"
"I'm loyal," Kakashi ground out. "Every time I've actually been tested, I- I passed. Every time there was a conflict, I put Konoha and her Hokage first." He steeled himself and looked Ibiki dead in the eyes. "I tore out Nohara Rin's heart with my bare hands for this village. I'm loyal."
"What about your teammates?"
"I have no doubts about their loyalty."
"Really? Not a single one?" Ibiki asked. "You'd stake your life on it?"
This was definitely about the Foundation, Kakashi thought. But that was a state secret the Hokage himself had bound Kakashi to keep. How long would he have to hold out before someone intervened? Was this Ibiki's own initiative, or was another faction in play? Was Tenzou somewhere in T&I too? What were they doing to him? Could he ask? But if he did that would confirm there was something suspicious about him, something Kakashi knew- but-
"There is something," Ibiki said, eyes glinting with interest, like a scenthound that had caught wind of her prey.
"I have absolutely no reason to doubt the loyalty of my comrades. They've never wavered in word or action when it comes to the completion of their duties."
"Tell me about Uchiha Itachi," Ibiki asked. A softball to loosen his tongue before asking about Tenzou, to try and stop Kakashi from figuring out what the hell he could and could not say about him- "I said tell me about Uchiha Itachi," Ibiki repeated, interrupting Kakashi's thoughts with a loud voice.
"He's a good kid," Kakashi said.
"Good how."
"He's smart. Sensitive. Very obedient."
"Sensitive?" Ibiki repeated. "Is sensitivity a valued trait in an assassin?"
"He's thoughtful," Kakashi rephrased. "He thinks about things, about people. It's part of what makes him an excellent shinobi."
"And what was a sensitive kid doing as part of a strike team?"
"I'm not in charge of recruitment," Kakashi muttered. "The Hokage thought his many talents could be best put to use in the ANBU and his father was proud of the prestige it brought their clan." The ANBU were theoretically anonymous, but that was more for ceremony and plausible deniability than anything, especially when the shinobi was as singularly brilliant as Itachi.
"So who was he obedient to?" Ibiki asked. "You, the Hokage, his father?"
"Yes," Kakashi repeated, wondering how long this tangent would last. "He followed orders. There was never a case of insubordination."
"And if there was a conflict between his loyalties-"
"Why would there be a conflict?" Kakashi demanded. "His father and I were both loyal to the Hokage. We wouldn't give him orders that contradicted the Will of Fire."
"Hrm," Ibiki grunted suspiciously. He leafed through the file again, letting Kakashi sweat. "Do you know anything about that business with his cousin last year?"
"That wasn't Itachi's fault."
"How do you know? You weren't there."
"He told me about it."
"What did he tell you?"
"It was family business," Kakashi said. Itachi hadn't said much about the actual suicide, or what had driven Shisui to it. Only that there was conflict in the clan, and that Shisui had hoped his death would change things.
Itachi had said the other Uchiha blamed him for it- some even thought he'd killed Shisui himself. The boy's flat affect had almost broken in distress as he talked about having to fight off his own clansmen, and Kakashi had felt for him. He recognized his own pain in the boy, and had wanted to help.
Kakashi didn't know much about comfort, but he did know a lot about training.
"He didn't say what kind of family business," Kakashi said, before Ibiki could ask. "The clan elders were pressuring Shisui in some kind of way, and blamed Itachi for not doing more to stop him from killing himself."
"Who did you tell him about?" Ibiki asked, catching Kakashi off guard. "Your father? Obito, or Rin? The Yondaime killed himself too, though at least he didn't do it right in front of you like the others. Who came to mind when you were having this little heart to heart?"
Kakashi felt his face flush with rage and humiliation, hearing his deepest pains thrown in his face in such a demeaning tone.
"So he watched his cousin kill himself right in front of him, this sensitive kid," Ibiki continued, "He blamed his family. What else did he say?"
"Nothing," Kakashi said icily. "He- he wanted advice on mastering the Sharingan."
"Why on earth would he ask you," Ibiki pressed. "Don't get me wrong Hatake, the fact you can use it at all as a non-Uchiha is impressive. The fact you have any level of mastery is proof of your genius. But why the hell would the firstborn son of Uchiha Fugaku, the heir of the clan head, the brightest fucking star in three generations of that family, come to you, an outcast eye thief, when anyone in his family would've tripped over themselves for the privilege of teaching him."
"They weren't tripping over themselves," Kakashi spat, a little hurt by Ibiki's words and protective of his kohai. "I told you, his family blames him. He wants to make a name for himself, separate from his family's legacy."
"You see yourself in him, don't you?" Ibiki asked, smiling cruelly. "Poor little genius, hated by everyone. Wanting to outshine a father who failed him. Were you a sensitive kid like him, before killing dulled you?"
"Why don't we skip the inane questions about my subordinates and get to the part when you stick pins under my fingernails," Kakashi snapped. Ibiki laughed at him.
"That's what I like about you, Hatake- you're so wildly fucked in the head that a simple conversation is more tortuous than pain, isn't it?"
Kakashi gave him a sullen glare with his good eye. Ibiki tossed the files aside and leaned forward, meeting Kakashi's gaze.
"Alright Kakashi. One more question about Uchiha Itachi, and we'll skip to the good part. And you're going to answer me with absolute honesty, because you're loyal, aren't you."
What the fuck had he just asked for, Kakashi thought to himself. He nodded, resigned to his fate.
"How did you help Itachi with his Sharingan?"
Kakashi frowned. Some of this was a clan secret that wasn't his place to reveal, but none of it was to do with the Foundation.
"He practiced his genjustu on me," Kakashi said. "He- he could use his Sharingan to enhance his illusions, but he needed practice. He wanted to make something so convincing that not even another Sharingan could see through it. A foolproof genjustu that he could use in the field."
By the time Itachi had perfected his technique, Kakashi had been pushed to the point of chakra exhaustion and spent an extremely unpleasant weekend trapped in a dream state his kohai had pushed on him. The boy had been apologetic when Kakashi recovered, but Kakashi had waved it away. Training had been his idea after all- something to build Itachi's confidence, get his mind off his troubles. The boy could've made tokubetsu jounin on the strength of his ninjutsu, had he been allowed to take the exam, but with a powerful genjustu he'd make full jounin with no strings pulled by his clan. A fine signal of independence, and one that would make him even more invaluable to the Leaf. One that had paid off, with his recent promotion to captain.
"You didn't report that to anyone?"
"It was just training," Kakashi said. It was probably even in the damn files Ibiki was using as props- he and Itachi had reported his chakra exhaustion as a training accident to the medical team.
Ibiki laughed again and stood, looking down at Kakashi with disgust.
"Do you even know what you just admitted?" he demanded. "No- you must, you're a genius. I refuse to believe you are this stupid."
"I trained my subordinate," Kakashi said defensively. "I didn't do anything wrong, my subordinate came to me for help and I trained him-"
"You trained him to kill his whole family," Ibiki spat. Kakashi stared at him, wordless with shock, and Ibiki left the room.