Chapter 1
Kakashi stood rigidly before the seated forms of the council, his gloved hands clasped tightly behind his back as his eye stared down the three old advisors.
"Excuse me?" Kakashi's voice was incredulous.
"You have an S-class mission, Hatake-san." Danzo's voice was gravelly and harsh.
"I have a genin team- I'm exempt-" Kakashi sputtered, only for Kotaru to interrupt, her wrinkled hand raising to silence the jounin.
"Not for this."
A single grey eyebrow rose. The only S-class mission he would be assigned now, so close to Team Seven's first Chuunin Exam, would be an immediate threat to Konoha's security.
"Team Seven is to be disbanded..."
Every hair on the back of Kakashi's neck stood up. The utter tone of finality in Homura's voice sounded more like the toll of a death knell than the order for the dissolution of a genin team.
"…and you will execute Haruno Sakura and Naruto Uzumaki."
Kakashi was so surprised he fell back a step, his grey eye springing wide. "What?"
"The Uchiha is a prize, a jewel in the crown of Konoha. He is the key to reconsolidating Konoha's power, the seed through which the Sharingan can grow. A tool- though a fractured and twisted one." Danzo's voice, muffled as it was by bandages and old age, scraped on Kakashi's sensitive ears. "The Haruno girl and the Jinchuuriki are threats- and threats are to be eliminated."
"They are loyal." Kakashi shot back, his fists clenching as he stared at the three decrepit old councilors.
"They are useless." Danzo's voice came out as a sibilant hiss. "And they distract the Uchiha. He is the only chance to kill the traitor Itachi. A Sharingan can only defeat the Sharingan."
Kakashi's eyes narrowed, his own sharingan eye twitching under his headband. "Then have them reassigned."
"The Uchiha has put himself in near fatal danger for his teammates. You say that he took senbon for the Kyubi container and he intercepted a chuuin aiming to kill the civilian girl Haruno. Each could have ended in his untimely demise and the loss of the the Sharingan to Konoha forever. Such bonds make a ninja weak."
Danzo stood, his face twisting into something that could be construed as triumph.
"Sasuke Uchiha is the explosive note needed to destroy Itachi forever, and Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno have dulled his need for vengeance. What better way to turn him against the world forever then to kill his comrades and blame his brother?"