Author's Note: Didn't mean to forget about this, but I seem to be notorious for getting caught up in books/series and forgetting everything else (I blame BBC Sherlock's return for the distraction).

I have never written a character as unique as Itachi, so I'm not certain what I was doing, other than just let the flow go. I'm praying this is believable. The rest of my thoughts are at the end.

While Pakkun may have been the best tracking dog in the world, it was easy to see where he got it from. Pakka could give her future son a run for his money any day.

The little pug sniffed the ground around where Uchiha Mikoto said she had last seen her son, and came up almost as soon as she started.

"His scent goes that way," She circled towards the main paths in the village, and then doubled back to them.

Kakashi followed her line of vision, could already see that it was the same paths that lead to the main gate.

Rin, lacking her teammate's future knowledge, asked, "Did someone take him?"

Pakka shook her head. "A second scent joins his down there, but it's older. He was following some thing out into the village."

Rin's eyes dimmed, and Kakashi took it to mean she was searching her memory of the layout of the village. He could see the exact moment she came to the same conclusion he did when she paled further around the edges. "Do you know what direction he went in?"

Pakka's frown was grim. "He went towards the entrance of the village." She looked up at them, disappointed. "Honestly, you humans can be so neglectful with your young ones."

Obito seemed to want to protest that, started to open his mouth, but Rin shot him a glare that stopped him before he could. He closed his mouth, and pouted defensively.

Rin turned towards the direction Itachi had wandered off in. Although she wasn't looking at them, they knew she was talking to the group in general. "We need to find him before he gets lost. Who knows what's outside the village?"

Kakashi swallowed the answer to her question; tried to send the doubts he had over this down with it.

The group moved out, heading for the entrance. Pakka occasionally took another sniff at the trail, but it was coming up all the same: Itachi was heading - if not already there - for the entrance.

Obito came up closer to the front of the group, but still behind Rin and Pakka. "What was he following?"

Kakashi's curiosity was peeked, if just a little. He couldn't say he had heard what exactly had lead the little Uchiha out of the village in the first place. All anyone had seemed interested in talking about was the neglect of the guards to allow a *seven year old* to slip out of the village.

Pakka made a considering noise. "A cart of some sort. The scent is older than his, so it didn't lure him out." She snorted. "At least not deliberately."

Obito nodded, and Rin appeared to be pondering what was so special about a cart that a four year old would follow it. Honestly, there was more than a few obvious choices, but they couldn't know unless they found either the cart or Itachi.

As they neared the entrance, Rin approached the guard station. The guards, whom Kakashi couldn't remember seeing inyears because of retirement, blinked at them and were confused to see them.

"Nohara-san." The one of the right took in their group, including the Ninken at Kakashi's feet. "What can we do for you?"

The one on the left leaned over to get a better position to see both them and anyone behind them. "Didn't think you'd be sent out on any missions without Namikaze-san."

Rin shook her head. "We aren't. We're following a missing child, and have reason to believe he's following a cart that may have left the village recently. You wouldn't by any chance have seen either, would you?"

The two guards looked at each other, both obviously a little disturbed they hadn't somehow seen a child wandering about unattended. The one on the right turned back to face Rin. "There were a string of carts that left several hours ago, but we didn't see any children. Should we send out a bulletin about a kidnapped child?"

Obito made an odd choking noise in the background, and Kakashi caught him putting a hand to his head and groaning, like he thought this would all be blamed on him somehow.

Rin waved off the concern for something that high level, and instead suggested, "No, getting the word out might spook any kidnappers. For the moment, we want to keep it on the down low, unless his parents choose other wise." She smiled, assuringly. "They don't actually know we're doing this. You could say we're following a hunch."

The guard blinked at her, and Kakashi could see him coming to several conclusion, most of which were only slightly off base.

"I see."

The group moved out from there, heading out of the village. Once out, Pakka caught the scent of Itachi and the cart. She smiled in her own way, letting them know how 'lucky' they were that the scents were sticking to the main path.

"How far out are they?" The question came from Kakashi, something that seemed to draw the attention of his teammates. He was fairly certain it was only because he hadn't otherwise said or done anything other than follow them up until then.

He still didn't have an answer to his dilemma, but it was far too late to pretend that this wasn't happening even if he had that luxury.

Pakka couldn't actually look back at him from her position in the lead, but he didn't need her too to know the what she would have done if she could. "Not far. We should see them within the next thirty minutes to an hour at our current pace."

Rin fell back from second to the lead to run along side Obito. "Do you think he hid away on one of the carts?"

Obito snorted. "Knowing Itachi, he probably just slipped out while no one was looking." His expression was bordering pouting again. "There's a reason I don't play hide and seek with this kid, and highly recommend no one else does either. This kid may be only four years old, but he's way too good at getting in and out of places you'd think he couldn't."

If it wouldn't have been extremely strange for Kakashi to know this, he would have personally agreed. The only reason they had discovered Itachi had been in the village after the Sandaime Hokage's death was because he'd wanted to be seen (and he hadn't needed 'Tobi' to tell him that, even if he hadn't known why). That level of skill wasn't just learned, it was something that came naturally.

Rin, despite the level of seriousness of the situation, couldn't seem to help her teasing smile. "You never find him when you play hide and seek, do you?"

Obito blushed and didn't even try to hide his embarrassment. "No," he fairly moaned. "And the last time I played with him, he was two!"

The noise she made couldn't quite be called a cackle, but it was close. It was only belatedly, he realized that maybe he shouldn't have told her that, because that was the kind of material people never let someone live down.

They carried on back and forth for another ten or so minutes, with Kakashi just enjoying listening to their antics, not really noticing at first that Pakka was slowing down until she had almost came to a full stop.

"What is it?" Kakashi came to rest beside her, as she sniffed the air. He didn't fail to notice her sudden level of concern.

"There's smoke." She looked up at him, and he had a sinking feeling he knew where this was going. "And it's coming from the same direction as the kid and cart."

It had been far too long to remember if any traveling merchants had been attacked around this time, let alone by who. It could be Nukenin or any ninja with put an alliance to any country in general. It could be the Iwa-nin, who were supposed to be hiding themselves. But if it was them, why risk drawing attention?

They wouldn't have, unless they wanted something. Something on the carts? Had they seen Itachi? Would they even have known an Uchiha child if they saw one?

It was funny, how he suddenly wished he had all the information on what had happened, when an hour ago, he didn't want any part of this.

Rin and Obito glanced at each other. They didn't know about the Iwa-nin, but that didn't mean they didn't know about the Nukenin and other hazards.

"Let's find them."

It didn't need to be said, but Rin said it anyway. They all nodded in agreement, and speed up their pace. They found the wreckage in a fraction of the time. It was easier when they weren't moving.

In fact, when they reached the wreckage, *nothing* was moving, even the bodies.

The quartet went to work immediately, looking for survivors or their target. It was almost a relief that they didn't see Itachi, if it didn't mean he could have been taken by whoever had done this. And it was obvious someone with skill had done this.

Kakashi checked the nearest body, taking in the injuries. The body - a male in his late twenties, early thirties - hadn't been dead long. Rigor mortis hadn't set in, but the body was cool enough that he'd say the man had been dead for around two hours, give or take a little time for the cool temperature of the day to throwing it off a bit.

He looked around at the damage to the cart beside the man. This cart wasn't the one that had been smoking (that was the one by Obito and the body he was confirming was also dead), but it had still taken some damage. It was not the target of the attack, though.

He searched out the prize of the attack, listening with half an ear as Pakka announced that she had found a person alive. Rin left the body she had checked for life, but found none, to attend to this seemingly lone survivor.

"I don't see any external injuries." Rin tentatively sent some chakra into the body, searching to see if she could save him. Kakashi didn't have to see her to be able to feel the tense waves coming off her at what she'd found.

Kakashi peered down at the cart that was smoking, trying to figure out if it was the object of the attacker's interest, and why it was smoking. As far as he could tell, it seemed generic enough, so why...?

"Kakashi. Obito. Come here."

Obito abandoned his task immediatly, and although Kakashi was short to follow, it was reluctantly. He wanted to found out why these people had been attacked, but he knew they had to know what they were up against.

"What's wrong?" Obito settled in between Rin and Pakka, frowning at the body. Kakashi remained standing, while making it obvious he was both keeping an eye out for trouble at the same time he was listening.

Rin gave a sort of bodily shrug/point in luei of not being able to remove her hands from her effort to save the man. "The injuries are all internal. Whoever attacked this man had medical knowledge."

Her dark haired teammate double checked with his body with a glance over his shoulder, before turning back to her. "The woman over there was killed by someone slashing her throat."

"Stab through the heart," Kakashi put in. They were dealing with at least two different killers. The death blows were much too different to be the same person. Why waste chakra, or vise versa: weapons, if the person had either/or at hand? He left the others long enough to search for any weapons that might have been lost in the attack, but came up empty. There wasn't any signs that some had been thrown at all, so that made it very likely a single killer had resorted to chakra based attacks after running out of weapons.

So, two killers, and ninja at that. This was too skilled to be two people that just happened across the same target.

"Were the injuries to silence him?"

Kakashi came back to stand with the others, and Rin's brows came together as she concentrated both on the level of healing she was doing and to find the information he had asked of her. It was a testimony of her skill she could do all three at once.

"To silence. The worst of the injury is from the back." She bit her lip, and judging from her expression, the man's chances didn't seem good. "He was most likely caught by suprise."

"Will he live?" Obito more than likely could also read her body language, but he'd felt the need to ask her anyway.

Rin was silent for a long moment, and that was answer enough.

"No."

Kakashi knelt down, and there was a part of him that hated he was going to ask her to do this. She was forever young in his mind, and he hadn't thought of her as such at this age originally, wouldn't have until he'd gotten his own genin, but she was. They all knew necessity, but that didn't mean he'd wished this on them, not when he knew what the alternative was like.

"Can you revive him?"

Rin's eyes widened only a tiny bit. She knew what that would mean for the man: he would be in agony, and he would be awake for every second of it. He was a merchant - a foriegn merchant, at that - he hadn't asked to be caught up in this war. He had simply been trying to survive.

Her eyes caught his, and he could see that she didn't like this - her very nature demanded she let this man slip away as painlessly as she could if she couldn't save him - but she would do it, because she thought there was a four year old out there and his life could depend on them.

And the fact that it didn't, that he was putting her through this for nothing was just one more thing on his long list of reasons why he was far too gone to ever feel he deserved a second chance.

Obito placed and hand on her shoulder, and Kakashi didn't need his teammate to glare at him to know what the Uchiha thought of him in that moment.

A bead of sweat broke out on Rin's forehead, and she almost looked queasy as she managed to bring the man to consciousness. The man moaned, fingers digging into the dirt with the sheer level of agony he was in.

"Hurry, I can't keep him awake for long."

Kakashi nodded, knealing down to lean over the man. "Sir, can you hear me?" Confused, pained eyes came to rest on him, and althought the man tried to speak, nothing but a bloody foam escaped his mouth.

"There was a child following you, nod if you saw him."

The man frowned, squirming under Rin's hands as if he were trying to escape the pain somehow. The brunette gritted her teeth as she fought to keep up with the damage any movement was doing at that point. "Hold him down, or he'll kill himself even faster!"

Kakashi and Obito reacted instinctively to her orders; one holding down the man's legs, the other his shoulders.

"Sir, we don't have much time!" Kakashi didn't shake the man's shoulders, but he wanted to. The man groaned, but seemed to be paying attention to him again. "Did you see a child?"

The man, perhaps hoping if he answered the question his suffering would end quicker, nodded. He tried to speak again, but failed.

"Did the people who attacked you take him."

A long moment, so long that Kakashi thought he might not answer, before another nod.

A grim silence fell over the group, only broken by Rin asking, "Anything else?"

Kakashi jerked his head in a negative.

Rin hid her relief well, but it was there in the way she was holding herself. She raised a hand to the man's forehead, murmured something softly for only the man to hear. She was sending him to sleep in the gentlest way possible, all the while apologizing for his ordeal while thanking him for helping them.

There was no way to know how he recieved her words, only that his face smoothed over as death took him.

The group sat there for several long moments, in the wreckage around them. Death was something they lived with; they'd grown up during war, but the death of innocents was always hard.

Kakashi struggled with the person who he was and the one he was pretending to be. The adult was more than willing to give them all the time Rin needed to recover, knowing that there was no need for rush. The child would have been pushing them to continue, because there was never anything but the mission.

Surprisingly, it was Rin that made the decision for them. She pushed herself to her feet, even though the action seemed to cost her. "We have to go."

Obito was on his feet in an instant, hands coming up to steady her despite the fact she had already caught herself. "You need to rest. What are we going to do if you pass out?"

Rin caught his hands in her own, smiling at his concern even as she brushed it off. "Itachi is out there, and we don't know if he's still alive." She lowered their hands as she planted her feet. "He needs us."

Obito's eyes ticked back and forth between hers, and then sighed in resignation. Kakashi noted how Obito didn't try to get him to back him up, as if he needed a reminder of what kind of mission obsessed idiot he had been back then.

Kakashi looked up at the sky and how the sun was nearly gone. Night had almost fully set in, and this was not a good condition to go looking for anyone, child or not. It would be far more sane to wait until morning to continue their search. Their only advantage at the moment was the fact that it was going to be a clear sky with a full moon and Pakka's sense of smell didn't depend on the amount of light they had.

He was also aware of the fact that he was traveling with two young ninja who weren't going to care about what was 'sane' when they felt the need to be heroic.

Sure enough, when Rin gave the signal she was ready, Pakka began to search for the missing scent. She found it off to the left, heading north-west. They followed her without a word into the ever growing darkness of the forest.

Three of them didn't know what they were walking into, and while Kakashi had an idea, there was no way to convey that information (however little he had at the moment), without it being suspicious. They were all on alert, moving as silently as possible while keeping an eye out for any clues. Night had fully set in and had been for several hours, before Pakka came to a stop on a branch deliberately chosen because it was big enough for all of them.

Without a word, she gestured that the people they were tracking were close, and there was something more: something not good. When questioned what, she murmured as softly as she could that she could smell blood, and a lot of it.

Kakashi made the signal for 'wait' and then 'circle around'. He nearly made it a command to 'scatter,' before remembering that he wasn't the leader of the group. Not yet. It wasn't much of a shift to make it a question instead.

Obito frowned at being told what to do by him, but nodded. Rin and Pakka also gave their acknowledgement. Kakashi pointed to his Ninken and then to his female teammate to tell Pakka to stay with her. Rin looked ready to object, but in the end nodded.

On his mark, the group scattered.

Not far from where they had stopped, the forest opened into a clearing. The wind was blowing opposite from him, carrying the scent away, but even then he could smell it this close: death. It was the only warning he had for what he saw when he peered into the clearing.

Bodies. More dead bodies, like the merchants. And like that slaughter, they hadn't missed it by long.

Kakashi prowled the edge of the clearing, taking in as much information as he could without revealing himself. From the spot he ultimately chose to stop and survey the scene, he could see both Konohagakure and Iwagakure ninja littered on the ground. Weapons were thrown seemingly haphazardly around the clearing, and a few had landed near where Kakashi stood.

He could see three, no four Iwa-nin, making their count off by double, along with a dozen-plus Konoha-nin. There was no guarantee there were more of the enemy ninja, as too large a group was more likely to draw attention, but that wasn't a sure fire sign that there wasn't either.

It appeared to be an ambush, although who was ambushing who was uncertain. There being an odd Konoha-nin meant that at least one of the Konoha ninja was missing.

Was his or her dead body off somewhere outside the clearing?

Had he or she gone for reinforcements?

And in the midst of all this, where was Itachi?

Almost as soon as he thought of the question, he spotted the child. There, in the center of the field, was a mass too small to be anyone other than the Uchiha boy. Itachi was sitting up on his own power, that much was obvious, but it was impossible to tell if he was injured or not from this distance.

Kakashi circled back around until he found Rin and Pakka, who joined him to find Obito. Obito had seen Itachi as well, and was all too happy to point him out to the other two.

Rin soundlessly questioned if they had found anyone else, and both Obito and Kakashi shook thier heads. They turned to Pakka, who held up her both front paws to indicate she could smell two scents and then pointed away from them to show where they went. She couldn't tell if they were friend or foe.

Kakashi turned in the direction the surviver had gone, and if he wasn't mistaken, that was the direction of the village. Two allies going to warn the village, or one ally to warn the village and a pursuer?

Kakashi asked if Pakka could tell if any of the bodies were alive, save Itachi, but she shook her head. 'Too much blood,' she mouthed.

The adult-turned-child pondered the next course of action. To his side, Obito and Rin shot a few ideas back and forth, but he ignored them for the moment.

He wasn't overly worried about the informant making it back to Konoha. It had already happened once, even if he was concerned that his standing in a radically different place this time around was a sure sign that anything could be possible at this point. The smart thing to do would be to send one of their team back just to be safe.

It appeared Rin, Obito, and Pakka had come to a similar conclusion, because they were argueing back and forth about who was to go.

Kakashi interupted by adding a vote to Rin and Pakka going, as they would be the best choice. Rin because she was still worn thin around the edges from sustaining the merchant, and Pakka because she could find the way back the fastest.

Pakka started to argue (a strange thing when none of them were making any sounds) that he was just being choosy because she was pregnant, but Kakashi reminded her that no one could find their way back better than she could, and how much any back up might need that speed if they ended up needing it.

The fact that it didn't look like they actually would didn't mean anything. Better safe than sorry, as the saying went.

The two females didn't seem quite happy with the arrangement, but ultimately agreed. Rin signed that if they got themselves killed, she'd revive them long enough to kill them again herself.

Kakashi and Obito watched them leave until they could no longer see them, before turning back to the clearing.

'What now, leader?' and Kakashi wondered how Obito could make a series of hand guestures come off as sarcastic.

The silver haired preteen didn't rise to the bait. He pointed at his own eyes while mouthing 'Sharingan', and then pointed at the clearing.

Obito raised an eyebrow, working through the reasoning of the pointing. His mouth formed an 'o' as he figured out that his teammate wanted him to check the bodies for life with the Sharingan.

The Sharingan apppeared between one blink to the next, and Kakashi still couldn't get over the sight of them - both of them - peering back at him from Obito's face. The dark haired teen peered into the clearing, searching one body to the next.

Slowly, a frown began to develop. Obito blinked to deactivate the Sharingan, and brought them back with the next, as if he thought could reset them or something.

If Kakashi needed a sign something was off, that was a really good start.

'What?'

Obito pointed first to the group nearest Itachi, and then to the lone body off to itself. "They have chakra, but it's not moving." The words were whispered, almost too soft for Kakashi to hear it. Parts of it would have been missed if not for lip reading. "The Konoha ninja and those two ninja," he pointed to one of the piles of bodies that consisted of both Iwa and Konoha ninja, "Are dead."

No moving chakra? Kakashi tapped Obito's shoulder to get him to look at him. 'Genjutsu?'

Obito looked again. He tilted his head and stared for several minutes more, before shrugging.

Kakashi knew he wasn't being difficult, but it was still a little frustrating. It was so nice when things were easy, but that was life: it wasn't always easy.

He narrowed his eyes at the clearing, and debated going out there. It still nagged at him that they weren't supposed to be here, and who knew what could happen. He'd known changing the future would eventually leave his future knowledge useless, but he wasn't expecting something to come up this soon.

There was also that little voice, pointing out that if he'd wanted a traumatized child (and he wasn't thinking about what that said about him that a part of him had), he certainly had one. While this was hardly a days work in the life of an adult, this was more than something to a four year old.

The damage was done, and he had no more excuses not to interfer.

Kakashi pushed down the conflicting feelings he had on this subject, and decided that they were here and it was time to stop acting like they weren't.

He relayed the idea that he would go first, and that Obito would follow once he got to Itachi. The dark haired teen started to protest, but Kakashi pointed out that he needed him to keep an eye out in case this was all an act.

Obito looked like he still felt like he was being side lined, but he nodded nonetheless.

Kakashi crouched as close to the ground as he could without loosing his line of sight. For the first time since he'd arrived in the past, he was thankful for his smaller stature, as it made this so much more easier. He didn't like the lack of coverage the clearing offered, but there was little to be done.

He moved across the ground, not making a sound as he went. As he drew closer to the center, the little mass that was Itachi stirred for the first time since they'd arrived.

The Sharingan seemed to glow in the light of the full moon, and if Itachi had activated that during the attack on the merchants it wasn't any wonder the Iwa-nin had taken him. The Byakugan may have been more valuable in it's rareness, but the Sharingan was still coveted by some. Add to Itachi's age, and he must have looked like a diamond in the middle of a bunch of trash.

Itachi stirred fully as he recognized him, although if it was as just a Konoha ninja or as himself personally, Kakashi couldn't tell. As he approached him, the child opened his mouth and when he spoke it sounded like a shout in the silence.

"Its a trap."

Kakashi froze, already sensing movement as Obito shouted, "They're waking up!" across the field. One of the bodies in the pile vanished before his eyes, and he would have bet money that whoever had moved out of his line of sight, had as well.

It was only years of training that had him diving for Itachi as the shiriken came wizing by them.

"Obito, take the other one! I've got this one." Kakashi hefted up Itachi's light weight, as he came into a battle stance. The child shifted around, all boney knees and elbows as he manuvered himself to cling to the older boy's back like a monkey.

Obito, darted out of his cover, eyes on seemingly empty space. "How? You can't see them!"

No, he couldn't see them.

But Itachi could.

There was no real sanity in relying on a four year old to watch his back, but he couldn't afford not to. If this turned out not to be a skilled Iwa-nin, maybe he wouldn't have to, but he had never fought and won against a cloaked Iwa-nin without a Sharingan.

"Itachi, I need you to do me a favor." He kept his voice as low as he could, hoping the Iwa-nin wasn't too close as to hear them. He strained his senses to the limit, but all he could smell was blood every where. "I need your help finding the other bad man."

Itachi tightened his hold on Kakashi's neck, and he could feel the child's heartbeat against his shoulder. "Can't you see him, too?" His voice was curious, and the silver haired teen wondered if Itachi understood that the Sharingan was special.

Kakashi turned around slowly, partially to keep an eye out for any sign of their attackers, but also to give Itachi a better view of the clearing. "Sorry, kid. I don't have the Sharingan, like you and Obito." Not anymore. "I can't see them without it."

Itachi seemed to be pondering that information, and Kakashi hoped he wouldn't take to long to decide. He could try to take out the ninja on his own, or try and hold out for Obito to finish his opponent.

The decision seemed to be made, as Itachi pointed (his small hand just visible out of the corner of Kakashi's eye) right in front of them. "There."

The warning came just in time for Kakashi to dodge an incoming projectile. He retaliated instantly with a kunai of his own and was rewarded with a pained grunt.

"Those are some eyes the kid has." The voice sounded like it was coming from their left, but when he turned to meet it, Itachi didn't react. "I knew there was a reason I wanted him."

So this was the kidnapper. Kakashi wasn't one for idle conversation, but he was hardly going to complain if his opponent wanted to risk giving himself away. "The boy belongs with his family." It felt like the blackest lie he'd ever said. "You wouldn't know what to do with him."

The man snorted, and Kakashi wasted a kunai trying to hit him. It was worth it to give the impression that he was young and impulsive. "So what if he's an Uchiha? The kid is a kid, what's there to know?"

Kakashi threw another kunai, not turning in the direction of the laughing as he 'missed' again.

On his back, Itachi whispered, "He's standing by the other bad guy."

Kakashi noted that Itachi only said there was one bad guy, and took it to mean that he meant the lone Iwa-nin. Turning in the wrong direction, and ignoring Itachi's soft protests, Kakashi pulled out another kunai. "The Uchiha are dangerous." The sound of a breaking twig, and Kakashi had him. "And so are their children."

One hand going around to brace Itachi, Kakashi spun around and threw the kunai with deadly accuracy. The impact could have been a little better, but it was more than enough to severly injure the Iwa-nin.

The illusion flickered as the Iwa-nin lost his focus. He came back into existance seemingly from nowhere, eyes enraged as he pulled the kunai from his chest.

It was a kill shot, but not an immediate one. The Iwa-nin charged at them, knowing he was dying, but choosing to waste the last of his energy on taking his opponent down with him.

Kakashi could admire his determination, even as he thought the man an idiot for it. Revealing himself made it far too easy for the Konoha ninja to put a kunai right between his eyes.

Both Hatake and Uchiha watched as the man dropped to the ground, a look of anger still etched on his face.

Kakashi stepped up to the man, knowing he was dead from Itachi's lack of protests before he even took a pulse. Still crouched, he offered to let Itachi down. The child's arms tightened around his neck, putting an end to that notion, and Kakashi should have seen what happened next coming.

"There's another one."

There was no time to react, Itachi's warning coming far, far too late. Kakashi could only turn his head in the direction of the kunai headed straight for his face and acknowledge that it would only hit him and not Itachi.

Before it could hit him, though, another kunai seemed to come out of no where, and the two collided enough to throw it off course. Still stunned, Kakashi only barely noticed that there was a piece of paper wrapped around the new kunai that could only mean one thing.

Like magic, Namikaze Minato appeared over his special kunai. The blond spared enough time to scoop up his kunai and throw it off in Obito's direction, before he grabbed hold of Kakashi and Itachi.

As they flickered back into their dimension, it was just in time to see Obito sink his own kunai into his opponent's spine. The man choked in surprise, but could do little more before falling to the ground dead.

Obito turned to Minato, Kakashi, and Itachi, saying, "There's another one!" as he pointed in the direction of the last Iwa-nin.

"We know," their sensei informed him. "Nearly got Kakashi."

If this were any other situation, Kakashi was sure that Obito would have crowed over that. As it was, the dark haired teen seemed more interested in something else. "Did Rin and Pakka find you?"

Minato nodded, "They found us as we were headed here. Hotate-san managed to kill his tail, and informed us what had happened. We were headed here when they found us." He took in Obito's Sharingan with a glance. "Rin told me that you could see through their jutsu."

It was hard to tell if Obito was blushing from the praise, as he was already flushed from the battle. He shrugged, oddly modest. "Itachi can see them, too. It's a Sharingan thing."

Minato turned to Kakashi and Itachi briefly. "We can't ask a four year old to do what a thirteen year old can do better." His expression was serious, but there was a hint of pride in there. "Why don't you show me what those Sharingan you're so proud of can do, and find that other Iwagakura ninja?"

Obito beamed, and nodded. He stepped up to stand in front, searching the area in front of them.

"Kakashi, I don't think I need to tell you to stay back and watch Itachi. Only join in if you have to."

Kakashi nodded, falling back. Minato and Obito were more than a match for a single ninja, especially one that wasn't as skilled as the others. She was young, and Kakashi noted that she wasn't one of the ninja who'd been playing dead. She must have hidden herself with the intent of taking out any opponents she could from wherever she'd been hiding up until then.

The quartet scanned the area, searching for any sign of another ambush. When there didn't seem to be any coming, Minato motioned for them to get out of the open. "We can regroup with the others. They shouldn't be far behind us."

As they were leaving the clearing, Kakashi saw Minato place a hand on Obito's shoulder. "Good work, Obito."

If he'd been beaming before, it was nothing compared to what he was doing now.

They hadn't gotten very far from the clearing, when a rustling sound came from off to the side. Each was instantly on alert, although it proved to be for nothing: it was only Rin, Pakka, and Minato's back up.

"Obito! Kakashi!" Rin rushed to Kakashi's side, reaching out for the boy he'd almost forgotten was there. "You got Itachi back."

The little boy peered at her, and Kakashi watched as the Sharingan faded back into black orbs. Itachi's grip was starting to feel the other side of boneless, and he was starting to get tired now that it seemed he was safe.

Rin offered to take the boy from Kakashi, but they were both a little surprised when Itachi refused to release his hold on Kakashi. She looked at her teammate, who shrugged as well as he could with someone hanging off his back. He didn't particularly mind one way or another what happened.

Rin blinked, perhaps finding the way this had turned out a little odd, but she seemed to do an internal shrug of her own and then went about checking Itachi out for any injuries.

"So." Minato's voice drew the attention of Kakashi and Rin, who turned their attention to their sensei, even if they couldn't turn himself or herself. "What happened after Rin left you. Turns out the Iwa spies weren't as dead as you thought they were."

That was an understatement.

"I scanned for life signs, but they were all weird, and then Kakashi went to get Itachi, but it was a trap..."

Obito's explanation faded off into background noise, Kakashi only listening with half an ear. Itachi was starting to really sag, and future assassin or no, he was a child now and he was bound to get tired before the rest of them. Kakashi had to reach back with both arms at this point to keep him from falling off.

"I could take him, if you want." Rin smiled, amused at the sight the pair made. "I don't think he'd protest."

As if to do just that, the little boy buried his face in Kakashi's shoulder and didn't seem intent on moving again until he was forced to.

Rin's smile was starting to look suspiciously like a grin, and Kakashi let her have the enjoyment.

He glanced around to see how Pakka was doing, and noticed she was laying on the ground in a way that had nothing to do with exhaustion. "Pakka?"

Rin, noting the worried note in his tone, looked down as well. She knelt down, her amusement disappearing. "What's wrong? Where you injured?"

Pakka snorted. "I only wish." She breathed a sigh heavily as Rin and Kakashi looked at each other in confusion.

"What does that mean?" And there was that nagging feeling again, although Kakashi could guess what it was this time.

Sure enough: "I think I'm going into labor."

There was a stunned/semi-stunned silence, before, "Really?!"

Obito broke off in the middle of what was sure to be an exaggerated version of the story, and he and the others turned to see what the commotion was. "What's going on? Is Pakka alright?"

Rin smiled in delight. "Pakka's going to have her puppies!"

The group, sans Kakashi, looked alarmed. "Now?"

There was a part of Kakashi that was amused that the high pitched exclamation had come from their sensei. It made him wish he had seen his reaction to finding out about Kushina-san's pregnancy.

Itachi stirred at the commotion, but it was a sign of his exhaustion that he barely reacted otherwise.

The two back up ninja looked to Minato, both of them completely without a clue over how to deal with this situation. Minato didn't look like he had a clue either, but at least he looked willing to help.

Kakashi very nearly rolled his eyes at them. "She needs a blanket and to stay warm." He almost wished he wasn't carrying his little burden, but he didn't need his hands for this. "A jacket would work also."

Since Kakashi would have to put Itachi down to get his off, and no one was going to ask Rin to take off hers, that left the other four. They debated amongst themselves, and at one point it came down to a jan-ken-pon game. One of the back up ninja lost, and grumbled the whole way about how this wasn't in his job description as he gave up his jacket.

"That better wash out."

Rin had absolutely no problem rolling her eyes, did, and she muttered something about 'men' and 'big babies.'

None of the group felt it fit to argue with her, when they had no intention of coming any where near the dog giving birth.

Rin ran her hand down Pakka's back as she helped her settle onto the jacket. "Is there anything I can do?"

Pakka gave up on trying to find a comfortable position, and just seemed resigned to her plight. "Don't freak out when the first one comes and have patience."

Obito made a noise that could be described as alarmed. "Patience?"

Pakka laughed, and winced for it. "This could take a while."

And would take a while. When it sunk in how long, Minato sent the two back up ninja on their way with his report and a promise to return the jacket when they were done with it. Obito was surprised Minato wasn't going with them. "You're staying?"

Minato's expression smoothed out into something gentle and paternal. "I am supposed to be on rest leave, even if it didn't start out that restful." He reached out and placed a hand on Obito' s shoulder an directed the next part to all three of them. "I'm perfectly in my rights to spend it with the team I haven't seen in a few weeks."

Obito's smile was huge. Rin's was similar, but with a touch more teasing to it.

"Won't Kushina-san be jealous?"

Minato choked like he'd swallowed a lemon and was trying to hide it. "Kushina... will still be there when I get home." He rubbed the back of his head nervously. "She'll understand."

None of his team had to say anything out loud for him to know exactly what they thought of that.

Minato cleared his throat in an effort to regain his composure. "But enough about that." He squeezed Obito's shoulder, his smile growing to match his oldest student's. "Tell me about your Sharingan. When did that happen?"

While Kakashi was not surprised that Rin managed not to give away any sign of her guilt, he was a little surprised that Obito didn't send any incriminating glares his way.

Still, Minato would have had to been an idiot not have picked on the fact that something went down. "Obito? Did anything happen while I was away?"

Kakashi eyed his sensei without blatantly doing so. The way Minato asked the question made the student want to ask his teacher exactly how he thought the Sharingan worked. In the first time line, a lot of the knowledge they'd acquired came afterObito died. The Uchiha hadn't been happy about it, had all but pulled teeth with the information, but even they knew it was better to have Kakashi know then run around an untrained Sharingan user.

Obito must have picked up on it, too, because he waved his hands in front of him to dissuade the thought. "No! Not like that." Again the not looking, but Kakashi could still feel it. "It happened during training. Kakashi and Rin helped me get them."

It wasn't that Kakashi was surprised Obito hadn't pointed the finger, so much as he'd almost expected to and wasn't that interesting that he hadn't.

Minato raised an eyebrow, somewhere between surprised and pleased. "Really?" And wasn't it obvious that he knew they weren't telling him something. "Tell me all about it."

Obito spent the rest of Pakka's labor telling an extremely abbreviated version of Kakashi's training session. The silver haired preteen was fairly certain that if Obito was covering for anyone, it was Rin and that Minato was very likely to interrogate them about their side of the story.

It wasn't the most ideal place in the world for it to happen, and it was earlier (by two weeks, Kakashi thought to himself) than expected, but Pakka and Rin safely saw five healthy baby pugs into the world.

Kakashi, despite his relief over the entire litter's safety, only had eyes for one of them.

Rin stood as Pakka cleaned her puppies, and she must have seen something in Kakashi's eyes, because she came over and offered to take Itachi. "Go on, Kakashi." Her eyes were knowing. "I know what Pakka means to you."

Kakashi nodded and reliquished the Uchiha child without taking his eyes off the puppies. Pakka looked up at him as he approached, and Kakashi allowed himself to forget everything for just that moment.

"Looks like you were right after all."

The silver haired teen tilted his head to show his inquiry.

Pakka chuckled to herself. "Should have sent one of the boys afterall."

Kakashi reached out and gave her a scratch behind the ears. "It turned out fine in the end."

She accepted the gesture well enough. "Hmm, maybe. We'll have to head back soon, though." She eyed him and the way he was looking at the pups. "You should chose a name for one of them. You could say it's a tradition."

His father had chosen Pakka's name, like his grandfather had chosen Pakka's mother name before her.

With a kind of reverence, Kakashi ran a finger lightly down the back of one of the pups' heads. The puppy made a tiny whine, but was too young to complain with words. There was no doubt who the puppy was, even this tiny and new.

"Pakkun."

Unlike the Pakkun of his time, this one couldn't respond to his name. Still, the puppy made a noise that could be considered a happy one, although it could be because he'd found his first meal.

Pakka laughed, the sound tired. "Pakkun. I can live with that." She shifted, and Kakashi knew that her time was up, but wished it wasn't. "It's time for us to head back home."

Rin came forward, her burden doing little to stop her from kneeling down and reaching out a hand to pet Pakka's head. "Take care, you and the puppies."

Pakka hummed in affirmative. She licked Kakashi's hand, which was still lightly petting the back of Pakkun's head. "I'll be sure to let you know when he and the others can visit." The silver haired preteen had barely nodded, before the six of them poofed out, off back home.

Kakashi stared at the empty space below his hand and fought against the almost unbareable wash of homesickness.

There was a lot wrong with his time period, with so many dead, but there were bonds that had been severed by sending him back in time and he hadn't realized how much he *missed* them and the people the were attached to, until today.

It was strange, to miss the future.

A hand fell on his shoulder, and he looked up to see Minato smiling down at him, expression gentle. "You've all had a long day. I think it's time we headed home." He looked to the other two. "I'm sure your families are wondering where you are by now."

Rin and Obito sighed at this, and they were already dreading explaining this to them.

Kakashi stood, Minato's hand falling off his shoulder as he did. He took back the task of carrying Itachi, although Rin assured him there was no need.

He didn't say it was because he didn't want to cause her any more burdens than he had already asked of her. This at least, he could spare her.

When Itachi was situated and sound asleep again, Kakashi gave the nod that he was good. Without another word, they were off.

(tbc)

NEXT: The more things stay the same, the more things change [Kakashi and his team are sent on a mission he remembers, just not like this].

Author's Notes [continued]: This is going to be a jumble of thoughts, so bear with me or feel free to skip this entirely. I have a lot of mixed feelings about this chapter and what it set out to accomplish that has little to do with my general self doubt over my writing skills.

First thing: I want to try have Itachi saved from his future, but his future is tangled up in a mess of old ways/ways of thinking/politics/familial ties. I do want to try, and currently the only way I can think of doing that is by creating ties that Itachi will later feel are strong enough to get him to use them: hence the purpose of this chapter. Itachi failed because he couldn't rely on others and I wanted to start creating those kind of ties. I also have a weakness for Kakashi and Itachi being friends/teammates (thank you, ANBU). So, basically I wanted this chapter to serve as a back door to starting that friendship by crossing their paths much, much earlier and giving an excuse to keep them crossing paths. It was also a bit of a trust building exercise. I really don't know how to put this into words.

Another thing: I'm worried that Kakashi relying on a four year old, even one as intelligent as Itachi, is unbelievable and forced, and I don't really have a defense for that and I can see how someone might think the above confession might be the only reason I did it. I really wanted to show the struggles of learning to fight without the Sharingan against an opponent that (to my knowledge) Kakashi has only defeated with a Sharingan, while also not quite being able to pass up the opportunity to make use of one if he can. Kind of like using all tools on hand, and Kakashi can't see Itachi as a child even when he's small enough to hang off Kakashi's back like a backpack.

Last thing: There are going to be some familiar events coming up in the chapters to come (but not for a little while, as I'm going off tangent to lie some more ground work for things to come), and my defense is that while I'm trying to put new twists on the story/idea as a whole, some events are inevitable because while Kakashi is making ripples in the time stream there is still so many bits and pieces that hasn't been touched. Other countries are still moving on their same paths, because those ripples hasn't reached that far, and won't for a while to come. So, while most of this story will be non-canon events, there will be some that will and will not play out like they did in canon. Hence the reason why there will still be a Kannabi Bridge Mission. LOL.

Anyway, this is the last chapter for a while. School is back in session and I'm going to be majorly on the brain drain from it for a while. Thanks for taking the time to read and hope you come back for the next chapter!