The sun began to dip below the horizon as Ahsoka's inaudible footsteps led her through the grassy aisles of the orange and pink hued cemetery.

She had been here so many times that the scene had become unnervingly familiar to her- walking down those aisles, endless marble plaques extending in all directions, the orange colors of the sunset bathing the sky- it had all become so...habitual.

And the list of people buried here only seemed to get longer.

The teen suddenly stopped, feet coming to a halt as her eyes widened for a second. It wasn't long however, before a small smile crept on to her lips at what she had spotted ahead.

She saw him here often- the owner of the familiar head of silver-white hair. He only seemed to wear his Anbu outfits these days. Today was no different as he stood, clad in his casual uniform, same as she. He had his back to her, standing in front of a structure built like a fire and huge bold letters saying

'HOKAGE'

With that soft, caring smile gracing her lips, Ahsoka began walking again. Kakashi's onyx eye stayed on the large word, too lost in thought to hear the new set of footsteps switching from grass to concrete.

"The Will of Fire...that's what it represents," Kakashi whipped his head to look behind him, seeing the young kunoichi with hair that brightened in the sunset and a face set in calm sereneness, "...Or at least that's what I've been told. You are much better at these history facts than I am."

The small surprise in Kakashi's eye quickly vanished as it softened in recognition, "Oh, it's you." He said simply.

Ahsoka made her way to stand to his right, the sunset bathing the hair that cascaded down her ponytail in an orange hue as she turned her gaze up to the sculpture shaped like a whirl of flame. Kakashi did the same.

"It was built by the First Hokage, hoping it would be a reminder to all shinobi that the village is one, and that every person with the Will of Fire should love, cherish it, and fight to protect it just as past generations have done." Kakashi explained, his rather impressive reservoir of information coming to play.

Ahsoka hummed, "He was wise...the First."

"Hai." Kakashi agreed, both their eyes still looking up.

It was the sudden chill that ran down Ahsoka's spine that alerted her of the coming presence first. Then it was the unmistakably familiar chakra and the way it made her limbs lock.

That chakra...it had been a while since she'd felt it.

Kakashi turned his confused gaze to the auburnette, sensing her discomfort, only to find her eyes wide and skin rather pale despite the orange glow.

His brow quirked up in concern. She genuinely looked scared, petrified even. Kakashi was about to ask what was wrong, only to be stopped by the sound of shinobi sandals stepping on to the concrete behind them.

Kakashi turned, eye immediately falling on the rough, bandaged, scared face, and dark over- robe of Lord Danzo Shimura.

The hawk-like man's stare buried holes into both of the teens. His face set in his usual stone cold frown as he stared at the two, unblinking with an eye of iron. His two roughish scars sat on his chin as they always had, which Kakashi doubted would even allow the man to look friendly if he tried.

The teens didn't have time to think of anything else as the man strode towards them, and they couldn't do anything but turn around and face him.

"Ahsoka Aoyama and..." Danzo paused, his left eye dragging itself to the silver haired teen, "...Kakashi Hatake, correct?" The man asked, his voice sounding like sweet venom.

"Hai, Lord Danzo." Kakashi responded, his voice steady as he stood up straight in the presence of the hawk.

Ahsoka stayed quiet, the fear from seconds ago perfectly masked into a guarded expression. It seemed that those lessons with Jiraiya had been paying off. The only tell-tale sign of her discomfort was the tension in her guarded stance. Her eyes didn't waver though, not as she stared at the elder head on. And Kakashi wondered if she realized she had looked like a frightened animal only moments before.

If Danzo noticed anything off about her, he didn't show it. He kept his bearings, his face sculptured into cold neutrality.

"I'd like to express my condolences to both of you," He began, "It couldn't have been easy to lose so many of your comrades so quickly."

Despite his slight discomfort Kakashi bowed his head. The elder was only giving his condolences after all, "Thank you for your concern, sir."

The only thing Ahsoka could do was follow his lead, bowing her head slightly as well as she tried to ignore the piercing gaze staring them down.

Danzo's eye raked over both of them, shining as if he were studying some interesting lab experiments, until he suddenly said, "I have a proposition for you two..."

The two looked up at him. Kakashi's brow furrowed in confusion while Ahsoka bristled, unable to keep the wariness off her eyes as she studied the man. Her stance got tenser, knees bent, body angled, and a bead of sweat running down her temple.

The corner of Danzo's mouth only twitched the slightest bit, "...Come work under me, what do you say?"

Ahsoka's eyes flared in shock. She hadn't expected that. Not at all.

Surprise broke through Kakashi's own as he looked up at the man in utter shock. The proposition was completely out of the blue. Kakashi had never had any ties to Danzo, he didn't know if Ahsoka had any either, and if she did, she'd never spoken of it.

The Hatake only knew him from passing and from all the fearful whispers in the village. Not to mention the weight of the proposition itself. Ahsoka and himself worked for the Hokage and only the Hokage...a spot that was filled by Minato- or was.

  The confusion was evident in Kakashi's face as he finally spoke, "But...We were Minato sensei's--"

"Lord Fourth, the one who recruited you into the Anbu, is no longer with us." Danzo interrupted, and it caused the effect he wanted.

The sudden pang of guilt crashed on both the former members of Team Minato. They could only lower their heads reluctantly for a split second, the heaviness in their chests leaving them numb. Minato had been the only person they had worked directly for in the Anbu, as was their job. But...he was gone, leaving them in a tight spot.

Danzo merely continued, his cool and calm composure giving nothing away, "If you stay where you are you'll end up working directly under Lord Third who will reassume his position."

Honey-colored eyes flicker up to him, "Is there a problem with that?" Ahsoka's voice rose in question...speaking for the first time since the man had approached...and instantly regretting it, finding herself shrinking as Danzo's eye once again fell upon her.

And she had to admit, she felt exactly as she had four years ago when he came to watch her as she claimed Kusanagi as her own - Like a small, scared child.

It took Ahsoka all of her will power to not give in to that shiver in her spine. She could feel him searching, looking for something inside that she could not see just as he had last time. If anything, he seemed more eager.

Ahsoka pursed her lips in a tight line, hoping that her eyes weren't giving away the panic held inside. But of course, she doubted they weren't as her heart hammered in her chest. She could feel her own breathing coming in short breaths, wide eyes focused on the man in front of her.

"It was his foolhardy ideals of peace that dragged on the war," Danzo explained, eyes shifting away from solely Ahsoka and back to the both of them, "It was that war that drove Obito and Rin to their deaths."

Kakashi lowered his head, keeping his gaze on the floor as Ahsoka's own expression shifted between discomfort and hurt, never really being able to rid herself of that dubiety in her eyes as she shifted them away, trying to keep her scowl in check.

"Furthermore, on the night of the Nine Tails's rampage, you were not able to join the fight because of Lord Third's order...Isn't that why the Fourth lost his life?'

Kakashi let out a slight gasp, but Ahsoka's brow furrowed in silent outrage. Lord Third? Purposely leaving them out of the battle just to gain back his position? There was just no way he would. No, Hiruzen Sarutobi would never be capable of that.

"I don't want to believe that he planned his return to power..." Danzo began to turn around, readying to leave the pair after having said his part. His cold eye suddenly landing back on the two as he stared over his shoulder, words laced with poison, "...but the future of the Hidden Leaf cannot be entrusted to someone like him."

Kakashi and Ahsoka watched as he walked away in disbelief, seeing as his back get further and further away until he was out of the cemetery, out of sight, and out of Ahsoka's vicinity.

He was gone, but the deep rooted feeling that made the Aoyama's instincts scream at her was not.

A thick, heavy silence fell over the teens as they replayed the encounter in their minds. That man left them stunned...an effect he probably had on a lot of people.

"Root..." Kakashi murmured, breaking the silence. His distant gaze trained on the floor in deep thought.

Ahsoka whirled, suddenly taking a step to face the the silver haired Hatake, "You're not actually considering this, are you?!" She raised her voice, eyes blazing.

Kakashi stammered, leaning back in surprise as he was met with a wild, golden gaze, "Wh-Wha?!"   He had never seen that look in her eye outside of when something terrible was about to or had happened, uneasiness- no, panic.

Kakashi gained his bearings, brows furrowing defensively, "W-What if I am?"

Her eyes flared, laced with worry, "You can't!"

Ahsoka had never been one to back down from a challenge, never one to be scared. So it utterly puzzled Kakashi why a person not afraid of the most precarious situations or missions, would be scared of joining the most elite, secretive, ninja division in the whole village.

That was why, Kakashi's brows deepened , giving Ahsoka an incredulous look, "What the hell is up with you?!"

The auburnette gritted her teeth, stopping the growl that was boiling up in her throat. Kakashi couldn't join. He just couldn't. The thought of him working for that vile man made Ahsoka sick.

She never understood why Danzo had always struck a cord in her. Bringing out her deep rooted instinctive fear that no one else seemed to have. Sure people feared him, felt uncomfortable around him, but none of them looked petrified when he walked into the room...not like Ahsoka did.

"You-You just can't join!" She finally said, her eyes shifting back to her teammate.

"Why not?!" Kakashi asked in exasperation.

Ahsoka glanced to the side anxiously, fighting the  internal battle within herself, "I-I just don't trust him."

Kakashi blinked slowly, almost as if processing what she was saying. His suddenly narrowed eyes solely focused on her, "You don't have to join if you don't want to," Ahsoka could feel the barely detectable strain in his voice as he tried to keep his cold composure, trying to be logical as he always was, "But if what Lord Danzo said was true..."

The panic once again returned to Ahsoka's eyes, "That man is not trust worthy, Kakashi! He has to be lying! Lord Third would never do that!"

"And how can you be sure?!" Kakashi suddenly  snapped, damning his composure, "How can you be sure Lord Thrid himself is trustworthy?!"

That left her without words.

"We could've fought! We've helped save Minato-sensei and Kushina-san!" Kakashi continued, his own eye blazing, but not in anger, more so in desperation- as if his own guilt was fueling the fire within, "I want to get to the bottom of this. If Lord Third is guilty, I'll find out. And if Lord Danzo is the way to do it, no one is going to stop me."

No one.

Ahsoka looked stunned, as if Kakashi had punched her in the gut, and the silver haired teen felt the shame rise in him. He almost apologized, he felt the words on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't.

He knew there had to be a valid reason why she was acting like this, but he couldn't stand back when this opportunity was presented to him. The seeds of suspicion about what had happened that night had already been planted, and the Third was right at the center of it.

So Kakashi only let out a deep breath as he side stepped his last living teammate, not looking back to see her whip around with distress in her eyes, "Wait, Kakashi!" She called to him, an arm outstretched, reaching for him.

But he didn't turn around, keeping his hooded eye trained on the floor as he descended the concrete steps.

It took Ahsoka a moment before she slowly pulled her hand back to her, watching as Kakashi disappeared. The locks hair framing her face moving in the coming breeze.

She couldn't let him join...She couldn't-

She suddenly blinked, shifting her gaze down to the side, eyes narrowing in thought.

"A few Anbu will be selected to guard the Feudal Lord's procession back to his prefecture," The Third informed the rows of Anbu kneeling before him. The elite of the elite, the ones who took the most dangerous missions....the ones with unwavering loyalty to him.

"Hai!" The sea of gray clad replied in perfect unison, all kneeling in one of the Hokage's sprawling debriefing rooms. Two heads of silver and light auburn hair respectively stood out in the crowd, their heads bowed along with the rest.

The aging Hokage placed a hand on the stack of scrolls to his left, seriousness in his gaze, "This is the plan." He immediately launched into the details, and Kakashi couldn't help his eyes as they followed the Hokage's hand to the top of the pile where a green scroll sat, the hand spread right on top of it.

The gears turning in Kakashi's mind where almost visible in his blood red eye.

The drop down was long. But it was no problem for Kakashi as he leaped from wall pipe to wall pipe and everything he could find to descend the dark, damp, and deep underground Root hideout. Far deeper than the normal Anbu headquarters.

The metallic walls shimmered with blue light from above as Kakashi tried to scurry and leap to dark corners. Wearing his mask and mission uniform, he could easily manage this.

Everything was silent, and Kakashi saw his end goal getting closer to him. In the center of the long drop was a platform made of two walk-ways that met in a cross, coming from the four opposite walls of the square tunnel. And beyond that, an even darker drop to the levels below.

Kakashi was about to take another leap before quick movements from the shadow of one of the walkways caught his attention. Then, long tentacles of stiff wood shot for him.

The teen immediately dodged, flipping and throwing himself back against one of the large red pipes.

"Wood Style?" Kakashi questioned in shock just as a small figure, clad in dark grays and a red, green painted, pale animal mask, ran across the walk-way, eyes locking on Kakashi as he weaved through more hand signs.

"Wood Style, Giant Forest Jutsu!" The young voice of the attacker called out before his whole left arm turned into wood, shooting tentacles of wood at Kakashi once more.

Mismatched eyes widened. Only the First Hoakge had been able to use Wood Style, no one else had. So how could this child do it?

With that lingering question in mind, Kakashi weaved through his own hand signs, making familiar blue lightning erupt from his right hand.

The wood got closer, speeding towards Kakashi at an unprecedented speed. But the teen didn't flinch, he dove down, meeting the wood head on, slicing through it with his Chidori. Splinters flew every which way as the lightning made the wood burst.

The scene quickly became too blinding, even for Kakashi. The pressure too great, the attack too relentless. It was all the silver haired Hatake could to hold on for so long.

Without giving the attack a chance to truly damage him, Kakashi somersaulted to the left, immediately feeling the countless tentacles of wood shoot past him as he flipped, sticking himself to the metal wall.

The wood immediately dispersed from the boy's arm just as those dark, endless pits of the Anbu mask turned to follow Kakashi.

So he was an Anbu member...No, Root.

The boy made the hand signs again at a diligently, fast speed that showed cased his mastery before lifting his arm once more, aiming at Kakashi.

The fifteen year old gritted his teeth. Not good. Kakashi quickly weaved through his own hand signs, ready to jump into battle once again, no matter how futile it would be, "Chidori!" He shouted anyways.

In the spur of the moment, the boy's head suddenly snapped away, leaving Kakashi confused for a fraction of a second before a flash of movement caught his eye, silver blade glinting.

"Wood Style, Giant Forest Jutsu!" The boy shouted again, but the wood didn't go for Kakashi, it  shot for the passing figure instead.

Almost too quick for Kakashi to catch without using his Sharingan, the figure bounded over the crevices on the metal walls, leaping and twisting over pipelines as they ran parallel to the ground.

Movements that quick, blade that beautiful, the ability to keep the wood barely behind them...almost as if they were teasing it- Kakashi knew exactly who it was; the tied back light auburn colored hair, Anbu mask, and unmatched speed were a dead give away.

The wood rampaged just a couple of daunting steps behind Ahsoka, just as she wanted. The Aoyama suddenly dove, pushing off the wall in one graceful move before rocketing down towards the walkways, Kusanagi's long blade glistening in her right hand.

Kakashi could only watch in surprise as his teammate continued down, not flinching as another surge of continuous wood was shot at her, missing her entirely as she swerved to the left. The now probably frustrated attacker tried to get a hit on her, but she was too swift.

One, two, three...Kakashi's Sharingan almost lost count of how many swings and twirls Ahsoka gave Kusanagi as wooden spikes began erupting from the tentacles, getting in her way. In what almost seemed like an intricate dance, they were disposed off with said swings, which only appeared as trailing arcs of silver light.

It was a genuine gasp of panic that came out of the boy as he didn't have time to react before he was thrown back, Ahsoka's figure crashing into him and sending them both skidding down the path on his back before coming to a stop

Ahsoka's form towered over the boy as she pinned him down, her body bent over him. Her mask merely inches from his, both Kusanagi and a kunai that Kami knows when she pulled out, held in reverse grip against his throat.

The boy's breathing came in quick and short bursts as the cool metal of the blades grazed his skin.

Kakashi's boots thudded as he dropped down to the walk way. The boy didn't dare sneak a glance at him, and Ahsoka didn't pay him any mind, not even as he stared at in shock- her body draped over the boy.

"Ahsoka..." He murmured softly. She'd come...she'd actually come- Even after trying to convince him he himself shouldn't...she'd come.

He couldn't see their faces, but Kakashi could feel Ahsoka's gaze burning holes into the boy from behind her mask. Three, painted claw marks over the left eye and slanted fox like dark holes for eyes- that was what the boy stared up at from behind the dark holes of his own mask, hiding what Kakashi could only assume was fear.

He didn't know if the boy could actually see the intense, golden gaze from beyond the dark pits of Ahsoka's mask, but the silver-haired Hatake could almost picture those eyes. Intense, bright, deadly. The last sight many of her opponents saw before they were struck down, faster than their brains could process.

Kakashi had been on the receiving end of that glare over the years, albeit knowing she wouldn't actually harm him, but it still made his hairs rise on end. He did not envy the boy one bit.

The child suddenly twitched his arm. Big mistake. Ahsoka's eyes flickered behind her mask just as blades shifted, ready to end him in that instant.

"HALT!" They stopped, the sudden shout making everyone snap their heads up to the sound of the voice. Their eyes taking in the glooming figure of Danzo as he stepped forward.

Ahsoka immediately withdrew, allowing the boy to scram away as she strapped Kusanagi to her back and slowly rose to her feet. Her eyes never leaving Danzo.

Kakashi didn't miss a beat. He quickly made his way to stand in front of Danzo, taking a spot to his attacker's right. He was small, young, Kakashi- and even Ahsoka- easily towered over him. He couldn't be more than ten-years old.

Ahsoka strut towards them, her steps like knocks on wood. Danzo's eyes didn't leave her as he watched her approach, observing in gratified splendor as she took her place to Kakashi's right, standing in front of the hawk-like man.

If any of her discomfort from their last meeting lingered, she didn't show it. She kept her gaze forward, fixed on the man, not sparing Kakashi a glance. He didn't either, no matter how badly he wanted to.

Danzo's gaze fell on the attacker, eye finally looking away from the Aoyama, "I called them here, Kinoe." He informed his subordinate.

'Kinoe... So that's his name.' Kakashi thought, filing the information for later.

"Yes, sir." Kinoe bowed low. His voice only that of a child.

Danzo turned his attention back to the two new comers, immediately giving them a closed eyed smile. To say that the smile was unsettling would be an understatement. It was chilling. Unnerving. Like something alien that should have never seen the light of day.

"Thank you for coming." He said, voice laced with retched cheerfulness. Kakashi took that as his cue to get down on his knees, the usual Anbu style, and pull out a scroll.

Ahsoka watched as Kakashi bowed his head, laying the scroll flat on his palms, revealing the seal on it to for all to see.

The seal of the Hokage.

Ahsoka's brightly colored eyes widened as she sucked in a breath, realization of when she had seen that scroll crashing down on her. She had seen it during the briefing with the Hokage.

Danzo picked up the stolen scroll, unaware of Ahsoka's wide, disbelieving eyes behind her mask as he read the plans of the mission, his lone eye shinning with a glint of malice as it moved through the page.

Ahsoka didn't like it, not one bit.

Danzo rolled the scroll shut, the pleased smirk and hungry eyes turning back to the silver haired Hatake, "The time has come." His excitement lingering in his voice.

Kakashi rose to his feet, standing perfectly still as it had been drilled into him during all his time in the Anbu.

"Good work Kakashi," Danzo praised, turning back to face both of his new possessions, " I welcome both of you, to the Foundation."

Ahsoka's chest rose with a subtle breath, but Kakashi's Sharingan burned red, staring straight ahead.

(Your honor they are hot)

A/N:

***Next chapter will be March 28th- April 1st ish