"Karma is like a rubber band. You can only stretch it so far before it comes back and smacks you in the face."

Unknown

<>

After the occurrences of earlier that day, Itachi dropped the kids off at the Uchiha household with Mikoto. He left in a hurry to catch the Hokage before he left the office. Hopefully he could make it in time, and Minato could still help him out. He'd made a promise to help a couple kids.

Itachi entered the great double doors and ran up the stairs, ignoring the shouts that came from the guards. They eventually realized who he was and stopped. Itachi had been given clearance when he made ANBU. When he found the doors that led into Minato's office, he opened them and slid inside. He had no time to knock. "Minato-sama, we have to have a talk."

Minato stood up from his chair, sensing the panic and urgency Itachi was giving off. He had been gathering his papers together, preparing to leave, but Itachi's walking in made him forget all about the papers. "Itachi-chan! What's wrong? I was about to leave the office."

Itachi, seeing no one else was inside the office, went further in and sat down in a chair in front of Minato. Minato leaned forward on his desk, eyes widening in interest. Itachi pointed to a picture of Danzo that was laying out on his desk.

"We should talk about your council."

<>

Kakashi walked into Sasuke's house greeting Mikoto, and saying that the kids called for him. Mikoto told him to go right in, and that Itachi had left in a hurry a few minutes ago. Kakashi thanked her and headed inside. He had heard the chatter in the telekinetic chatroom, and he had heard it when Naruto called him over. He'd been ignoring them during his mission, but the second they asked him to come, he finished the mission in record time and headed home.

"Kakashi-sensei, we have a problem." Sakura said the minute he entered the room. Kakashi stopped, seeing the haunted look on his students' faces.

"What is it?" He asked, sitting down in between Sakura and Sasuke. Naruto scooted closer, and Sakura subconsciously wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"Sai." Was all Naruto said, and Kakashi's face melted. He closed his eyes, wincing. "We saw Sai and Shin today. They're in the cabin. Danzo has them training, and in the end, that special test-"

"That bastard." Kakashi growled, putting his hands in his hair. He ruffled it. "Can't he just leave the world alone for once and go die?" Sasuke chuckled bitterly, and Sarada used her other arm to pat Kakashi's shoulder. They'd all lost friends- family to Danzo, and the fact that he was still walking the planet was mind blowing to them too. Why did Lord Third let him around as much as he did?

"Anyway. As it is, we might need to do some damage control, my brother was... paying attention to us, and has an idea of our abilities." Sasuke said. "Excuses, everyone?" He shot a playful glare at Sakura, who returned it.

Kakashi rolled his eyes. "I gotta say, Itachi was gonna figure this out eventually." He turned and poked mini Sasuke in the cheek. "Your big brother is too clever."

Sasuke smacked at Kakashi's head, and glared when Kakashi ducked his head, dying of laughter. "Exactly how clever is Itachi, pray tell?"

Kakashi sobered up pretty quick, thinking about it. "I believe, based on calculated tests run by me, that he is an intellectual genius showing signs of talent in the deductive reasoning category. Even at this young age, I think it's safe to assess his IQ to be 140 or over. He's not quite an era defining genius, but pretty close. As he gets older, he will get better."

Sasuke's eyebrow raised, and Naruto whistled. "Fuck," he said. Sakura smacked him over the head for saying that so loudly while Mikoto was in the house. If Kushina heard him using that language, hell would rain down. And here Naruto was (as Robert Downey Jr. so cleverly put it) without an umbrella.

"So we had no chance of hiding this from him, we're all screwed." Sakura said, putting into words what Kakashi had been communicating.

"Precisely." Kakashi pointed at Sakura, nodding. Then he stood up. "I assume Minato-sensei will want to see us now."

<>

"I'm sorry... can you repeat that?" Minato asked. Itachi sat still for a moment, watching Minato. He was in his chair, hands over his eyes. He looked stressed out and tired, but the blonde man was also physically shaking in rage. Itachi could feel his anger pouring out of him in droves, steam nearly billowing from his ears. The poor Hokage was so enraged, Itachi thought he was going to break the table. He wasn't quite Tsunade Senju strong, but Minato had never been that mad before. He could karate chop a block of ice that was frozen solid on a good day and it would shatter to pieces. Itachi still hadn't figured out how that was physically possible.

Itachi then realized that Minato was waiting for him to repeat what he was saying. "Minato-sama, I believe that Lord Danzo has been kidnapping children, forcing then to live together, training them to be ROOT members, and forcing them to kill each other to kill off emotions." Minato looked like he was shivering. He removed his face from his hands, and looked at Itachi seriously.

"Do you realize what you are saying?" Minato asked quietly. "If your hypothesis is wrong, Itachi, there will be repercussions on my part."

Itachi nodded his head. "I realize what I'm asking you to do, my lord, but I saw it with my own eyes. Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto were there too. Those boys were being held against their will."

"It's true, Dad!" Naruto opened the door. He waltzed in like he owned the place, and sat down in the chair beside Itachi. Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke followed behind him, slower, more composed. "I saw them myself. Sai and Shin. Their names were Sai and Shin."

Kakashi walked around Minato's desk to go stand by Minato. "My lord, I've been looking into ROOT, and my research can confirm what he's saying."

Minato sighed. He leaned back in his chair and swiveled it to look at Kakashi. "Can you get me proof?"

"Those two boys and Tenzo are all the proof we need. Send me in with a team, Minato-sama, I'll get you your proof." Kakashi said, pointing at Itachi. "He promised them we'd help. We can't make him into a liar."

Minato swiveled his chair again, looking at the three kids. "What did you see?"

"The same thing Itachi-nii-chan did, Hokage-sama!" Sakura said. Sasuke nodded, and Naruto grinned.

"Same here, dad. The boys are real, I promise." Minato gave Naruto a serious look that said, if you're lying to me, I will ground you forever.

Minato then turned to the group of kids in his office. "Sakura-chan, Sasuke-chan, Naruto, please excuse us."

Naruto pouted, but knew his dad wasn't going to be moved. He followed Sakura and Sasuke out the door. They'd just wait outside.

And then there were three.

Shifting on his feet, Kakashi waited for Minato to say anything. Itachi was doing the same, bracing himself in his chair. He knew that if Minato still wasn't going to take action on Danzo, Kakashi would show him the recording, and an investigation on Danzo would be opened immediately.

Minato looked back and forth between the two boys in his office. His eyes closed in thought. "If what you are saying is true, he is in violation of many laws and definitely deserves to be punished. Plus... taking children," his features softened into a wince. He was no doubt picturing how he would feel if Danzo stole his child from birth and made him train to become an emotionless killer. "That is against all morals any human could possibly possess."

He looked at the two eldest boys in the room, and he took out a recording device. Minato flipped a switch, it was turned on. "I'm going to need more proof, but if you find something good, come to me immediately. I, Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, exercise my right as leader to begin an investigation into one Councilman Danzo Shimura. I authorize Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Itachi to be leaders of this mission, and I take responsibility for two more people that they decide to work with." He said, flipping the device off. He took Kakashi's hand, and put the device in it, wrapping his fingers around it. "Bring me everything. Anything you can find. All evidence that points towards Danzo betraying the village, under the table dealings with anyone, and all evidence that supports him disobeying a direct order from me. Bring me anything that you find that breaks any sort of moral code. Anything that we can use against him in court.

"Kakashi, Itachi, I trust the both of you implicitly, and I consider you two, Sakura-chan, and Sasuke-chan to be my own children. I trust you aren't lying to me. You two are in charge of this intelligence mission. You may bring in two more people to help you. Don't get caught. If all of this is true, and only if it's true," Minato's eyes took on a mischievous smile.

"We're gonna take this son of a bitch down."

<>

Kakashi couldn't bridle the pure, unfocused glee going through him. They now had the Hokage's permission to expose the hell out of Danzo. They got to pants' him in front of the entire village, and maybe Kakashi would even get the honor of killing him later. He'd been itching to strangle the man since he was reborn. Every time he saw that smug face, and those sheets that covered the Uchiha clan kekkei genkai he had illegally stolen and implanted into himself, he wanted to tear him apart. Danzo Shimura had no right to live, in his opinion, and Kakashi was proud to be a part of the team to take him down.

They brought in two members easily. Shisui and Tenzo were obviously the only choices. Shisui because of his incredible skills, Tenzo because he knew the ROOT ANBU Headquarters, and how it worked. The four of them strategized, writing things down on evapo-paper, and burying it in a remote location in the woods.

They took all the information from Kakashi and Shisui, (both had been looking into the Foundation for a long time) Tenzo gave them accounts and eye witnesses, he also told them stories (they also wrote this down). They only had one day to do this, so all things considered, the evidence they gathered was rather miraculous.

After they (Itachi) finished writing out their detailed accounts of everything THEY knew, (including the 'Danzo finds Itachi in the forest' incident) they went snooping. Tenzo was sent to the Konoha archives, because he was more likely to be recognized if he went into ROOT's headquarters. Kakashi was kind of... famous, among the Black Ops, and it was too dangerous for Itachi to go in. Much to the younger boy's chagrin. So Shisui was sent in.

They stalked one specific ROOT member, an Inuzuka clan member named Caiju. While Tenzo set up a convincing ID for Shisui, Kakashi and Itachi attacked the poor Inuzuka and stripped him of his robes, mask, and all personal belongings they found on him. They left him lying, passed out, in a ditch near his mother's house.

Now, this part was tricky. The henge Kakashi set up for Shisui was solid, he just had to match Caiju's accent and personality. After a few hours of studying the Inuzuka, they came to the conclusion that he was a mostly sunny personality, although that was probably fake. Itachi put a wire on Shisui, and an ear piece. They were all keeping an eye on the camera that they'd put on his mask. Kakashi and Yamato were waiting on the sidelines, ready to jump in at any moment and bust him out.

Shisui was pretty good at infiltration missions, although he was considered a prodigy and was good at practically everything. He smoothly made his way through the underground compound, Yamato directing him towards the archives. With Yamato's memory, they navigated the new turf. Shisui obviously couldn't reply to them, so they invented code words for certain things. The sun was beginning to go down, and they were running out of time. Security tightened around night time. If they wanted to get Shisui out of there alive, they had to grab what they could and leave soon.

Shisui made his way into Danzo's private library, disabling and avoiding traps as he went along. Itachi watched, holding his breath, as a guard asked Shisui what he was doing. Shisui replied that Danzo needed him to grab some files on new recruits, and asked where they were located. The guard seemed wary, but Shisui flashed his badge. Apparently this Inuzuka had a higher position among the ranks, because the guard let him through immediately, showing him exactly what he wanted to see.

Tenzo's file was nowhere to be found. It was weird. As if Tenzo was so secret, that not even Danzo had files on him. Maybe someone else did. He regrettably informed Tenzo, Kakashi and Itachi of this through comms. He spoke quietly, wary of being caught.

Instead, he grabbed Sai and Shin's file, and them wandered around the giant maze of bookshelves for a few minutes before finding an older branch of files. He looked through them, before he saw the words 'Snake's arrangement.' Shisui's brows furrowed, and he looked in the file, face melting into a disgusted look. Itachi couldn't make out the words from Shisui's camera, but Shisui assured Itachi that it was bad.

Shisui decided he had enough, and left the way he came in- out in the open. He told the guards he had an assassination mission to carry out by himself, flashing his badge again, and left the underground hideout. Finally, he met up with Tenzo and Kakashi in the woods a few miles away. He pulled open the sealing scroll he had sealed his things into, including the files. The sun continued to set.

"Oh man, that was insane," Shisui breathed, taking off his mask and dropping the henge.

"Good job, Shisui," Tenzo praised the younger boy, nodding in approval. "Now we have what we need."

"I got some stuff that could be useful, we should get it to Minato-sama right away." Shisui said, starting to lead the group out. Then Kakashi jolted, reached a hand out, and pulled Shisui out of the way. Seconds after he did that, a round of kunai hit the spot Shisui had previously been in.

They realized then that they were surrounded, Danzo and his men had them cornered in a valley. Although all three men were geniuses, with that many ROOT ANBU, it would be terribly difficult to make it out of that situation.

"Itachi, we have a situation." Kakashi said calmly into the microphone. He spoke up louder, turning his head to look at Danzo. "You and I could have this conversation, or you could let us go and we could avoid the bloodshed."

"It appears after so long of patience, perhaps bloodshed is necessary. Hatake Kakashi, Kinoe, Uchiha Shisui, you have stolen my property. I believe it is well within my rights for me to deal with you." Danzo said, his voice surrounding them in that valley. The sun was going down more. Kakashi recognized this scene- or, he was aware of what happened here. This was the place where Uchiha Shisui lost his eye, later committing suicide. This was the beginning of all of Itachi's problems.

Kakashi's eyes narrowed. "Actually, it's Tenzo now." Tenzo said cheekily. Shisui snorted. Even though the situation was bleak, the two of them were still enjoying themselves. Kakashi shrugged to himself. It wasn't like they were dying or anything. Danzo's face grew red in anger, making Kakashi smirk a little. "And," Tenzo continued, "our retrieval of government documents, was sanctioned by the Hokage, Lord Danzo." He emphasized the fact that nothing belonged to Danzo so long as he was using civilian taxes to fund his organization.

Another thing that Minato had decided to do away with, along with the council. It would make the people happy. It made their taxes smaller. He decided he would do it the minute Danzo died or stepped down, because he knew Danzo would make a terribly big deal about it if he didn't.

Danzo raised an eyebrow. "Sanctioned by the Hokage, you say?"

"Yes." Shisui spoke up. "Sanctioned mission. Investigation. Now, leave us to report back to the Hokage, and we won't mention your threats." He inserted fake authority into his voice to make it seem like he wasn't nervous. Kakashi pitied him, Shisui was only two years older than Itachi. But he also knew that Shisui had experience with these types of things, and was perfectly capable of taking care of himself.

Danzo tilted his head, closing his visible eye. "I'm afraid that is no longer an option."

"I'm sorry?" Shisui asked, disbelief creeping into his voice. Kakashi took a step forward, a warning in his eyes. The ROOT in the trees and on the floor eyed Kakashi warily.

"The things you stole are mine." Danzo said, opening his eye. Kakashi narrowed his eyes further, making sure his glare was scathing enough for Danzo to feel it. He was going to force Kakashi to go all out right now? Really? "And they cannot make the eyes of the public. Highly classified. And since you've read it," his voice took on a pleasant tone, "we'll have to erase you too."

The Foundation in the trees and on the floor slowly moved forward, pressing into a tight circle. Kakashi, Yamato, and Shisui pressed tightly into a circle as well, backs together.

"Well, boys, it was a pleasure to know you." Shisui joked.

Kakashi snickered at the humor, and Yamato's face broke into a grin. "You've fought ROOT before, right Shisui?" Kakashi had heard Shisui defeated a bunch of ROOT at an extremely young age. Shisui nodded, giving Kakashi side thumbs up. "And you're ok too, right Tenzo?" Tenzo nodded. "Alright, then let's do this."

The three of them launched into battle. Kakashi decided he'd use taijutsu. No use wasting his chakra on these guys. He created two clones, though, to help him out whenever he became overwhelmed. When he didn't need them, they went to help Shisui or Tenzo. Kakashi's mouth opened, as a particularly strong rush of adrenaline ran through him. He snapped an ANBU's neck, kicking him to the floor. One more sharp kick to the stomach had him incapacitated with pain. A quick kunai zipped through the air, heading towards him at full speed, but Kakashi was too fast. He dodged to the left, giving the other attacker a swift uppercut to the jaw that made her eyes roll back in her head. She fell onto the floor next to her teammates. His estimation was correct, and the kunai that had been flying at him before hit an unsuspecting ROOT that was trying to sneak up on him. It buried up to the hilt in his chest. Blood spurted from the wound, and the man collapsed. He'd die of blood loss in approximately three minutes.

Then he noticed that there were some ANBU in the trees, hurling kunai, shuriken, and other sorts of knives at them. Tenzo was dodging just fine, and Shisui was good as well, but they were irritating.

Kakashi knew there was a sword coming at him from the woosh of air close to his head, and just managed to duck before it messed up his gorgeous gray hair. Ducking backwards, he moved his body into an instinctive back handspring, standing up straight. He pulled out his own small sword, and noticed that he was fighting a female again. She was pretty, but not his type. His type typically included girls that didn't swing giant blades at his head. He recognized the blade as a Naginata, and raised an impressed eyebrow.

They attacked each other viciously, and Kakashi realized quickly she wasn't into gentlemen sword play. It saddened him. It was a beautiful art, yet here she was, blatantly disrespecting the tradition of ninja. She was good, though. Almost caught Kakashi off guard a couple times, and managed to nick his cheek. It was an elegant dance they played, and Kakashi wished she wasn't on the bad side, because if she wasn't, she'd make a good sparring partner.

He decided now would be a good time to end the fight when he felt one of his clones die. One swift cut upwards, and the woman's sword was out of the picture. He quickly plunged his own tantō into her abdomen, pulling it out fast as well. That was a clean cut. If she got healed fast enough she'd make it.

Kakashi huffed, then looked at the other two ANBU running towards him with chokutō in their hands. It appeared that they were trying to slice him in two. Kakashi raised an eyebrow, then launched off his feet. Nimble as a cat, he grabbed a passing kunai, and twirled once to gain momentum. He was hurling himself at the ANBU like a torpedo. When he got close enough, he slashed one through the gut, ignoring the red substance on his hands, and kicked off that one's chest to whirl at the other. The kick caused the wounded one to collapse.

Touching the ground once more to put more power into his jump, Kakashi leaped forward, slashing the other one's knees. He fell forward to kneel instinctively, and that was his mistake. Kakashi took advantage of the knees, and used him to propel himself upwards. Throwing the kunai back down and hearing the telltale scream of the knife hitting the man's body, Kakashi landed on the floor.

He looked around, wincing at the pool of bodies he left behind. He pitied whoever had to clean up that mess. Someone always did, because they couldn't just leave a bunch of dead bodies on the floor. That would attract wild animals.

Kakashi looked around, then winced as his shoulder was stabbed by a flying kunai. Then he remembered what he originally wanted to do. The sniper-type ANBU in the trees. Danzo couldn't help but fight dirty, huh? Kakashi sighed, pulling the blade out of his shoulder, and wiping it on his shirt. Irritating. That'll hurt later.

He ran for the tree line, using hand signs. Making me break out my jutsu... shame on them. "Majestic destroyer flame." He said. He shot fire at the trees, running so the jutsu would spread all around them. He heard a few screams of the people being burned alive in there, but that wasn't his concern. They'd narrowed the playing field down.

Kakashi's eyes wandered the valley. He noticed that Shisui was doing quite well. Zipping here and there, stabbing some, knocking out others. Tenzo, also, was doing well. They seemed fine. But one person was missing from this blood bath- the person who started it in the first place. Kakashi's eyes narrowed.

Then, there he was, lunging for Shisui. The poor boy was caught off guard. No way did he see that coming. Kakashi was running there in an instant, watching with horror as Danzo's arm outstretched to take Shisui's eye.

But the kid had faster reflexes than Kakashi thought, and caught Danzo's hand, no problem.

Kakashi kept running, regardless. He knew what was going to happen. He slipped out of reality with Obito's Sharingan so he wouldn't be caught in Danzo's genjutsu type attack. In a matter of seconds, Kakashi was there to stop the arm that was going for Shishi again.

Everything seemed to stop for a second, and Shisui looked at Kakashi with awe and confusion. Kakashi still stood, holding the stunned Danzo's arm.

"I wonder," Kakashi said calmly, "what's under this wrapping."

Danzo's eyes widened in horror, but he couldn't move. In that moment, Kakashi's left arm slapped him with an effective paralysis jutsu that he learned from Sakura. This jutsu could effectively stop a drunk Naruto. And heaven knows there's no stopping such monstrous, uncontrolled power.

Shisui subconsciously leaned in in anticipation. Kakashi's eyes glinted. He was getting evil pleasure from this whole thing. He was nearly disturbed with himself.

But that didn't stop him from tearing out the entire sleeve, and the bandage over his eye.

There it was- the big reveal. Sharingan, riddled all the way up Danzo's right arm. One white eye in Danzo's eye socket, Kakashi and Shisui recognized this as something that happens when one uses either the Izanagi or Izanami.

In that moment, Shisui looked absolutely disgusted and horrified. He didn't know what else to do, so his body reacted. He stopped moving, leaned on a nearby tree, and threw up. Kakashi winced in pity, before his eyes tracked movement just entering the valley.

Minato-sensei.

Kakashi's mouth quirked into an almost imperceptible smile. He turned to the paralyzed Danzo. "I told you, I would make sure all of hell rained down upon you." His face couldn't even move, but Kakashi still felt the absolute hatred and anger radiating off the old man.

Tenzo, finishing off his last enemy, walked over to explain the whole situation to the Hokage and his posse.

Itachi, Fugaku, Lady Kushina, and a few ANBU guards. Lady Kushina was probably visiting her husband at the office when Itachi barged in, Fugaku following behind. She wouldn't want to be left behind. When she saw this scene, her eyes clouded, and she ran to Shisui, comforting him. He still looked absolutely sick.

Tenzo, Itachi (who also turned pale like he was going to pass out), Fugaku, and Minato came over. Kakashi didn't let go of Danzo's arm once, looking to his sensei.

"Self defense." Kakashi said, sweeping his eyes over the scene. Minato nodded, and turned to the snake.

"Danzo." Minato said, eyes narrowed in pure, unbridled hatred. No ounce of respect remained for him anymore. "You have betrayed your village by dealing with Orochimaru, a known enemy. You've kidnapped and enslaved children from a young age. You've disobeyed direct orders from your superior. You've lied, stolen, killed, and destroyed. You've attacked my agents, and harmed them. You took and used the Uchiha clan's kekkei genkai, and you've been an overall pain in the ass." He looked at Fugaku. His friend stepped forward. "And no one could be more pleased than me to say, Danzo Shimura," he smirked. "You are under arrest."

Fugaku stepped forward, and clasped the man's hands behind his back with a chakra restraint. A few of the ANBU stepped forward, and Kakashi undid the paralysis jutsu so Danzo could walk.

As they walked away, Kakashi smiled, waving a hand at the old man playfully. "Bye bye." He told Danzo. Kakashi didn't think he'd seen anyone look at him with that much killing intent before.