Chapter 5 – Katabami Gold Mine

"Are you sure they're ready for that Lord Hokage?" Iruka asked. "It's been labelled a B-rank mission after all."

Hiruzen looked up at Kakashi from under his large Kage hat. "They're your team Kakashi, what do you think?" he asked.

Kakashi held the bottom of his chin thoughtfully. "Of my four genin, I'd say only two are ready for a mission such as this." He let go of his chin and looked at the Hokage. "Naruto is too reckless and unpredictable, and as you know these missions often require absolute precision to avoid conflict. If conflict does occur, I don't think Sakura is yet prepared to face other shinobi in battle, at least not on her own."

Iruka nodded rapidly from his seat besides the Hokage, that view obviously agreeing with his own.

"Sasuke and Harry?" The Hokage asked.

"Are ready" the white-haired jonin assured him. "Assuming I'm going along as well, of course" he added.

Iruka had stopped nodding and was now slowly shaking his head. "Lord Hokage, I don't think-" he cut himself off and looked at Kakashi. "With all due respect, it wasn't so long ago that these were my students. Sasuke and Harry graduated with the highest marks, and are both very impressive, but this is a B-Rank mission, and they don't have enough experience" he said.

"But they can never say they are experienced without first getting some" Kakashi retorted. "Like I said, they are both ready. As you know, Sasuke is… determined" Kakashi said, trying to find a work that adequately summed up Sasuke's desire to become stronger, and concluding that a strong enough word didn't quite exist. "As for Harry… he has found much strengthened resolve after the Land of Waves. In fact I've been training him alone, outside our team training sessions" Kakashi admitted.

"You have? What about Hiashi?" The Hokage asked, clearly surprised. Kakashi could understand why. The Hyuga were renowned for depending on their own clan's techniques, and tended to keep their training amongst themselves.

"He trains with his father as well, but Harry has decided against depending on just his eyes and his taijutsu. We've been working on his first nature transformation, amongst other things."

The Hokage hummed his approval. Kakashi himself was impressed with the boy. It took a lot for him to admit the Hyuga techniques had shortcomings, especially since he wasn't technically born into the clan, and would have initially have been desperate for their approval, even if that had lessened in the years since his arrival.

"Apparently, he has a new nindo. To always have the power to protect those he loves" Kakashi added.

At that, the Hokage smiled. "I knew the Will of Fire would burn hotly in him from the moment he was brought into this office" the old man said.

"Indeed" Kakashi responded with a knowing smile.

"Very well then" Hiruzen said finally, clapping his hands together. "You will take Harry and Sasuke with you." At Iruka's attempt to interrupt, the Hokage continued. "However… you are not to take any unnecessary risks. If conflict occurs, end it quickly and make your way back here, do not separate from them unless absolutely essential. Protecting the two of them is as much a priority as completing the mission."

"Understood" Kakashi said before waiting several moments. "What about Haku? I believe he too has the skills necessary" Kakashi asked.

"I don't doubt it. As skilled a shinobi he is, I believe it's best he stay in the village to learn things others take for granted. While you are away he will team with Naruto and Sakura and take D-rank missions" the Hokage told him.

"Of course."

"You know…" Iruka interjected slowly. "Naruto isn't going to take this well."

Kakashi sighed.

"What!" Naruto cried out. "Team 7 finally gets something other than a dog-walking mission or picking some old bat's weeds and I'm not even allowed to go?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and leaned back against the wooden bridge railing, hands in his pockets.

"Naruto, this mission is delicate. If we are caught interfering with another nation and hidden village without reason, we could cause an international incident" Kakashi explained.

"I don't get it Sensei… If the mission is so delicate shouldn't it be an ANBU mission?" Sakura asked.

"If it were one of the five great nations, absolutely. Ordinarily this would be as well, but the ANBU are mostly busy with higher priority missions, and the Hokage wants to know the capabilities of the village genin over the coming months. It just happens to be Harry and Sasuke's turn first" Kakashi answered.

"Does that mean Sakura and I will get our own B-Rank too?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"You'll get your own mission, yes. A suitable mission just has to be given first" the sensei answered him. Harry noted that he didn't necessarily say that it would be a B-rank.

"Why are we being tested all of a sudden?" Harry asked suspiciously. It seemed strange to him that they were being tested out of nowhere. Something had to be going on.

"I don't think I'll share that with you yet" he answered before turning to Sasuke and Harry alone. "So you understand what is involved with this mission?"

"Investigate the Katabami Gold Mine to see what Tanigakure and the Land of Rivers is hiding there" Harry said simply. "But I don't fully understand. If we don't know what we are actually looking for, what makes us think they are hiding anything at all?"

Kakashi nodded, clearly having expected the question to be asked. "The mine was formerly one of the world's biggest trouble spots. As the largest Gold mine in the elemental nations, whoever holds it has the potential for incredible wealth. Mercenary and missing-nin vied for control constantly before control was won by the newly formed Land of Rivers and it's hidden village Tanigakure. For the last two decades they have kept firm control of the mine and kept output at a respectable level so as not to make their nation too powerful too quickly, and upset the economic and power balance between the nations" he said.

"And now?" Sasuke asked, finally adding to the conversation.

"The most recent Tanikage died not too long ago, and the Village Hidden in the Valleys elected a new leader, a man we know almost nothing about. Not long after, the defense of the mine heightened considerably, and it's output skyrocketed."

"If their defense is higher, obviously they are expecting an attack, or they have something they don't want the other nations to know" Harry deduced.

"Leaf intelligence believes it's the latter."

"So unfair! I could totally do that mission" Naruto sulked.

Harry smiled and put a comforting hand on his friends shoulder.

"Sunrise tomorrow then?" Harry asked their jonin sensei.

"Right" Kakashi nodded.

"See you tomorrow Sasuke" Harry said.

"Hn" Sasuke grunted. Harry smiled at him and jumped onto the bridge followed by the nearby roof, heading back towards the Hyuga compound.

"Be careful" Hiashi said, grasping Harry on the shoulder. It was just before sunrise, which meant of course that Kakashi was not yet there. Sasuke was though, trying, and failing, to ignore Naruto's begging to come along with them.

"I will" Harry said. "If everything goes to plan, we will be in and out and they'll never even know it."

"Right. If you do come across trouble, keep each other safe" Hiashi said, loud enough for Sasuke to hear as well. The Uchiha looked at him and nodded once before returning his gaze out of the Konoha gate.

"Kakashi!" Naruto called out as he saw the white-haired man approaching. "Are you sure I can't come along? I promise I'll listen to every word you say. C'mon, please?" he begged.

"No, Naruto" Kakashi said resolutely. "The Hokage only allowed me to take Harry and Sasuke. Not to mention that any more than three of us increases our chances of being seen."

Naruto's face dropped in sadness.

"We'll train together when we get back. I'll even treat you to Ichiraku's!" Harry promised him.

"Yeah, alright" Naruto said as he slowly walked away, dragging his feet.

"Well then, shall we go?" Kakashi said, nodding at Hiashi before walking through the massive gates, Sasuke following after him.

"I'll see you soon" Harry told his father and walked after his team.

The Land of Rivers was not far from the Land of Fire, so they were at the mine by late afternoon. The mine itself looked to be quite large, and had three separate entrances at three different cliff heights. Guards patrolled near all the entrances.

The three of them sat in a tree overlooking the mine from above.

"What do you see Harry?" Kakashi asked.

"Three entrances. There, there and there" Harry pointed them out, scanning the area with his Byakugan. He scanned the people as well, deducing by their chakra flow which were shinobi and which were not.

"Twenty Shinobi guards, plenty more non-shinobi patrolling as well. There are far more workers than I was expecting. I'm not surprised that the mine's output has increased with the amount of people they have working it."

"Can you see inside?" he asked.

"Not far. There doesn't seem to be any guards patrolling inside, at least not for the first twenty metres or so. I'd guess there are more inside, but I can't see from this distance" Harry answered. "I can tell from here that the inside is massive."

Kakashi sighed. "I was hoping that we wouldn't have to split up, but there's no way around it."

"Will we wait for nightfall?" Sasuke asked. Harry figured that was the best plan, then they could use the darkness as cover for getting inside, but Kakashi's face told him there was something else to consider.

"No. They will have more guards at night for that exact reason, and once we are inside we can use the natural darkness of being underground to our advantage" Kakashi decided.

"I will take the bottom entrance, Sasuke, you take the one above mine, and Harry you take the top entrance" Kakashi said.

"Right" Harry and Sasuke both said.

"If you get spotted, escape immediately. Don't get into any fights. If you think the guards are alerted to our presence, leave immediately" he said in a serious voice.

"Understood" Harry said, Sasuke nodding once.

"We meet back here in an hour. If I'm not here, get back to the village" he said before jumping out of the tree and straight down to the bottom level. Sasuke jumped out after him.

Harry lingered for a few moments to watch the top entrance. There were guards near the entrance, but none standing directly in the way. Still, if Harry were to try to head straight in, he'd be spotted for sure. Formulating a plan, he jumped down and hid by the cliff, knowing that the rocks would block their view of him.

Harry was suddenly grateful for his renewed resolve to learn techniques outside the Hyuga clan. If not for his training with Kakashi, sneaking in past the mine's guards might well have been beyond him. But as he had been, Harry had discovered his first nature transformation.

He knew he was very far from mastering the element, but he was confident he could do what he needed to. He began to form hand signs.

"Wind Style: Gentle Breeze" he whispered, pushing his chakra out and transforming it to wind. He might not be able to yet perform any combat jutsu with it, but something simple like this ought to work.

If it was a clear day, it wouldn't make any sense, but the wind from the natural weather was already picking up dust from the rocky terrain, and Harry's jutsu simply added to it, considerably lowering visibility, at least for those without the Byakugan.

Harry quickly ran back up the cliff and sideways towards the entrance, knowing that the guards were less likely to look up and spot him than if he were to hide at ground level. He quickly dropped in front of the entrance and slipped inside.

Kakashi was right, the inside was dark, lit only by flaming torches spread at a fair distance away from each other. He activated his Byakugan again. There were certainly guards inside, but most of them seemed to be in rooms above him, sleeping. Again Kakashi must have been correct, and these were the guards that would be put out on patrol at night.

Below him were the large chasms of the actual mine itself, and there had to be hundreds of people working down there. But it wasn't the sheer number of workers that was shocking as much as the type of people who were. He would have thought that the majority of the workers would be physically fit men, maybe some women, but there was a vast number of young children and elderly working as well. Something was definitely off with that.

Harry ran forwards and deeper into the mine. It ran deep, and the Byakugan revealed that even with the three of them, they could never explore the entire mine unless they were there for hours, and if they did remain for that long there was almost no doubt they would be discovered.

Harry glued himself flat to the high roof with his chakra as he looked ahead, just in time for two guards to pass by underneath him, blissfully unaware of his presence. He dropped back down and continued forwards, darting into empty rooms and already mined chasms on his left and right. He passed many mine shafts along the way, but decided to stay on the same level, in case the shaft continued down to Sasuke's level.

As he moved forward, he could just make out the form of some people on the edge of his vision. The image became clearer as he continued forward. Through the walls, he wasn't sure exactly what they were doing, but they seemed to be crowded around somebody who was lying hunched on the ground.

Harry quietly slipped into the room and stuck close to the wall, where it was darkest.

"Damn traitor" one of the shinobi cursed, and kicked out at the body on the ground. The boy on the ground, probably about Harry's age, let out a pained grunt. Their hitai-ate labelled them as ninja from Tanigakure, including the boy on the ground, though his had a cut straight through the middle. Missing-nin.

He had light brown, shaggy hair that ran down to his neck, though it was slightly matted with dried blood. His eyes too were brown, and his nose was bleeding on his badly bruised face.

"You're the traitors" the boy coughed.

"And hows that?" one of his captors laughed, giving the boy another kick for good measure.

"You think you're good little soldiers for obeying his orders? Lord Tanikage would never have asked us to do anything like this, never" the boy responded coldly.

One of the four shinobi picked the boy up by his collar and spat in his face. "That old fool is dead, and he got us no further ahead in this world than when he started. The new Tanikage will make us one of the strongest Hidden villages" he said.

'This new Tanikage is obviously going to be a problem.'

"By stepping on the backs of his people? Or are they all his slaves now?" the boy questioned coldly.

'Slaves! Of course! That explains why the elderly and youth are all working the mine too!'

Harry decided this boy was the best evidence he was going to find. He needed to bring him before the Hokage as a witness. That said, Kakashi had told him not to fight, and if he couldn't take the four out quickly, he would be giving himself and his team away.

He made his decision. His conscience simply wouldn't let him leave this boy to the mercy of the others, even if his orders might have suggested he should.

Harry slowly approached them from behind and crouched low into gentle fist stance. The missing-nin's eyes widened as he saw him, prompting his captors to slowly turn to see what he was looking at.

"Eight Trigrams: Sixty- Four Palm!" Harry exclaimed, launching himself at the four and striking rapidly at their tenketsu points. Sixteen hits each person meant that they would be unconscious for hours.

"What?" the boy said dazedly, now on the ground from where the shinobi had dropped him.

Harry helped him to his feet.

"We have to move, quickly" he told him.

"Leaf Ninja? But what are you doing here?" he asked, eyeing Harry's hitai-ate.

"No time, we have to go now. I'm due to meet my team outside and we don't have a lot of time. Can you move on your own?" Harry asked.

The boy nodded and followed Harry out the door and into the long hallway again, this time heading back in the direction of the outside.

"Wait, we can't leave yet" the boy said desperately, though he kept running behind him.

"Why not?" Harry asked.

"They have my little brother. Took him as one of their slaves. He's only seven years old" he said.

'Damn'.

"Is he on this level or deeper in the mine?" Harry asked.

"They keep the children on the lowest level. I was about to go and get him when they captured me" he said.

'Double damn'.

"Then we'll have to come back for him another day. I don't know if we'll have time to get down there and out before they increase the security for the night. Not to mention if they find the bodies back there they will be on high alert" Harry said, though he felt wretched about it.

"It has to be now. They know that he's my brother. As soon as they discover I've escaped they'll torture him or use him as bait. They might even kill him just to get to me."

Harry was silent for several long moments as they continued out. "We need to get outside first and speak to my Team Captain. He was investigating the lowest level, so he's our best bet at finding him."

"But-" he tried to say before Harry turned to cut him off with a look. "I won't leave here without him. I promise" Harry said.

Harry knew he shouldn't be making promises like that, but he couldn't help it.

Harry put his hand out to slow the other boy down when they neared the outside. It was obviously very close to sunset now, as Harry could just make out the orange skyline above.

With his Byakugan, Harry noted that none of the guards were looking towards them.

"Can you walk up the cliffs?" Harry asked. The boy was obviously trained as a ninja, but he had no idea as to what his skillset was. He looked around the same age as Harry himself, so there was a chance he hadn't learned how yet.

Thankfully, the boy nodded.

"On my signal" Harry said.

Still watching with his Byakugan, Harry waited for the sun to come out from behind a cloud and shine on the opening beyond. Hopefully that meant that none of the guards would turn towards the entrance to shield themselves from the sun's glare.

"Now" he said, darting out the door and jumping upwards. He glued his feet to the rocky wall with his chakra and darted upwards, watching with his Byakugan to make sure they weren't spotted.

They clambered over the top and backed off from the edge, out of the view of any potentially looking guards. Still, they had no time to waste, and Harry guided him over towards the small spattering of trees that was their meeting spot.

Thankfully, Kakashi and Sasuke were already there.

"Who's this?" Kakashi asked, eyeing the other boy warily.

"I rescued him from some of the Tanigakure ninja inside" Harry explained quickly.

Harry almost flinched at the look of disappointment that flashed in Kakashi's visible eye.

"Harry…" he began.

"No time to explain. Once they find out that he's escaped, his little brother will be in danger. He's inside, enslaved. He's only seven" Harry said quickly, giving only the most pertinent details.

"Then they are using slaves" Kakashi lamented. He turned to face the other boy. "How certain are you that your brother will be in danger when they learn of your escape? Is there a chance they won't do anything to him?" Kakashi asked.

"No. The ninja of the Village Hidden in the Valleys have become cruel under the new Tanikage. They will hurt him just to spite me" he spat.

"Did you come into conflict with anyone?" Kakashi asked Harry.

"I had to knock out four Valley shinobi to rescue…" Harry stopped to look at the boy. "What's your name?" he asked.

"Tomu" the boy answered simply.

Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose. "No alarm, so we have to assume they haven't found them yet. Is there any chance they will wake in the next thirty minutes?"

"No. None" Harry assured him.

"If we're going to do this, we have to move right now" Kakashi said. "Sasuke, what do you think?"

Sasuke shrugged indifferently. "We got in once without being seen."

"Thank-you" Tomu breathed to all of them.

"I'm assuming he's on the lowest level?" Kakashi questioned.

Tomu nodded unsurely. "How do you know?" he asked in return.

"There are dormitories filled with children down there. Many dormitories" Kakashi warned, his message that they might not find one boy amongst all of them was clear. "I'm sorry, but if we can't find him in the next thirty minutes, we have to leave without him."

Tomu nodded reluctantly, suddenly pale.

Kakashi then abruptly jumped from the tree and down the cliff towards the lowest section of the mine. Tomu jumped after him, with Harry and Sasuke following behind them.

They landed next to Kakashi behind a group of rocks, out of the view of the patrolling guards.

Kakashi began moving his hands quickly. "Earth Style: Tunnel Voyage" he said. The ground opened up behind them and Kakashi slipped inside, motioning for them to follow.

"Stay close to me" he said, still forming hand signs as he walked forwards underground.

Sasuke employed a small fire style jutsu and held it in his hand so they could see.

"Are we underneath the entrance?" Kakashi asked Harry.

"Yes, they won't see us. There's nobody immediately inside" he informed him.

Kakashi opened up the ground inside the mine and helped them all out of the hole.

"The first of the children's dormitories are on the left up ahead" Kakashi explained.

"Then we have a problem" Harry said, looking ahead with his Byakugan.

"Are there no children in there?" Kakashi asked curiously.

Harry was silent as he scanned the large room Kakashi was talking about. It was tall, obviously a former mining area. But it didn't look like a children's dormitory. For one, there was only one child, and he was being held with a kunai to his throat in the middle of the room. There were two other shinobi behind the hostage taker. Above them, high up in the mining shaft were about twenty five shinobi, waiting in preparation to drop down on what would, if not for Harry's Byakugan, have been easy prey.

"They either know we're here, or they think only that Tomu has escaped and will come for his brother" Harry said. He explained the trap that had been set for them.

"If they know we're coming here, we can assume the guards outside are ready to face us as well" Kakashi said slowly, trying to formulate a plan.

Tomu had gone very pale after Harry had mentioned the boy being held at the end of a kunai.

"We still have an advantage" Kakashi guaranteed him. "Thanks to Harry, we can spring a trap on them, rather than them on us."

"Right" Sasuke said. "The biggest problem in there is the guy with the knife on the boy's neck."

"I can handle him" Tomu said, his voice laced with absolute surety.

"You think you can talk him down?" Kakashi asked curiously. Hostage situations were notoriously difficult to resolve without talking them down, so Tomu's confidence in his ability to take the man down seemed strange.

"I don't need to" Tomu said.

"If you're certain" Kakashi said uncertainly. "I can get the two of you into position on either side of the room with earth style" he said, referring to Harry and Sasuke, "and I can set myself up above you to block those who would drop in" Kakashi said.

"As soon as Tomu makes his move, drop the two behind the hostage-taker" Kakashi ordered.

"Right. But we will need to make a quick getaway, and if they're waiting outside for us…" Harry said.

"We've no choice but to punch through and try to get back to the Land of Fire as quickly as possible" Kakashi said, already performing the hand signs necessary for his earth style jutsu.

Harry nodded and stepped behind his sensei, following him into the wall and getting into position on the left side of the room. He watched as Sasuke set himself up on the other side of the room. For a few tense minutes they waited, Tomu giving them time to prepare before making his move.

Tomu began performing hand signs before he was even in the room. Suddenly he raised his hands and stepped through the door. From the look on Tomu's face, the little boy the shinobi held was definitely his brother.

"Perform a single hand seal and this kunai goes in his neck" the man said.

"It's going to be okay, Aki" Tomu promised his young crying brother.

"The Seimei clan have had ninja in the Village hidden in the Valleys for decades. Why would you betray us now?" the man said, ignoring Tomu's consoling words to the young boy.

"I betrayed you? Because I questioned the wisdom and morality of enslaving the very people we were sworn to defend?"

"You were sworn to obey the Tanikage!" the man roared at him.

"The Tanikage killed my parents for speaking against him and enslaved my little brother!" Tomu yelled back, dropping his hands to his sides.

"Hands where I can see them! I won't have you controlling my weapon" the Tani ninja said.

Tomu's face was passive. "I already do" he said, and gave a wave of his hand.

The kunai that was held to Aki's neck suddenly lunged backwards and into the shinobi's own neck, blood spilling over the hand and down his front.

Harry was so surprised he almost that that was his signal to take out the man in front of him. He didn't though, simply hesitated for a very brief moment before crashing through the earth wall and striking the man's main tenketsu point.

"Earth Style: Mud Wall!" Kakashi's voice rang out above him, a thick earth wall forming over their heads and blocking the men from getting down to them easily.

Kakashi dropped down and grabbed the still shocked Aki and threw him around his back piggy-back style. "I've got him, let's go" he ordered, running back out towards the exit.

None of them hesitated now, sprinting after him.

"Can't they just use a paper bomb to break through your mud wall?" Harry asked as they ran.

"They won't risk collapsing the shaft" Kakashi said.

"They're blocking the exit!" Harry warned.

"Sasuke!" Kakashi ordered.

Still running, Sasuke's hands began to blur in movement before he lifted them to his mouth.

"Fire Style Fireball Jutsu!" he yelled, letting out a massive ball of flame that headed straight down the long hallway and through the entrance. The men that were blocking it jumped out of the way to avoid the jutsu, allowing them to rush through and jump up the cliff.

"Keep going, we need to make it back to the Land of Fire!" Kakashi yelled out to them.

They quickly made it to the top of the cliff and ran into the thick brush of the forest.

Luckily, Harry still had his Byakugan active, or the arrow that was heading towards him would absolutely have hit. Instead, Harry managed to jump aside and narrowly miss it.

"Paper Bombs!" Harry called out, seeing the thins strips of paper stuck to the trees up ahead. Sasuke and Kakashi, with Aki on his back, made it through without them exploding, but Harry saw them ignite just as he and Tomu were about to jump through the trees.

Harry jumped sideways and tackled Tomu out of the way.

They hit the ground with a thud, but were unharmed. Behind them, Kakashi and Sasuke had started to turn back.

"Keep going!" Harry called out to them.

Harry launched himself to his feet just as the attacker, obviously the one who had shot the arrow, judging from the bow he held in his hands, was just about to reach Harry from the air with an outstretched fist.

Harry's hand darted upwards and wrapped around the man's fist, twisting the man so he landed on his back, hard. He struck his chakra point for good measure. In the distance, but closing in fast were about ten more.

Harry picked up the man's bow, and quickly wrapped his quiver around his own back.

He hadn't fired a bow since he was in the academy, but his body remembered how to do it, and with his Byakugan, his eyesight was perfect.

In one fluid movement he plucked an arrow from the quiver and lined it up on the bowstring. He took a deep breath and loosed, watching the arrow fly through the leaves and embed itself into one shinobi's chest. It was an impossible shot without the Byakugan, but with it, he could see further and through obstructions.

He loosed another, and another, and another, watching the incoming men fall one at a time.

"I need a weapon!" Tomu said beside him.

Harry reached down and unhooked his weapons pouched and tossed it to him before reaching back for another arrow.

The men were in sight without the Byakugan now, but Harry managed to shoot another one down before he knew what was happening.

Next to him, Tomu had pulled several kunai from the pouch and was performing hand signs over them. Harry could only focus on what he was doing so much, since their were enemies approaching, but he noticed them float slowly into the air. Just like before, Tomu waved his hand and the kunai shot out, sailing towards the incomers and slamming into their chests.

Harry looked at him strangely. Tomu shrugged and jumped into the trees, Harry following straight after.

Kakashi and Sasuke had slowed down for them to catch up, and so Harry and Tomu found them quickly.

"Are you alright?" Kakashi questioned.

Harry nodded. "Tomu and I bought us a few minutes, but more will be coming" he said.

Harry stood as Kakashi jumped back into their small camp. "Well?" he asked.

"No sign of any followers" Kakashi said. "Still, I created a few false trails just in case, but this deep back in the Land of Fire, I don't think they will follow.

Harry didn't think so either. They'd ran through most of the night, and now it had to be in the early hours of the morning. It had been hours since they had seen any sign of the enemy, but they had come fairly deep into the Land of Fire just to make sure.

"Get some sleep" Kakashi told them. "I'll take the first watch."

Sasuke obviously needed no encouragement, lying back on the ground and turning away from them.

Aki had already fallen asleep the moment they had stopped. He had hugged his brother for several minutes before falling asleep against his side.

"Thank-you Harry" Tomu said softly so as not to wake his brother. "You took a huge risk saving me and my brother. I just want you to know how grateful I am." He held out a hand to Harry.

Harry grasped it tightly and smiled softly at him before letting go and making his way towards Kakashi, who was sitting some distance away from them.

"You should get some sleep" Kakashi said as soon as he approached.

Harry would have done normally, but there was something that had been weighing on him since they had left the mine.

"Sensei, about what happened back there…" Harry said.

Kakashi turned to look at him seriously.

"I know you must be disappointed that I disobeyed your orders. You told me not to fight anybody, but I did, and because of it I almost got us all killed. If I hadn't of rescued Tomu, we would never have been discovered. I nearly got us all killed" Harry said, ashamed.

"Do you regret saving him?" Kakashi asked.

"No, of course not. But-"

"Harry, if you had saved him just because he was a captive, then yes, I would be disappointed that you disobeyed my orders" Kakashi said. "But Tomu and his brother are the only evidence we have that the Village Hidden in the Valleys is enslaving it's citizens and forcing them to work in the Gold Mines."

"I guess that's true, but still" Harry argued.

"You're far too logical for that not to have entered your thoughts, even if you did partly save him for the sake of saving him" Kakashi continued. "No matter how much we plan, and how much intelligence we have, there is no guarantee that a mission will go exactly how we expect it to. A good shinobi must adapt to new information on a mission, and consider how it might affect his standing orders. That's what you did today Harry. You did well." Kakashi said firmly. "Now go and get some sleep" he smiled at him.

"Yes, sir" Harry said.

Notes

Well this took months to get around to. I started a new Uni course, so that's taken a lot of time, as well as being put on full time at work, so I haven't had a lot of time. Still, I'll strive to be better and get the next chapter out faster.

Thanks for the support guys. As always, feel free to ask me any questions or tell me if I've made a really dumb mistake.

Cheers!