This story is a companion fic for Lessons Learned From a C Ranked Mission by KakashiKrazed.
Incidentally, it's also a gift expressing my appreciation for said author. :)

Now if you want to read this without having read Lessons Learned… you can do so. It should still be understandable and entertaining, though you may feel (rightly so) as though you've come in at the middle of a story.

For the fullest, most rewarding experience, I highly recommend that you read Lessons Learned From a C Ranked Mission, at some point, if you haven't already.

No... I am not shamelessly promoting KakashiKrazed's works- why do you ask? I mean, if I were trying to do such a thing, I'd couldn't fail to mention 'Krazed's amazingly addictive story called The Long Road Home, the action-packed The Sixth Hokage or …uh, oops.

PROLOGUE

Now all he had to do was convince Kakashi's fiercely loyal kids that the best thing they could do for their team leader would be to stay put. No problem...and maybe while he was at it he could find a way to cause World Peace!
~ Iruka, Lessons Learned From a C Ranked Mission, Chapter 13

Iruka reentered the campsite, trailed closely by the three young genin of Team 7. Immediately, he tasked the teens to get a fire ready to use for cooking while he checked all the perimeter traps.

The makeshift team was camped a full half-day's journey from Orochumaru's den, awaiting reinforcements from Konoha. Until then, these Leaf ninja took advantage of the time to conduct surveillance and reconnaissance.

Unfortunately, Iruka sighed ruefully, the genin were growing more restless with each passing day- especially Naruto who with ever-increasing frustration argued that for every day wasted, Kakashi was closer to dying at the hands of the Snake Sannin.

It would be an unbearable thought, except Iruka knew they were hardly "wasting" their days.

Once satisfied with the camp security, the chunin settled down onto his bedroll, close to where the teens were tending the smokeless fire-pit, and unfurled the stiff parchment on which he'd drawn a detailed map of their findings over the last few days.

"Excellent work today, team," he called out, by way of encouragement (and, incidentally, to distract Naruto and Sasuke from whatever squabble they were currently engaged in), "Now I can add the location of the sewage drains to this map, and…"

"Who cares where the stinkin' sewage pipes are?" Naruto petulantly burst out, nearly causing the sensei to mark a stray line on their precious diagram. "We've been here for days! All I care about is finding Kakashi-sensei and busting him out of that place."

Iruka sighed at the familiar argument. Without glancing up from his work, he admonished, "Patience, Naruto, patience. We're not in any position to move ahead. When reinforcements get here…"

"And how much longer is that going to take?" Sasuke glowered moodily.

This caught the chunin a bit more off-guard. He could usually count on Sasuke to be the voice of reason here. Or at least to always have a different opinion from Naruto. Apparently, the genin's worry over his jonin sensei overruled both reason and rivalry.

"It has to be soon," Iruka assured, the tightness in his voice making it clear that he wasn't in the mood to endure this argument yet again. "Lady Tsunade must have received our message by now. The appropriate retrieval team won't be long in coming."

Privately, he knew it wasn't necessarily that simple.

It was possible for the message about Kakashi's capture at the hands of Orochimaru to be intercepted before reaching Konoha. Or something could happen to the retrieval team before they made it here. Or the trail he'd left behind with Team 7 could have been rendered unreadable by poor weather conditions, making it nearly impossible to track them.

Any number of things could go wrong, but unless he had reason to believe that something, in fact, did go wrong, he wasn't going to trouble his genin over it. " May I remind you that we're dealing with Orochimaru here. Our only option is to wait."

Both boys took heed to the finality in their former sensei's tone, and seemed willing to drop the dispute temporarily, if only to avoid provoking Iruka further.

Sakura's broken voice pierced the tense silence "But what if he dies while we wait?"

Iruka paused in his drawing to wearily rub at his scar. Leave it to one of his brightest students to ask the question he couldn't answer. The question that tore him up as well. Reconnaissance and surveillance were necessary, but at some point one has to move on to the next phase. Wait too long and time could run out for the captured jounin.

Infuriating as he sometimes was, Kakashi was the best and brightest that Konoha had to offer. Thinking back on the reports Iruka had read long ago, of Orochimaru's secret labs that the Sandaime discovered before banishing him from the village, Iruka could only imagine the sort of horrors Kakashi was facing even as they spoke. Every part of him screamed he could not abandon a comrade to such a fate, that at any given moment the copy nin could be struggling for his very life.

If only he had a more experienced team with him…

But as it were, he was accompanied only by three 13-year-old genin. He could not lead them into the lair of the Snake Sannin. The teacher gently presented his reasoning, willing them just to understand. "It won't help matters, Sakura, if the retrieval team has five Konoha ninja needing rescue, instead of one. And that's assuming we're not killed outright."

"Why are you assuming we'll get captured at all?" Naruto balked, already forgetting that he was going to drop the subject. "I'll take care of Oro-baka, while the rest of you find Kakashi-sensei."

"That's the worst plan I've ever heard," Sasuke snapped scornfully. "And being on your team, that's saying something."

"At least I have a plan!" Naruto shot back.

"Boys! That's enough," Iruka intervened, finally putting away the updated map and moving up to join them by the fire. "I understand that you're worried…Really, I do. But the best way to help Kakashi-sensei right now is to do what we can to give him the best chance of being rescued."

He glanced at each of them pointedly. "And currently, that would not be us. This is not cowardice; it's common sense. Have you forgotten that Orochimaru is an S-class criminal? That he killed the Third Hokage? If we rush in there, we only advertize the fact that Konoha is closing in on him. Right now surprise is the only element we have to our advantage. We need to wait for the proper team to be able to utilize it."

The genin looked crestfallen, and suddenly, Iruka felt intensely guilty. What kind of teacher quenches his students' confidence with such defeatism?

The realistic kind that wants to keep them alive, his inner voice supplied reasonably.

And yet…

Their disheartened expressions were almost more than he could stand.

"Hey, it'll be okay." Iruka tried, but the words rang blasphemously hollow even in his own ears. Nothing about this situation was okay, and there was no guarantee that it would be in the future.

"Listen- if a team doesn't arrive in one more day…" the chunin trailed off uncertainly. All three of the youths perked up, an ember of hope lending meager light to their darkened expressions, so he pressed on, "I'll…consider altering our current course of action."

"You mean we'd go in?!" Naruto exclaimed.

Iruka frowned. "Perhaps, Naruto. Perhaps." He must be certifiably insane, to actually be considering that possibility. "Just…let me sleep on it."

He needed time to think this through, to turn over the possibilities in his mind.

Thus, later that night, after the fire was long extinguished and the genin asleep, Iruka lay awake conjuring up and discarding possible plans of actions. All the while, his worry for Kakashi waged war with his worry for his young charges.

"Sleep" on it. Yeah right.