Dawn was barely approaching, a distant light cresting the hills of Konoha, as an ANBU team swarmed through the trees. One carried another on his back listening intently for her shaky breaths. The injury hadn't been as bad as they had originally thought but they still needed to get her to a medical unit quickly. They'd been checking out an old hideout that Danzo had used to train Root Core members at when a trap had been triggered. A freshly trained ANBU had made the mistake of tripping a wire and caught Akari across the stomach and back with a sickle like weapon. She couldn't react because the size of the thing had been enormous and it had impaled her to a wall. The problem wasn't as much the initial injury but the immediate reaction that had occurred. Akari's skin had grown paler and her hair had turned a silver mist color, they feared the weapon had been coated in a type of poison.
"What the hell…?" Shizune whispered rushing to great them seeing the amount of blood coating the ANBU carrying Akari.
"She needs immediate attention." He said slowly laying her down on the ground. Her breathing hitched causing her chest to hike suddenly drawing in a sharp rush of air.
"O-ok…ok, hold on let me get Sakura-chan." She stammered and rushed inside to get the pink haired medical nin.
"What is going on?" Tsunade asked walking outside the doorway to see the chaos. It wasn't often that ANBU came directly to the medical tower for assistance. She got a close look nearing the fallen nin bending down to examine her.
This was not the ANBU she was used to seeing. Akari was not this pale and she was most definitely not white haired. Akari was normally a darker tanned female with dark onyx locks. Something was very much wrong with this entire situation, if this was poison it was deadly. The chances were that there wasn't much she could do to reverse the effects with how much time had passed. However, Tsunade had a bad feeling that this wans't a poison. She had a feeling that they'd had a traitor in their ranks and Akari was a spy for another village…she'd been hiding her identity. Sakura came rushing outside with Shizune following quickly after.
"Oh gosh…" she said taking a spot beside the older woman. Her eyes scanned the body.
"Let's get her inside and do what we can." Tsunade said motioning for them all to carry her inside.
Hours had passed between when they'd brought her in and the time that she'd started to wake, but Akari was still not really herself. She felt a strange sort of weight lifted off her body like something was coming off her skin as she struggled to wake up. She shifted in the stale sheets constricting her body and groaned rubbing the back of her skull. It was splitting like a thundercloud had erupted inside of it. She let out a deep breath through her nose and cracked open her eyes. It was a slight shock to say that the Hokage was bent over her studying her face like a specimen in a jar.
"Er…Hokage-sama?" she asked blinking the confusion from her eyes.
"Ah…Akari. It's good you're awake." She smiled down at her standing back up.
Akari moved her elbows up under her body to support herself but froze. Oh this was not good. This was not good at all. She watched as a few silver strands of hair fell down over her eyes and into view. Panic seized her heart and her lungs felt like ice water had been thrown into them. Tsunade watched the girl's reaction upon seeing the changed color of her hair. It was an instant clue that she had in fact been hiding her real identity. She raised an eyebrow as the girl reached up smoothing the hair back behind her ear with a shaking hand.
"So, are you going to explain this to me or are we going to have a problem?" Tsunade asked as three ANBU emerged from the corners of the room. Akari couldn't tell who they were but they were all people whom she knew, ANBU who she'd trained with for years.
"I…its….I don't know really where to start." She sighed looking down at her hands in her lap. The white sheets did little to make her appear brave but unsettled her nerves.
"You should start figuring that out or there will be a problem. What village are you really from?" she crossed her arms over her chest.
"What? Here." Akari said giving Tsunade a strange look. "I'm from Konoha. I was born here…wait…you think I'm from another village?" she gave them a very confused look. No one had put it all together yet, maybe she could still hide this one.
"You are not from this village. Now, tell the truth or I will hand you over to Ibiki." Tsunade stated flatly annoyed that this nin was lying. Akari had to think fast now. She needed to rely on the years that Danzo had taught her to lie about herself and make something up that would pass. What village could she be from? Thoughts flickered through her mind when the door slammed open to the Kage's office.
"BA! GRANNY! I'M BACK!" Naruto grinned stomping into the office. Akari felt her eye twitch. This idiot was trying for her patience, a great guy, but really way too loud. It wasn't until she felt a presence in the doorway behind him staring at her back that she felt an odd sensation spurn down her spine.
"Oh…" was all Tsunade said staring between the person behind her and herself. Several moments passed dragging out slowly before anyone said anything. The air in the room had gone from tense to icy.
"EH, Granny, who's this girl." Naruto leaned forward in her personal space poking her shoulder. She narrowed her eyes on him as he looked up at her face. "And why does she look like Kakashi-sensei?" he asked. Quick one, that boy.
"Should I ask how or why?" Tsunade met Akari's eyes as she looked up rubbing the back of her neck her shoulders rolling forward. She sighed rubbing her eyes and then her temples agitated.
"It's a bit more complicated than all that." She whispered.
"Try…" Kakashi's voice was soft and warm from behind her. "I'd really like to understand this better…."
"It wasn't my choice in how this started. Trust me, I honestly didn't know who I was until I turned eight." She said turning around to meet her father's face.