The leader of the land behind the Mountains in the Snow stared everyone in the room down. He sighed putting his face in his hand before letting go of a heavy breath. Kakashi thought hard for a long moment before shifting his weight from one foot to another. He glanced at Shikamaru and then Sasuke. This wouldn't be an easy mission and he was glad that Tsunade had opted to send the boy genius with them. They had been sent here to recover a high ranking Snow ANBU operative that had gone missing. Sakura bit her lip frowning.
"You have to tell us what's happened. Why is she so important?" she asked again. The leader of the village frowned again and stared hard at his desk.
"We've never divulged this information to anyone before…but…"
"Look mister, if you want us to be able to go save this girl, then we have to understand why!" Naruto snapped.
"Because she is a danger to everyone in the world!" he hissed back staring Naruto in the eyes.
"You'll have to explain to us why exactly she is such a danger." Shikamaru stated dryly.
"She is part of a very old lineage, a possessor of an ancient Kekkegenkai…she holds the key to a body transfer control jutsu that can unlock a demonic spirit." Kakashi stared openly at the man raising an eyebrow.
"And you just, you know, lost track of her?" he asked rubbing the back of his neck.
"We put a locking jutsu on her when she was a child. Only someone who was related to her bloodline could remove the seal. Which is impossible because her family is dead."
"Could you swear by that?" Sakura said worried.
"Yes. I was alive and a shinobi of this village when the incident involving the demon spirit's release occurred." Naruto bit his lip.
"Is this girl a jinchuriki?" the man shook his head.
"No, think of her more as a gate keeper." He sighed. "A keeper to the other world; her family has been a force to hold back the demon spirits until her parents. Saiaku's mother and father unleashed the demon spirit within her soul and used her body as a puppet to destroy our village and others around us."
"So once the spirit is released it uses the person as a container?" he clarified.
"Yes." He nodded. "Saiaku was only seven when they opened her soul up to the demon spirit. She has all the memories of watching from inside out as it killed the people around her that she'd grown up with and loved. She remembers the blood on her hands at her mother and father's request."
"How did it stop? How did you stop her?" Naruto whispered.
"We didn't. It was by accident that the demon was locked back away inside her and the gate was closed to her soul." His eyes watered gently at the edges. He reached a hand up wiping them away gently. "When her mother killed her father in front of her to infuse the chakra to the demon Saiaku regained control of herself."
"They were willing to go that far?" Kakashi breathed out eyes wide.
"Yes. And now it seems, after all this hard work, that someone had reopened the gated seal to her soul."
"But you said it had to be someone from her bloodline…" Sasuke wondered aloud.
"And that they were all dead." Shikamaru finished eyeing Sasuke.
"As far as we have confirmed they are all dead." He said looking back up at them all. "However, it is my theory that her comrade may be the one to have opened the seal." He ran a tired hand down his face.
"How?"
"If it is possible that Saiaku loves Hebbi like he is her brother, as I suspect she does because they have been very close since before and after the attack during her childhood, then it may be possible that he would be able to unlock her soul…" he finished.
"This Hebbi, is he missing as well?" Shikamaru asked. The man nodded. Kakashi took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling.
"Well then…we have quite a task on our hands. It appears we're saving the world."
"Again." Sasuke smirked adding to his teachers words. Kakashi thought back to the last great ninja war where Sasuke had chosen to help save the world before.
"Is there a way to close the gate specifically?" Kakashi asked leveling the man with a hard stare.
"No. Not that I'm aware of. It would appear though from what I said before though, that something to trigger Saiaku's soul from beneath the demon's will give her control of her body again."
"Do we know for sure that the seal is open or that they have just kidnapped her?" Sakura asked.
"I can't be sure but I would assume the gate is opened…there have been horrible winds blowing in from the mountains and bad storms hitting the village. The demon will have to build her power before she can attack…I'm guessing that she's testing her control over Saiaku's body right now to know what sort of strength she will have through her this time. It would have been constricted before due to Saiaku being a child…but now…now she'll have a grown woman with full chakra." The room suddenly felt heavy and dense.
"We'll save her." Naruto said instantly. He put his fist up before slamming it back on the man's desk looking him in the eyes. "We'll save Saiaku because no one deserves to be used by anyone…" Sasuke eyed his best friend.
"Dobe, this won't be easy." He said in a low voice gently.
"We won't let her be used by someone Sasuke." He glared back at his friend. "You wouldn't want that would you? For someone to be taken over by another and forced to do something?" Sasuke wanted to punch Naruto but he sighed knowing he was right. An image of Itachi flitted through his mind.
"Fine. We'll save her." Naruto grinned flashing his teeth at Sasuke.
"Then it's settled. We're taking this mission." He nodded.
"To saving the world…" Shikamaru sighed heavily.
"To saving the world." Kakashi chuckled nervously. If they survived this they would be lucky.