Disclaimer: See chapter one!

A/N: Here's the next chapter! I want to thank every single person for the wonderful reviews so far. It makes me happy to read the nice things you all have to say so far. I'm actually not sure about this chapter! This is my first time writing battle and all that and honestly I haven't been at the top of my game for a few days. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy the second chapter and leave more reviews for this tired writer (it's almost 2 AM here, but I wanted to get this chapter done!) Thank you :D

Chapter Two

Empty

As their clones made it across the clearing and the first signs of alert from the guards reached their ears, Kakashi and the others found their opportunity. Scaling the walls with unnatural ease, they landed silently on the opposite side in what appeared to be a garden, overflowing with rare flowering plants and a bubbling rock pond. Well, at least the atmosphere was pleasant enough, Kakashi thought. The group approached a set of large, heavy doors and waited for a moment in case a rush of reinforcements for the gaurds in battle with their clones came running out. When the door didn't budge, Genma nodded and gave Kakashi the all-clear.

Prying open the door carefully, they slipped into the expansive house without a sound and into a dark corridor. Sticking close to the walls and masking their chakra signatures, the shinobi began making their way toward the south entrance, knowing from a set of blueprints provided by Tsunade that Hyoto's basement entrance was located near that wing, the most likely place to keep a kidnapped kunoichi. Genma had snorted at the information. What a sick bastard to have his very own dungeon installed in his home.

The ease at which they were traversing the building was unsettling. Shouldn't there be some form of defense to keep them from strolling in and traipsing through place like they owned it? The moment that thought crossed Kakashi's mind he quickly ducked, having turned the corner to find a barrage of kunai sailing toward his head.

That's more like it, he mused.

Kakashi exchanged a quick glance with Raido before the man nodded and turned the corner, sliver-thin wires emerging from his sleeves. Dodging another kunai attack, Raido detected two forms hiding in the shadows, both shinobi. One of the men emerged at lightning speed, producing a small sword from behind him and charging at Raido. He side-stepped the man and delivered a powerful kick to his side, sending him crashing into the stone wall and causing a framed painting to shatter as it fell to the floor. Distracted by the sword-wielding man, Raido barely saw the third group of kunai sail through the air, ducking out of the way of most but not quite able to avoid injury. One of the kunai grazed his right shoulder, cutting a deep gash through the flesh, blood quickly soaking his shirt and running down his arm.

Kakashi and Genma continued down the original corridor undetected by the two men currently in battle while Raido grabbed his shoulder in pain. The only thing it did was piss him off. Raido let his chakra leak onto the wires in his sleeves, strengthening them to be as tough as steel and sharp as knives. He flicked one arm out as the man with the sword rushed him again and the wire wrapped around his ankle, cutting deep into his skin and forcing a startled cry from his mouth. He slammed into the floor with a deafening crash, dropping the sword as the wire cut to the bone. Raido ducked another kunai from the second assailant and kicked the sword away, metal clattering against the floor until it slid into the wall a good twenty feet from the downed man. Raido grabbed a kunai of his own and mercilessly slit the wailing man's throat, his pained cries turning into gurgles as blood poured from his cut neck and mouth.

Raido straightened and released the wire attatched to the dead man's leg, turning toward the second man. With the same bloody kunai he'd used to kill the last man, Raido pushed chakra into his feet and ran toward the chakra signature, deflecting the kunai thrown at him with his own. Suddenly, Raido flung the kunai forward and it sailed by the man's head.

"Missed me," The man smirked as he pulled a handful of shuriken from a pouch on his side, intent on finishing the pesky intruder. His sly grin faded as he released a stunned gasp after Raido pulled on the wire, bringing the kunai flying back at the man before impaling him in the back of the neck. He was dead before he hit the ground. Raido released the wire once more and exhaled, pulling out some bandaging for his arm. As long as he stopped the bleeding, he could keep fighting. As he pulled the bandages from his back pouch, a trio of shinobi guards rounded the corner and stopped upon seeing him.

"Damnit," He grimaced as he yanked out a kunai and deflected the seven or so sailing toward him.

The bandaging would have to wait.

****

Kakashi was surprised to find no resistance once him and Genma were out of the immediate line of fire. Running through the empty, pristine corridors was effortless as they passed dark and empty rooms on either side of them. Surely, Kakashi had remembered correctly that Hyoto had a wife as well as a few concubines. If that were the case, why were they seemingly alone in the vast mansion save for a few guards? Where were the cooks and maids and other workers of convenience sure to be scampering around the building? Had Hyoto anticipated their infiltration?

Forcing these distracting thoughts from his head, Kakashi and Genma came to a halt just before rounding the corner into a large, well-decorated foyer. Headband already up, Kakashi's mismatched eyes scanned the seemingly empty room before settling on their targeted door. The door to Hyoto's basement. A moment of hesitation was allowed. Unless Hyoto had pulled up stakes and made a run for it, it didn't make sense to Kakashi that the door to his personal dungeon would be left unguarded. Both shinobi suddenly tensed when they heard the soft patter of feet running against polished tile. It was incredibly quiet and stealthy, and had they not been shinobi themselves they wouldn't have heard it. Whoever it was had also been masking their chakra.

"Be ready," Kakashi motioned for Genma to be prepared for an attack, the senbon sucker nodding in anticipation. Kakashi's hand gripped a kunai, prepared to thrust the blade at the nearest threat. The footsteps grew nearer and nearer, appearing to be coming from a smaller hallway running parallel to the corridor they were poised in now. Shifting into a stance better suited for combat, Kakashi counted the seconds until the unknown target would be in sight.

Three . . . two . . . one!

"Shit!" Raido hissed as Kakashi and Genma sprang from the corner, weapons drawn menacingly. It took the pair a stunned moment before they realized the man before them wasn't a threat.

"Raido, fuck!" Genma cursed, releasing a breath as his heart pounded against his chest. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I took care of those two from the entrance," Raido murmured, keeping his voice low. His shoulder was now bandaged but his hand still cradled the wound. "I only caught three more on the way to you. Is it just me or are Hyoto's guards some inexperienced bastards?"

"Inexperienced?" Genma snorted, indicating the man's injured shoulder. Raido shot the man a glare.

"Inexperienced thus far, but we don't know what Hyoto's saved for his personal guard." Kakashi brought the men back to the mission, not in the mood to get into an argument. "That is, if Hyoto is even here. Apart from being somewhere in the building, he has to be in there." Kakashi indicated the door to the basement.

"I don't think he's in the house," Raido spoke suddenly, "I did a quick sweep of the first floor after I finished off the last three. According to Tsunade-sama's blue prints, the second floor is all kitchens and quarters for the help. Even the master chambers were empty, and they were a mess."

"I guess the bastard got out of here real quick when he found out we were on our way," Genma grimaced.

"And that could be the reason for the lack of substantial resistance," Raido continued. "Maybe he bolted and took his best men with him."

Kakashi considered this for a moment before deciding they'd wasted enough time. If some unexpected threat lay beyond the next door, he was as prepared as he was ever going to be. A shinobi's life was depending on them. It would be more appropriate to say such a thing, but Kakashi was dismayed to realize his personal investments ran much deeper than professional duty on this one. Hadn't he always prided himself on being the master of keeping the emotions away from work? Hell, you'd be hard pressed to find an emotional Copy Nin in day to day conversation. He knew why it was dangerous to get personally involved with missions like these. Things could go wrong because one ninja was distracted and an infinite amount of events could occur in a sort of chain reaction. You just didn't do it. It was one of the first lessons new Genin and even Academy students learned.

But despite this, he was taking it personally. Instead of the blank professionalism usually displayed while on missions, Kakashi could feel only wave after wave of incredible, violent anger with concern trickling through every now and then. He wanted to break every bone in Hyoto's body for even thinking about touching Sakura. Thousands of thoughts had flooded through his mind since receiving the news that Sakura's safety was in immediate danger, that she herself had sent a warning, a request for help, just hours before the messenger had shown up on his doorstep. Thoughts of what could have gone wrong on such a simple mission, of what Hyoto was capable of. There was also the horrifying fact that unlike most male shinobi captured, kunoichi had a higher chance of being abused not only physically and mentally while incarcerated but sexually as well. The thought disgusted the silver-haired ninja and he set off for the door before his two counterparts could even speak.

She was one of his first students. One of his three only students. A member of the original Team 7. Of course, Kakashi reasoned, she meant more to him than any other shinobi he had been assigned to rescue. He'd personally seen her grow from an unconfident girl who cried on the drop of hat and chased after boys into a powerful kunoichi who trained under the Hokage herself. Though some of the insignificant flaws still remained, even after three years of working personally as her partner on missions, Kakashi had seen in incredible amount of growth. It illicited an untold amount of feelings within him. Guilt for not showing her the attention she deserved and needed as a Genin. Shame for having opted to tutor Sasuke and then Naruto, but hardly showing her the time of day until she was forced to look elsewhere, for someone better suited at her strengths. But most of all, pride. He'd felt the familiar swell of pride and respect for the young woman since they'd began working together on mission after mission. It came after she mastered a new jutsu or took out a tough target. The fact that the thought that someone had hurt her was too overwhelming to focus on, and Kakashi wrote it off as the usual concern one would feel for a close colleague and friend.

Which is why he hadn't expected the onslaught of emotions when he'd thrown open the door and quickly made his way down the dark, stone steps.

"Oh, shit," Genma felt the breath whoosh out of him with the comment as his eyes swept over the state of the pink-haired kunoichi. Quickly, his eyes flickered to the Copy Nin beside him. Unreadable as ever.

"Raido, are the explosives set?" Kakashi asked blankly, but his voice was too sharp. Getting over the initial shock, he quickly moved forward, Genma by his side, and the two knelt beside the unconscious shinobi. When they'd stepped into the soft light of the stone-walled cavern, they were greeted by the sight of a severely injured Sakura lying in a heap on the floor. Skin and hair covered with blood, presumably her own, and every inch of her body marred with cuts and angry, purple bruises. Some gashes were deep enough that even with the best medical attention by Tsunade herself, they were sure to leave permanent scars. The amount of bloodloss alone was frightening. Kakashi felt the first pulse of fear course through his body as he tentatively searched for her chakra signature and found none, but then his mind assured him of the possibility that she was just incredibly low, which still was unsettling, or perhaps Hyoto and his men had injected her with a chakra-blocking serum. It was very possible considering the damage one of her chakra-laden fists could do. There would have been no way to bind her without some sort of buffer.

"Yes. This place will fold like a house of cards on your word." Raido replied quietly, voice grave.

Sakura's clothes were torn and bloodied, but on, giving Kakashi at least some relief when it came to the types of torture she had likely been subjected to. Carefully, Genma helped turn the kunoichi onto her back as Kakashi's gloved hands lightly prodded her neck with a bit of chakra added in, careful to avoid any gashes or bruising. He sighed in slight relief to find no evidence of broken bones. There had been an untold number of cases where rescued shinobi had been evacuated only to die on the return trip home because a clumsy savior had failed to realize their comrade had sustained a broken neck. In the best cases where this ignorance was involved, some shinobi were left only partially paralyzed, still a very crippling and career-ending injury to sustain in their line of work. Sakura's lips were cracked and bloody, but tinged with blue as well. Kakashi realized the sub-freezing temperature of the underground cavern and knew it would still be chilly outside. He unzipped his vest and Genma helped him slip in over the unsconscious woman's shoulders. Zipping it up, his fingers brushed Sakura's cheek and he stopped, swallowing back the anger threatening to break the calm façade. Hyoto had not been in the basement. It was likely he had ran away. The thought that the bastard would be allowed to slide into the woodwork, never to be seen again made Kakashi's blood course with anger and his jaw clench to keep the string of obscenities in.

As if cradling a newborn child, Kakashi picked Sakura up into his arms and turned to Raido.

"How long do you have the charge rigged for?" The Copy Nin asked, instinctively curling the woman in his arms protectively against his chest, her head tucked against his shoulder.

"Ten seconds once I pull the seal, but we'll be a safe distance from the compound before I even reach it." The man responded, Kakashi nodding and leading the way out. Wary of possible attack, Genma and Raido kept weapons drawn in order to protect their pink-haired kunoichi. They would be damned if anyone tried to get to her now, all three men unable to keep the protective vibes from guarding their actions. Genma smirked as the group fled the compound from the side entrance once more, still able to hear the shouts of guards from the wall surrounding the compound. Their clones should have been gone by now and they were probably in search of the real intruders. They backtracked until they reached the grouping of dead trees they had originally stopped at before.

"All clear?" Raido asked. Kakashi nodded his approval as the man reached out toward one of the thousands of looming trees and yanked a seal he'd placed on the trunk. In ten seconds, the explosives he'd planted around the compound while Kakashi and Genma made their way to Sakura would detonate, destroying the compound and any unfortunate suckers to be left inside or around it. They didn't have time to appreciate their work, though. Sakura desperately needed a hospital and Konoha was hours away, even if they ran the entire distance. It would be strenuous to push themselves the entire way there without a break. Their chakra was already beginning to run low from the initial tiresome journey. Kakashi's foot pushed off a limb with twice his usual speed, picking up the pace as he felt the blood from numerous wounds seep into his shirt and stain his gloves.

He didn't even flinch as the monstrous explosion sounded behind them.