The lights were left on for such a long period of time that they gave Izumo a killer migraine from the bright florescence illuminating the room. His head seemed to throb with every heartbeat, and the fact that Iruka still hadn't come back yet was making Izumo antsy as hell.

Every time the door clanged open, Izumo would snap his head toward it, hoping that it was his friend returning from his one-on-one with Wani Nagisa. No such luck had occurred, but it didn't prevent Izumo from looking when the door opened for what seemed like the hundredth time since Iruka had been taken out of the room.

So, when the door opened again, Izumo turned his head toward the door. As he took in the hulking figure dressed in all red looming in the doorway, dread curled in his stomach and slowly spread throughout his entire body.

This man was powerful. His chakra was pouring off him in waves. It was like coming face to face with the Hokage in battle. In other words, he was in an entirely different league than they were.

Izumo watched as the red-clad figure stepped further into the room, his eyes assessing the shinobi spread around their prison.

As his gaze flicked over to Izumo, a trill of pure terror raced down his spine. The guy's eyes held a dark gaze, and the power rolling off of him was indescribable as well as recognizable. This man was one of the leaders of the Shuurai.

The Shuurai was the rogue ninja group that Izumo had been investigating all those weeks ago. The mission had been a non-contact, observation only, intelligence gathering mission. The leaders of the Shuurai were men that Izumo would not easily forget. There were four of them, and each of them always wore a distinct color: red, black, purple, and white. Even though each individual possessed an enormous amount of power, they didn't have hardly any information known about them.

Izumo had been lucky at best to find out that there were four of them, and that they were all from the Land of Lightning. They turned rogue from Kumogakure, and he guessed that most likely they were born, raised, and trained in the Hidden Cloud Village. Each had defected at different times, but they had made contact with each other at some point to try and build an organization. The Shuurai to be exist. What the Shuurai did exactly, well, Izumo had never been able to find out.

Izumo had spent weeks trying to dig up information that would be useful to Konohagakure, even if that information only told them that the Shuurai was or was not a threat. However, since he had been instructed not to interact with any of the members, Izumo never did find out anything pertaining to what these men had planned.

The chocolate haired chunin had found out that they were nurturing a group of followers to become a part of their organization. What their organization did, and what their end goal was, Izumo hadn't been able to discover within the time limits of his mission.

He had been coming back from his mission investigating the Shuurai when he had been captured by Kirigakure ninja…

With a sudden clarity, Izumo realized what he had gravely missed before. Kirigakure and the Shuurai were partners in some type of scheme. That's why he had been captured. The Shuurai must've somehow found out that he had been investigating them. Instead of capturing him themselves, they made some type of deal with Kirigakure - or at least with a group of shinobi from Kirigakure - to capture and interrogate him to find out what he knew.

It was so painfully obvious. His capture and subsequent torture were not coincidences. He just wished that he had realized this before now.

As the Red Leader began to walk with purpose toward Izumo, hi stomach sunk further, making another shiver run down his spine as goosebumps broke out across his skin.

Vaguely, he heard the door to the room shut quietly with a soft click.

~K~*~I~

Kotetsu awoke bright and early, exactly four hours after he had drifted off to sleep. Kakashi gave him a little wave when he saw Kotetsu look at him, and Kotetsu couldn't help but be a little creeped out by the casualness in that gesture.

The elite chunin stood and stretched his back before moving to straighten out his pack for the journey ahead. The other shinobi were doing likewise while Kakashi was fiddling with a map of the area. After his pack was in order, Kotetsu took a moment to relieve himself before they had to set out again for the day. Today, they were close enough to the border of Kirigakure and Kumogakure that they were going to need to split up to cover more area.

They had been designated by the Raikage to cover the coastal area instead of the islands, since Kumogakure shinobi were more familiar with the neighboring islands. So, the coastline had been left to the visiting proctors and jonin who were helping out in the search. Kakashi had indicated the area they had found Izumo in last time was closer to the heart of Kirigakure on one of their more secluded islands, but since that option had been taken away from them, Kakashi decided that they would go to the coastline furthest away from Konohagakure territory. He reasoned that if Kirigakure did take the genin and Izumo, they would want to stay away from Konohagakure in case they crossed paths with any Leaf patrols.

Right now, the two Kumogakure ninja in their squad of eight were preparing to cross the ocean to get to the closest neighboring islands, while the two Sunagakure jonin were preparing to take the sandy beach of the lower search perimeter. Kakashi and Kotetsu were going to search in the forest found to the north of their search perimeter, while Aoba and Raidou would take the middle in between. Each group had three days to search, and one day to meet back at the base camp they had set up.

After delegating orders and specifics, Kakashi turned to Kotetsu. "Ready?"

Kotetsu gave a swift nod before the two set off north. They crossed rocky landscapes and a valley before they were met with the mountain cliffs. The forest spread out across the mountain's surface, leaving an uphill climb for both Konoha shinobi to tread.

They scoured the area for hours, Kakashi even summoned his ninken to aid in the search and to cover more ground. The sun was beginning to set, and Kotetsu's spirits were lower than ever. They probably weren't even in the area that Kirigakure had taken the genin and Izumo to. If he were them, he would have taken them into the heart of Kirigakure.

"Actually, if these are shinobi acting independently of the Mizukage, they wouldn't have taken them into the heart of Kirigakure. They would have kept them to secluded areas of the country protected by harsh elements to avoid patrols and detection." Kakashi's voice startled Kotetsu, and he had to use his hands to keep from falling off of the branch.

"…did you just read my mind?"

Kakashi blinked a couple of times, at least Kotetsu hoped he wasn't winking at him, and – to Kotetsu's utter surprise – began laughing heartily. "No, no. You said that out loud. What you would do if you were them. I was merely giving you some insight into what I found out about the politics of the Raikage accusing Kirigakure of sabotaging his Chunin Exams. The Mizukage had adamantly stated that he is not a part of this, and he loathes to think he has shinobi that are acting out of order, especially by interrupting such a political event."

Kotetsu digested that information slowly, not even wanting to know how Kakashi found out about that, especially considering that what he just told Kotetsu sounded suspiciously like classified information.

"Best not think too hard about that, kid." Another voice piped up from Kotetsu's ankle. Looking down, he saw an unimpressed-looking pug staring up at Kakashi and him.

"Oh! Pakkun, back so soon?" Kakashi held out his palm, and Pakkun used it as a jumping pad to successfully land on Kakashi's shoulder.

"The pack reported back, and no one could find a trace of anything. I don't think any of the genin or that chunin proctor are in these woods."

Kakashi 'hmm-ed', obviously thinking about something in that genius brain of his. "We did only scour the bottom of the mountain, but what if they didn't even travel above ground? They were in a cave system when they managed to capture everyone. Obviously, their escape route would have been the tunnels further in the mountain, or else they would have risked getting caught by shinobi responding to the explosion and cave-ins.

"We know they orchestrated the cave-ins so only certain areas would collapse, so they had to have had escape routes built into their plan. What if no one found those escape routes because the routes collapsed after they had been used? Tell me, Pakkun, Kotetsu, do you think the tunnels managed to traverse the entire mountain range?"

Kotetsu looked at the ground below them, unconsciously crouching down to get closer to the tree embedded earth. Could the ground support such a forest - such a mountain range - if the ground had tunnels buried beneath? Maybe if they were deep in the ground, or if they had been there a long time. "Kakashi-san, I think you're on to something! We assumed that they would have to travel above ground after escaping the cave in, but what if they traveled all the way through the tunnels until they reached the sea? We're on the edge of the mountain range, because the mountains end with a cliff face, facing the sea. We should look where the cliffs are to see if there are any caves that seem to go on forever!"

Kakashi seemed to be smiling behind that mask of his. "Right you are, Kotetsu. Unfortunately, we don't have the daylight to search them tonight. I know you're anxious to find them, but if we do find them, we wouldn't fair well. We are both low on chakra from searching all day, and we would be outnumbered. We will rest tonight and rise early to see if our thinking is correct. If we find that we are right, I'll send one of my summons to gather the rest of our squad so we can all handle this carefully."

Kotetsu wanted to protest, but Kakashi's calm cadence and logic just deflated his arguments. He agreed with a nod of his head, and the two made camp for the night.

~I~*~K~

"Kotetsu! Izumo! You guys!" A shriek sounded from the bushes of training grounds 14.

Izumo tumbled face first out of the bushes clutching his stomach and laughing uncontrollably. Tears were streaming down his face before they abruptly stopped. His facial features flickered into an expression that occurred when one was caught under an impressive genjutsu before Kotetsu jumped out of the bushes. He narrowly avoided landing on Izumo before grabbing Izumo's arm and dragging the other genin with him. When Kotetsu realized Izumo wasn't running with him, he formed a hand sign and whispered, "Kai!"

Izumo's expression cleared immediately, and he thanked his best friend before the two ran off together, leaving a furious Emiko storming out of the bushes, and also the last of Inoichi's genin team.

"Kotetsu! Izumo! You butt heads! Give me back my journal, NOW!"

Izumo glanced at the small, deeply colored purple book that Kotetsu was holding. It had a seal tag with the kanji for lock written on it.

"No! You put a genjutsu on your teammate! That has to be like, treason or something!"

"We were training! It doesn't count when you're training!"

Izumo noticed Inoichi-sensei sighing. He was probably going to put an end to this argument. Izumo stealthily started backing away from the other two. After a moment or two, Inoichi popped up between the three of them. "Things alright?"

"NO!" Emiko shrieked again before pointing an accusing finger at Kotetsu and Izumo. "They stole my journal! My private thoughts and feelings!"

Kotetsu stuck his tongue out. "You have a lock on it, dummy! It's not like we're going to be able to open it anyway! This seal means it'll only open for your chakra! I would know. I asked Iruka about it yesterday."

Inoichi raised an eyebrow at that, and Izumo glanced at Kotetsu. He had only told Izumo about this plan a couple hours ago. How long exactly had he been planning on stealing Emiko's journal? And why in the hell would he want to in the first place?

Izumo frowned and crossed his arms. "I only helped! 'Tetsu's the one who wants to read it!"

Inoichi sighed again before deciding to end the matter. He grabbed the journal out of Kotetsu's hands before depositing it back into Emiko's. "There, problem solved. Now, weren't you three supposed to be training? For the chunin exams?"

A collective sigh resounded from the three genin before they got back to work.

~I~*~K~

Strange, Izumo thought. I hadn't thought of that memory in quite a while. Blinking his eyes open, he realized that his eyes were open. It was just really dark. And warm. Too warm, though, like boiling.

"Welcome back to the land of the conscious."

A voice from his right drew his attention that way, but when he tried to move his head, he found that he could not. A chuckle resounded before a dim candle was lit, illuminating only Izumo and nothing beyond that flickering light. He couldn't see who was talking to him, but someone was there.

"Can't move? I'd expected as much. You see, you're quite susceptible to suggestions put in your head."

"…wha-?"

~I~*~K~

"Hey, Izumo? Could I talk to you about something?" Emiko's soft voice echoed throughout the empty room.

Izumo looked up from the papers he was filling out and beckoned his teammate further into the room. Three months ago, his genin team had all passed the chunin exams with flying colors, and Inoichi-sensei had stayed as their squad leader while they built up their mission experience, taking on missions more fit to new chunin level shinobi.

Inoichi had been hinting at each of them specializing in something to hopefully one day make tokubetsu jonin, but so far none of them had taken the hints very seriously. In fact, Izumo was probably the first one to do so, as he was currently filling out paperwork to apply for different chunin positions: gate guard, mission desk worker, T&I, and even a prison security guard.

"Hey, Emiko. Is something on your mind?" Izumo put down his pen and watched his teammate sit down across from him. Normally, Emiko didn't visit the chunin alcove unless he or Kotetsu – usually together – were in there.

Emiko pointedly glanced at his paperwork. "If you're busy, I can talk to you later."

Izumo shook his head. "No, no. This can wait. What's up?"

Emiko glanced down at her hands, folded in front of her on the table. "You and Kotetsu both have plans already for what you're going to do in the future…I envy the both of you."

"Well, you don't have to decide right now. After all, we just barely made chunin, and we're all still only 14 years old. Even if you apply for a department, you can always transfer out later."

Emiko shook her head and a wry smile graced her lips. "Always practical, aren't you, Izumo-kun? No. I mean…You both know that you still want to be shinobi."

It took a couple moments before realization set into Izumo's head. "You mean…you don't?"

Emiko glanced up at him before looking back at her hands. "No. This…lifestyle, I admire it. I think it's incredible that other people can do it, but…I can't. Not anymore. I've only been a full-fledged shinobi for two years and...already, I can't…do this anymore."

"But…you haven't even tried out different specialties yet! Surely you will find something you like!" Izumo's protest was cut off as he saw Emiko shake her head.

"Sorry, Izumo-kun, but no. My jutsu style and technique all center around Yin release. You know that's namely used for fighting or interrogation: both of which I do not want to do."

Izumo frowned. His friend was worrying him. "If you don't continue with being a shinobi, what will you do?"

Here, Emiko's shoulders shrugged, and she looked down at her folded hands. "I don't know…I just…this life doesn't seem to have the same appeal anymore." Tears began streaking Emiko's cheeks, and Izumo didn't quite know what to do. So, he did the only thing that he could think of that would comfort him when he was sad: he hugged Emiko.

That physical contact seemed to be her breaking point. She hugged Izumo back tightly and sobbed quietly until there were no more tears left to flow.

~I~*~K~

Tears tracked down Izumo's own cheeks as he was forced to remember one of his most painful memories. Barely a breath left him as he whispered, "Why?"

He was met with silence, and when his vision finally cleared, he saw that he was alone.

He could move again, but all he had the strength for was sitting up on the cold, hard table he had been lying upon.

His eyes tracked over the room on automatic, and he found that the candle light earlier must have been for show, because dim florescent light flooded the room around him.

When he found the energy to stand, he almost collapsed immediately. How long had he been chained up? Carefully, and oh so slowly, Izumo made his way to the door and tried the handle. Locked, as he suspected, but it was worth a shot.

Turning around and leaning against the door, he slid down until he was sitting on the dirt covered ground. This feeling…he let a shaky exhale escape before he scrubbed at his eyes and looked down. He hadn't felt this way since Emiko's death. No…that wasn't right. He always carried this feeling with him, he just learned how to forget about it every once in a while.

Sometimes, he wished he could go back and change everything that happened that day, but it was too late now. Things had happened as they had, and it's not like he could go back in time and change them.

Drawing in a deep breath, Izumo stood again. His legs were still shaking underneath his weight, but he could deal with that. He began looking for a way out.

~K~*~I~

Kotetsu crouched down low as he waited for Kakashi's signal. In their search for caves and tunnels in the cliff face, they encountered a cabin nestled in the forest before the rocky shores overtook the terrain. After scouting the area around the cabin and going into the cabin itself, Kakashi had sent his ninken Uhei to gather the other members of their group. Both Pakkun and Uhei had indicated that the genin they were searching for had been contained in the cabin for at least a couple hours before being moved again.

Now, Kakashi was searching a passageway that had led right into the cabin. If Kotetsu hadn't tripped on that rug, they wouldn't have found the faux floorboards beneath it. Underneath was a passageway. From what Kotetsu could see, the passageway had seemed to lead into a deeper tunnel, and he assumed Kakashi and Pakkun were trying to pick up on any scents or leads from there. He was on watch, in case anyone tried to come into the cabin.

Kotetsu's blood raced as he thought about how much closer they were to finding the missing genin and Izumo. They were so close, he could feel it.

A low sounding whistle bounced off of the passage's walls and echoed in Kotetsu's ear. To any old civilian, it would have sounded like some wind. To Kotetsu's trained ear, it sounded like Kakashi's signal for him to follow.

Eager to continue the search for his friends, Kotetsu dropped down into the passageway underneath the boards in the cabin, and found himself face to face with pitch darkness. This was going to be fun.

Carefully, he made his way along the tunnel that led far beyond the cabin's structural limits, and he tightened his hand on the kunai he was carrying. They were just checking out this lead. IF they found anything, then they would have to wait for backup to come. After all, there were just two of them.

Turning around a slight bend in the corridor, Kotetsu nearly ran right into Kakashi. Kakashi pressed a finger to his lips, and indicated with a nod that Kotetsu should go ahead and check what was going on up ahead.

Creeping quietly, Kotetsu came upon an observation room with a two way glass window contained inside of it. No one was in the observation room, and Kotetsu didn't see any cameras, so he decided to take a closer look. Looking inside the other room caused Kotetsu's heart to skip a beat at what he saw.

Izumo was chained up inside, looking worse for wear. He was laying on his back in the middle of this table, and there was a shinobi covered in red cloth above him. Izumo seemed to be unconscious, but his body was twisting in a way that indicated he was trying to escape or run away.

Kotetsu was vaguely aware that it was going to be the full moon soon, and that it should be impossible for Izumo to sleep unless he was drugged or under some type of genjutsu. The raven haired chunin knew better than to try and sense which one it was, because that red-clad shinobi looked like he would be tough to deal with.

Pausing for a moment, Kotetsu realized that this room didn't have access to the room Izumo was being contained in, but there was another door. Kotetsu quietly tried the door, and it turned easily.

Carefully, he poked his head into the corridor and looked along the length of it. No one, not even some cameras.

"All clear?" The whisper from behind Kotetsu should have scared him, but he had been aware that Pakkun was in the room with him.

"I think so. Does Kakashi want us to break Izumo out?"

This time, Kakashi's voice answered. "I'm not sure it would be wise with our little friend in there, but I think I could take him if you can get Izumo out of there. He doesn't look like he's holding up too well."

A sound of agreement echoed from Kotetsu and Pakkun. "Yeah, I think I can manage that. Should we look for any of the genin?"

"Leave that to me. I can sniff anything out if you two keep any enemies at bay." Pakkun's gruff voice answered Kotetsu's inquiry.

"Let's go."

The three took to action. Kotetsu was the one that opened the door leading into corridor, and at the end of the corridor, he saw two more doors. One looked like it would be the right door to open to enter into the room Izumo was being contained in. He glanced back at Kakashi, and the silver haired ANBU nodded. Kotetsu opened the door to the room Izumo was being kept in. The red clad shinobi didn't seem surprised, and he didn't seem too worried either, until Kakashi attacked him from behind.

Kotetsu didn't even see the ANBU member enter the room, but he couldn't worry about that now. His main objective was still lying unconscious on the table and in danger of being seriously injured if they stayed a second longer.

The raven haired chunin managed to get beside his comrade in record time. He scooped up his unconscious charge before avoiding a harrowing jutsu that he wasn't sure which ninja threw, and he made it back out into the hallway without either of them getting a scratch.

He formed some hand signs and whispered, "Kai!" to try and dispel the genjutsu, but it seemed like it didn't work. Izumo had to be drugged then.

Kotetsu spared a glance at Pakkun, but he shook his head and told Kotetsu to get out of there. The elite chunin nodded then adjusted Izumo into a Fireman's carry. He made back for the cabin with his heart racing a mile a minute. So far, so good. He burst out of the floor then out of the cabin's door before taking to the trees. His destination was the tunnel-less cave he and Kakashi had camped out in the previous night. They agreed that should they be separated, that was where they would meet up.

A chakra signature lighting up behind him had him gasping for air. This person was powerful, whoever they were. Kotetsu tried leaping forward faster through the trees, trying to make for the cliff face, but he wasn't fast enough.

A figure flashed in front of him before attacking him in the next second. Kotetsu could only dodge the katana that gleamed from a purple-clad shinobi that had attacked them.

Gripping Izumo tighter, Kotetsu pushed more chakra into the balls of his feet and he flew through those trees. He could feel another chakra presence coming upon them, but this one was familiar: probably Raidou. Hopefully, Raidou.

Kotetsu got out of range of the fight that was going to begin as quickly as possible. He could hear Raidou's sword class with the katana of the other shinobi. He was okay to carry on.

He finally made it to the cliff face before jumping down and twisting into the entrance that was naturally concealed by another cliff and a light spray of water.

Kakashi's and his stuff were still there. He hadn't bothered rolling up his bed roll, figuring they were coming back to spend at least one more night in the cave. So, Kotetsu walked over to his and carefully laid Izumo down upon one. When he straightened, he turned to go out to help in the fight.

A tight hand around his ankle stopped him, and Kotetsu glanced down at the chocolate haired chunin who used to be his best friend.

Tears were streaming out of his eyes, making Kotetsu's emotions spike, and a hoarse whisper escaped from chapped lips. "They have Iruka in a different room. Separate from the other genin. Find him. Please."

After a beat, Kotetsu nodded. "I will. Stay here. Don't do anything stupid."

Izumo gave a nod before succumbing to unconsciousness again. Maybe he had been drugged. Maybe it had been a genjutsu. Or maybe it had been both.

Shaking his head of such thoughts, Kotetsu went back out into the rocky mountain cliffs and back into the forests. His aim: to find Iruka.