CHAPTER 9

~ A few hours earlier in Konoha ~

The main street leading to Konoha's entrance was quiet. A few of the stores that sold dishes for the early mornings were starting to get ready to open for business.

Under the raising sun, Shisui was approaching the open front gates where Kotetsu and Izumo were stationed to guard the entrance when he spotted a shinobi moving towards them. He quickly realised that it was Genma, thanks to the forehead protector he always wore as a bandana and a senbon he always had on his mouth. Genma was walking unevenly and he was holding his left shoulder as if he was in pain.

The gate guards were standing up when he teleported next to the elite jonin that usually went on missions with Misaki. He helped him stay straight by holding his good arm and taking some of his weight.

"Genma, what happened?" Shisui asked.

"I'll be fine, don't worry about me. Shisui, you need to find Misaki." He answered looking at him with wide eyes.

"What do you mean? Were you on a mission with her?"

"Yes. Yesterday morning we were on the Land of Rivers following after a lead on the Akatsuki. We lost track of him when we reached a cliff above one of the rivers. I'm not sure what happened exactly but we were pushed off the edge and next thing I knew I woke up at night by the riverbed, alone. I couldn't see her anywhere but for the looks of the area around me, it seemed that I was the only one that reached the bottom. I searched for her all night but I was going in blind because I couldn't sense her. I came back to the village so you or Minato could locate her, since your sensory skills are greater than mine." Genma grabbed his flak jacket's neck and pull him towards him. "You can sense her, right?" He asked alarmed.

Shisui gathered his chakra, he concentrated on searching for Misaki's familiar chakra signature. A chill ran down his spine when his senses could not locate her. He pulled his chakra tightly, working on expanding his range. Nothing.

Frowning, he looked down at the injured shinobi. "What was the location exactly?"

"The river that passes next to Takumi village. Are you not able to reach that far?"

"I am, but I can't sense her right now. Minato should be able to find her even if she has somehow been taken further away. Let me take you to the hospital and I'll report to the Hokage." Shisui told him making a tiger hand seal and teleporting them both to the hospital's main reception.

"Do you think she's been kidnapped? A chakra block would make sense." Genma relaxed a little bit on his arms. "I'm sorry Shisui. I really don't know what hit us."

"It's not your fault. Let the nurses look at your wounds." Shisui motioned for the nurse to bring a wheelchair and come near. "I'll find her." He said before repeating the hand sign and moving to the Hokage's office.

Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage, was sitting on her desk signing a paper. Kakashi, the silver haired shinobi wearing a mask and a forehead protector to cover a Sharingan eye given by one of the Uchiha, was standing next to the Hokage's desk. He turned slightly to look at him with his uncovered eye. Tsunade looked over her glasses at him and her back straighten.

"What is it?" she asked.

Shisui bowed at the Hokage before reporting. "Genma has just returned to the village. He's been taken to the hospital due to non life-threatening injuries. His mission with Misaki had been compromised near Takumi village and lost contact with her yesterday morning. I'm not able to sense her location so I'd like to request Minato's help on this." He summarised, there was no time to waste.

"Understood. Minato has just returned from a mission, he should be in his residence. As soon as you get a lead gather a team and conduct a search operation." Tsunade instructed.

"Shisui." Kakashi started. "My ninja dogs can help. Pakkun is able to detect scent that has been masked. I'll be by the gates if you need me."

"Thank you, Kakashi. Lady Hokage." Shisui said before teleporting to the stairs leading to Minato's house. He stood by his living door window waiting for the blond jonin to sense him. He was Misaki's close friend due to sharing the same sensei and he had been teaching her his signature teleportation jutsu. Not only was Minato faster than him thanks to his space-time ninjutsu, his sensory skills were unrivaled, being able to detect a familiar chakra signature no matter the distance.

"Shisui, please come in." He heard Minato call out from inside the house. Shisui opened the entrance door and entered the homely house after removing his sandals.

Kushina, Minato's red haired wife, was bringing some omelets to the table where Minato was sitting and reading a paper while Menma, their son and Konoha's jinchuriki, was watching her while standing by the kitchen counter.

"Shisui, it's been a while. Do you want some breakfast?" Kushina asked him with a smile on her face.

"Thanks, Kushina. But I can't stay. Misaki is missing and I'm gathering a team for her search." He answered.

"What happened?" Both Minato and Menma asked at the same time. Minato put his paper down and frowned at his serious expression.

"Apparently they were hit by some sort of blinding energy and were thrown off the edge of a cliff. When Genma woke up hours later he was alone. This happened about 24 hours ago." Shisui explained.

"And I assume you're unable to sense her." Minato said before closing his eyes and working on locating Misaki's signature chakra. After a few seconds later Shisui could see Minato's eyes moving frantically under his eyelids, obviously encountering the same issue he had when he tried to find her. "Hmph." He grunted opening his eyes and looking at him.

"How is that possible, Dad?" Menma asked his father.

"There are a few options Menma. One: Misaki is hiding for some unknown reason, she has the ability to erase her chakra's presence and be completely undetected, even under my sensory skills. Two: the enemy has her and has cast a jutsu on her to hide her chakra... " Minato looked at Shisui while Menma was looking at his father waiting for the third option, the one that no one wanted to voice out loud: she was dead.

Realising what the last option was, Menma turn to look at him. "I'm coming with you. There's not way Misaki sensei is…someone must've taken her, otherwise she would've used that giant eagle of hers to save Genma from falling. She wouldn't just take off and leave a comrade behind."

"What do you mean with giant eagle?" He asked him.

"Her contracted animal? The one she uses to travel long distances..." Menma replied confused at the question.

"You're not making sense, Menma. Misaki's summoning animal is a crow, the same as Shisui." Minato told him.

Menma looked between his father and him. "Huh? Since when? She already has that summoning tattoo… ooh, maybe…" he looked to the side.

Shisui grabbed both his shoulders and Menma looked back at him. "You're hiding something, what is it?" Menma just stood there looking at him in silence.

"Menma." Minato started. "If you have any sort of information that could lead us to finding Misaki, please, tell us."

Menma's shoulders sagged. "It's something Shisui said earlier, about a blinding energy… The truth is, I'm not from this world, also, my name is not Menma, my name is Naruto. I ended up here after a similar energy force surrounded me and Sakura, teleporting us to this world where our dreams came true…"

"Menma, what are you talking about?" Kushina asked him.

"Where I'm from, my parents died in order to protect the village and me. So here, I have you both. In my world, Misaki was one of the few people that treated me like a normal person, I had no parents but she did her best to help me out, she also worked at the orphanage taking care of other kids with no parents or home.

In this world, we haven't encountered mine and Sakura's alternate selves. Sakura thinks that's because our bodies were switched when we were hit by the jutsu."

"So, you're saying the Misaki from our world has been taken to your world? Could the Misaki from your world be here?" Minato asked him.

"It's a possibility. If she's here we need to find her." He answered.

"If your dream was to have your parents, what would be Misaki's dream?" Shisui asked him.

"I'm not sure. There were several people she missed in my world, she lost too many people precious to her: you, Itachi, her mother, her two brothers… if she's not with you, could she be with one them?"

"Her mother and brothers also passed away in this world." Shisui replied.

"Then that leaves Itachi! Where is he?" Naruto looked between him and Minato.

"He left the village and joined the Akatsuki." Shisui answered while looking at Minato.

"Here as well? But now you can locate Itachi, isn't it? Then we can see if Misaki is with him."

"Misaki and Genma were chasing after a lead to locate the Akatsuki, so it's a possibility. However, if he has her then it could be him hiding her presence, which means his would be masked as well." He said looking at Minato.

"Correct. No trace of him either." Minato declared after using his sensory skills to look Itachi.

"Kakashi is waiting at the gates. He said his ninken would be able to trace Misaki's scent even if it was masked." Shisui informed them.

"Alright, let's go. Men- Naruto, you can come too."