Three months. It had been three months since Kakashi came back to Konoha without Anko. Hinata and Sakura were training again with their respective sensei and master. It was as if Naruto had never stopped in. Only Anko's missing presence was a reminder that the orange clad ninja had returned home for just a week.

Not much else had changed in the village. The older ninja and villagers had stared on with awe as the gates to the Hatake mansion were thrown open and the sole heir, the sole living member, walked through them.

His father's blood had long since been cleaned, but as everything else, the floor was covered in a thick layer of dust. Kakashi spent and entire two days cleaning the mansion before moving in for good. Finally settled, he left one morning before sunrise with only a handful of sharpened kunai. He returned that evening with a carved alter of sorts.

It was placed over the spot where he'd once found his father lying, his own blade driven into him. Upon it, now lay a picture of Sakumo Hatake, the scroll Minato had left for Kakashi, and his famous chakara blade. It was a crude alter, but it suited his father who'd always made him work hard to earn his stance in the world.

Anko's apartment lay untouched, just as he'd left it 3 months ago.

Kakashi's life consisted of missions now. He had no desire to stay in the village for more than a week at a time, the village full of constant reminders: her favorite dango shop, the bar they often met at, random points around the village that held precious memories. He took on mission after mission, A rank to some S rank.

Stepping into the Hokage's office, he closed the door behind him. Facing Tsunade, he stated, "Mission complete. Target has been taken care of."

"Very well Kakashi. You have three days rest, then report back to me and we will discuss if you will be taking another mission. Dismissed."

With a bow, he was gone, back at the Hatake mansion. Silence surrounded him as he made his way to his father's alter and kneeled before it, bowing his head in respect. "Another mission is complete father."

It was the same as the past times he had returned home. He remained at the alter until the sun had set before finally retiring to a bed roll on the floor of his old bedroom.

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She was trapped, not just in Orochimaru's hideaway not just in that damn experiment tank, but in her own mind. After she had first woken there and talked to him, she was kept in a heavily drugged stupor. Sometimes, she could hear them talking in the room, but she was only barely awake and could only make out a handful of words within a whole conversation.

They were experimenting with her curse mark, she knew that much. The pain coursed through her body, radiating from her neck, every time Orochimaru came in the room, or she heard his voice, at least. How long had she been there? She really didn't know. It must have been quite awhile because the experiments were never close together. Kabuto had once said something about her body being too weak… what was that suppose to mean? She wasn't weak… but then again she was heavily drugged.

She wanted to die. The pain she could live with, but guilt was eating away at her. Some of Konoha's secrets were within her body, secrets Orochimaru could use against her beloved village and home. Even more so, Orochimaru had secrets within her body. Perhaps this was why he had 'reclaimed' her. So when she died, his secrets would not be discovered by Konoha if the elders found it somehow decent to evaluate, autopsy, the body of their own ninja.

She laughed internally. Of course they would find some way to. To the Konoha elders, she was just a traitor, a ninja who didn't deserve to make full jonin even after having passed all the tests and proving her loyalty time and time again. Hell, if the Uchiha ever returned, he'd probably get a better reception within a month than she did even after 14 years back in the village. Rotten luck, rotten talent, rotten choices, rotten sensei.


Kakashi awoke the next day to banging on his front door. Dressing quickly, he was at the door in two minutes, opening it to Kurenai and Asuma.

"What do you guys want?"

"To drag your sorry ass out of this house and your brooding."

"Thanks for the offer, but no thanks. I have plans for today." He attempted to close the door in their faces, but Asuma's foot caught it.

"Either you come with us, or I send Kurenai to get Gai. I'm sure he'd be more than happy to challenge his eternal rival to a day full of battles."

"Fine." Following them through the gate and closing it behind them, his mind thought of hundreds of ways to pay them back for this. All of them involved someone, not him, getting seriously hurt.

They made their way to a small restaurant and sat in a booth, both Asuma and Kurenai across from him. "What is this about guys?"

Kurenai looked at her hands then up at Kakashi. "Have you found anything? Have you heard anything? Have you seen anything? Asuma and I have been confined to the village training our teams for this years chunnin exams."

"Nothing but a whisper here and there of Orochimaru. And even then, the whisper hasn't been related to his whereabouts." Asuma's hand went to hers and gently cradled it.

Kakshi's heart twinged. Truth be told, he was happy for them, but it didn't sooth the pain he felt from Anko's disappearance. If anything, it reopened the wounds that had only just begun to heal. With a quick goodbye, Kakashi left before the server even asked for drinks. He had two days before he would take on another mission.

The rest of the day he spent around Konoha taking care of various errands. He dropped off his kunai to be sharpened. He visited Sakura at the hospital and determined how her training was coming along. He went to the ANBU headquarters to see if any tips or information concerning Orochimaru had surfaced. Some had.

Kabuto had been spotted in a small town about a days walk from Konoha. He'd been alone. A squad had been sent to apprehend him, but he'd vanished. So much for that lead.

At least the day was not completely wasted. Gai had found him, courtesy of Asuma and Kurenai, and demanded they spar. They'd spent over an hour trading blows. It had helped Kakashi blow off some steam. Perhaps tonight he would sleep more than two consecutive hours at a time.

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Anko did a slow circle looking around her surroundings. How had she gotten here? She was in the middle of a forest she'd never seen before. After trying to sense for chakara, she found there was none, not a drop, not even from her own body. How was that possible? Even villagers who weren't ninja had chakara within them. Birds had chakara, frogs had chakara, snakes had chakara, and even dogs had chakara.

Dogs… Kakashi… Where was he? How was he? She missed him, but she would deal with that later. First she had to find out where she was.

"Which way to go," she wondered out loud.

"Well," a voice said. "Wouldn't that depend on where you want to get to?"

Her head snapped up and her eyes narrowed on the spot the voice had come from. There was nothing. "Who's there?"

"Interesting…" the voice drawled. "The little girl can sense where we are."

"I'm not a little girl…" She looked down at herself. Somehow she'd ended up dressed as she had when she was Orochimaru's student, somehow she'd shrunken, and somehow she'd ended up in this kami forsaken forest.

She was TWELVE. Great. She'd lost her mind. Just what she needed. First she was Orochimaru's little test subject, now she was… free?

"Could you perhaps tell me where I can find a village or town?"

"I could." Again, she looked and saw nothing.

"Would you be so gracious as to direct me to the nearest village? Or, if it suited your fancy, would you please tell me what the closest village is and how far away my dear home Konohagakure is?"

"That's better." Now, she found herself gazing into two brown eyes. It was a monkey, hanging by its tail from the branch.

"Who are you?" Her curiosity was greater than her desire to find civilization now.

"Well, would you like to know who I am or would you like directions?"

She frowned. "If I chose one, will you tell me the other after?"

"Most defiantly no." The stupid monkey was grinning at her.

"Then I would like you to please give me directions. What is the closest village?"

"That would be the Village Hidden in the Leaves."

A smile lit Anko's face. "How do I get there?"

"Oh it's easy. You just have to do one thing." He swung to the branch over her head. Upside-down, his face, well his eyes, were level with hers. "Close your eyes." She complied. "Now, open them." She did and saw him.

"Is this some kind of joke?"

"Joke? No joke. You did it wrong."

She glared at the monkey. "How so?"

"Well, you closed your eyes, but when you opened them you forgot to do something."

"I think it's fairer to say you forgot to tell me to do something." Ok, this monkey was seriously pissing her off.

"Well, considering you magically became 12, I thought it would be obvious."

"Would you be hind enough to tell me?"

"Well considering I'm just a figment of your imagination," he shrugged. "Why not. Close your eyes." Once again, she complied. "Now open them and… wake up."

Before she could ask what he meant, her mind was shrouded in black and suddenly, she could sense chakara again. It was all around her. She could hear someone moving near her, on the other side of a wall. The chirping crickets told her it was nighttime. Her eyes were closed. A hard as she tried, she couldn't open them.

Giving up for the time being, she let her mind drift off into sleep, and hopefully not to that bizarre part of her mind where that crazy monkey lurked. Well if the monkey was in her mind and the monkey was crazy, then was she crazy too? It was food for thought, but food for another day when her mind wasn't so fuzzy.


AN: Ok well I was a bit faster getting this chapter up. The next chapter will be the final chapter is this story. Thanks to everyone who's review and who have reviewed constantly. Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope you enjoy the next one. -DHUnleashed