CHAPTER 12
"What?" Misaki and Itachi asked at the same time.
"Eh?" Naruto asked confused, looking from Misaki and Shisui and back a few times. He moved closer to where Sakura was treating Shisui. "But… in our world Misaki and-"
*THUMP*
"Oww! Sakura? But why?" Naruto asked Sakura while rubbing his chin where Sakura had just hit him before going back to heal Shisui's injuries.
"Naruto! You're so dense sometimes." She replied. Naruto glanced towards his father and the grey haired shinobi before looking back at Sakura, who lowered her eyes and shook her head from side to side.
"How could you?" Itachi yelled at Shisui and then tried to stand up. Misaki hold his shoulders to keep him where he was. His whole body was trembling from what it looked like rage.
"How could I?" Shisui asked back. "How could I, what? Betray you? Is that what you mean? Because that would be funny coming from you. You betrayed her, I was there five years ago when she found you in on of the Uchiha girl's home. I was the one that caught her when she fell fell off the balcony because it hurt so much for her that it felt like I could actually hear her heart breaking. You left the village and betrayed us all, including your brother Sasuke and me, who you called your best friend. While you went and joined the Akatsuki I stayed by her side.
You have no idea… the look in her face back then, the emptiness behind her eyes… it was too painful to see. It was only after Ts-... after maybe seven months later that most of the light was back in her eyes. However, even after all these years, I don't fail to notice the flashes of pain that she gets when something reminds her of you. She never forgave you, and she will make you pay for what you did once she goes back to being herself. And I will get her back, even if I have to use my dōjutsu to undo whatever is you did to erase her memories."
Shisui stood silent while staring at Itachi who was staring back at him while breathing hard. He opened his mouth a few times, only to close it back without replying to him. When his breathing was in control, he looked at Naruto before addressing him.
"In your world, is Misaki happy?" Itachi asked.
Taken aback at the question, it took Naruto a few seconds to reply. During that time, Misaki pondered about the meaning of different worlds. "Yes, she is…" he answered in a soft tone.
"I gather she and I aren't together back there either. It seems that no matter the world we live in, were not destined to end up together one reason or another. I just hope I didn't mess it up as bad over there."
Naruto pressed his lips together and he noticed something similar to sorrow in his eyes.
"You probably did." Shisui retaliated.
"Stop. Please." Misaki begged Shisui. You're arguing about who you think I am. But I'm not Misaki, and Itachi didn't do anything about my memories. So please, stop this fighting.
Shisui frowned before turning to look at Naruto who moved closer to to Misaki.
"Can I see your arm?" Naruto asked her. Even though she was confused at the request, she stood up after making sure that Itachi could hold himself and faced the blond teen. "Could you extend your left arm?"
Misaki did as he asked. The sleeve of her shirt fell back, revealing the tattoo on her inner forearm. Naruto looked from the feather and eagle tattoo back to her, a smile appearing on his face.
"It is you, Misaki sensei!" he exclaimed. "Shisui said the Misaki of this world doesn't have a summoning tattoo unlike you!" Naruto added while softly grabbing her wrist with one hand and pointing at it with the other. But on contact, Misaki felt a shock run through her heart as flashes of her memories returned to her faster than she could grasp. One after another, she could see them clearly with her eyes that were aimed at Naruto but could no longer see him.
The memories were all from times that she had spent with Naruto. From the first time that she saw him as a baby during Minato, the Fourth Hokage's funeral, who unlike the blond ninja standing behind Naruto, had died saving the village. Other memories took her to the times that she took care of Naruto as a toddler, feeding and bathing him before tucking him in bed and running her fingers through his soft hair. The smile on the infant was still the same as the current Naruto. She was still a child herself back then, only about seven years old, but she enjoyed taking care of him after her father had agreed with the Third Hokage to keep Naruto in his home until he could live by himself. However, since her mother had passed, he found it difficult to attend to the child's need and thus, she had done most of it instinctively.
The next memories were short encounters with Naruto from an older child to a young teenager, until one that wasn't a cheerful memory. It was Naruto and Kakashi, the grey haired man next to Minato, fighting against Itachi.
Misaki gasped and took half a step back, breaking the contact with Naruto and stopping the flow of memories.
"Misaki sensei, are you alright? You spaced out for a few seconds there." Naruto told her.
"Naruto!" She exclaimed.
"Yeah?"
"I remember you." She said smiling. Naruto's eyes widened.
"You do? You got your memories back?" He smiled back.
"Just my memories with you but at least is something. When you held my arm I could remember our times together."
"You did?" Shisui asked while standing up and walking towards her. He reached out for her hand and held it between both of his while looking into her eyes, waiting. Misaki held her breath for a few seconds, however, there were no memories rushing back to her mind.
"I don't think that would work, Shisui." Minato told him. "Otherwise she would've remember Itachi while she was holding his hand. I think it only worked with Naruto because he's from her world."
Misaki gulped at the look of disappointment in Shisui's face just as Naruto grabbed her elbow and pulled her towards the forest. In that brief moment before she lost contact with Shisui, the face of a younger Shisui flashed in her mind. The boy had a closed eye smile on his face while showing her a thumbs up with one hand. It was a memory from the time she mastered the shuriken technique he had just shown her. She was only five but it felt like it had only been yesterday.
Warmth filled her chest. She gasped and looked back at him but as she was about to say that it had worked, Naruto interrupted her.
"There's only one way to get back to yourself and that's the same way we're can only go back to our world. We need to defeat Madara. We have something in the village that we can use soon so we have to back."
Misaki looked back at where Itachi was sitting on the ground but as she turner, the reflection of something metal passed inches away from her face. It was a flying kunai aimed at Naruto.
Minato appeared next to Naruto and hit the kunai with one of its own, throwing it off course. They turned to the place it has come from.
"Well, well, well…" a member of the Akatsuki she had never seen before said. His hair was slicked back and he was was wearing the same black robe with red patterns as Itachi but no shirt underneath it. Alongside Deidara and Sasori, a very muscular and tall member of the Akatsuki was standing next to him with a black mask over his face hiding everything but his green eyes, while a white hood covered his hair.
"... I guess even for you, Itachi, the three most fastest shinobi of the Five Great Nations are too much to handle." The man said arrogantly towards Itachi's injured form. "Where's that new partner Deidara has been going on about?"
"Three? Hidan, is the pink haired girl that kunoichi?" Deidara asked him.
"Are you blind, you idiot? She's standing right next to them!" The man named Hidan answered, pointing at Misaki, making her eyes widened.
"Her!? She's the fastest kunoichi of the leaf? I knew Itachi was up to something, he definitely knew who she was and kept it hidden from us." Deidara said narrowing his eyes at Itachi.
"Wait, she's the new partner that's been going around with Itachi, the one with amnesia?" Hidan asked
"Yes, that's her."
"Hmmp, so she doesn't remember our last encounter…" Hidan's eyes turn to Itachi. "You're going to be my next sacrifice." He said before running towards him with his triple-bladed scythe in hand. Itachi's chakra was still exhausted so he was unable to move quickly but knowing it was a trap he turn to look at the shinobi of the Leaf.
"Shisui, stop her!" he yelled at the same time she noticed Misaki disappearing from the group to stand before Hidan with a kunai raised in front of her to stop his attack. As he was turning to look back to where Misaki stood, Shisui appeared next to her not even half a second later but then it was already too late. While Misaki had stopped the blade to cause any injury to herself or him, the tip of the curved edge had grazed the top of her left shoulder. She didn't seem worried about it, it was only a small cut. However, she didn't remember Hidan's jutsu, one that only require a small amount of his opponent's blood, one that sealed one's life in his hands.
Shisui took her back to where he had been, leaving him standing alone in front of Hidan. He reached out to grab his scythe with the little energy he had left but Hidan took a step back and looked down at him with a smirk on his face.
