"Grandma Tsunade!!" Naruto shouted, throwing the door of the Hokage's office open so that it slammed against the opposite wall. He and the rest of the squad had made it back to the village in record time; they knew that there was no room for dragging along now.
"Naruto?" Shizune said curiously. She turned from the papers she was filing.
Tsunade's brow furrowed as she looked up from her desk. She was about to reprimand Naruto for not knocking when she saw the mixture of worry and urgency on Squad Seven's faces. Wait, was that Hiroto Isamu? Why was he with them? And where was Kakashi??
Tsunade felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach and shot up from her desk. Her fists clenched and she spoke before anyone else could: "Where's Kakashi?!"
The group got alarmingly solemn for a few moments before Sasuke stepped to the front, "He was taken… To Orochimaru."
Shizune gasped sharply, putting a hand over her mouth in astonishment. Tsunade's fist clenched even tighter, causing the desk below it to crack right in half with a loud boom, "What?!"
"It's true," Naruto said solemnly. He locked eyes with her, desperation and determination taking hold, "Please Grandma! We've got to send ninjas out there to get him back! Who knows what could be happening to him right now!?"
Tsunade put her hands to her temples, letting out air between gritted teeth. She should've known something like this would happen!! This mission involved the Sound Village! How could she have been so stupid?!
"Lady Hokage!!" Sakura said in a pleading voice, bringing her back to the urgency of the situation.
"Yes, we must send ninja out immediately," She noted, "But this is Orochimaru. We can't just send a team of ragtag shinobi out there to their deaths…" She looked up at Shizune, "Shizune, assemble all of the Jounin and ANBU in the area, immediately!!"
"At once, ma'am!" Shizune nodded determinedly, racing out of the room to complete the task given to her.
"What about us?" Naruto asked anxiously. Tsunade could tell he wanted to help in the rescue of his teacher.
"You three need to stay here," Tsunade said seriously.
"What?!" Naruto looked dejected and then angry, "Why!? We're his students! If anyone should be going back there to get him from that bastard-"
"Enough!!" Tsunade bellowed, immediately quieting Naruto down. She walked over to him, her eyebrows lowering even more, "What help do you think you'd be to him!? You'd be playing right into Orochimaru's hands! What if he used you AGAINST Kakashi?!"
Naruto's face saddened and he cast his eyes down as the Hokage brought that up. It was a very valid and point, and it probably would happen if they went, but… His fists clenched together, and he tried to suppress the anger he felt boiling inside of him. Anger at Orochimaru for taking his sensei away from him, anger at Tsunade for not letting him go, anger at himself for not being able to help his teacher when he needed it.
"I know how you feel," Tsunade's voice was suddenly more compassionate. She looked down at Squad Seven empathetically, "But the best thing you could do for Kakashi would be to stay here. You know that he'd never forgive you if you went running into Orochimaru's hideout like that." They knew it was true.
"Speaking of the hideout," Sasuke suddenly said, "Lady Hokage, how do you plan to find where they are?"
"The ANBU are expert trackers," She replied, "If anyone can find Kakashi, it's them. So don't worry about that; they'll find the hideout."
"But… How do you know they won't be outnumbered?" Sakura asked anxiously.
"… I don't," Tsunade admitted with a sigh, "I can't really be sure of much of anything at this point. But I do have faith in our ninja, and in Kakashi. I believe that they'll pull through."
There was a moment of silence before Hiroto spoke up for the first time since entering the village, "… Lady Hokage?"
"Hm?" She looked up at him, almost forgetting that he was here, "You must be… Hiroto Isamu?"
"Yes, ma'am," He dipped his head in respect, "And if I may, I have a request to ask of you."
"… What is it?"
"Would you please allow me to aid the search party?"
Everyone in the room was surprised by this, though the squad knew that Hiroto wanted to help. Tsunade folded her arms and looked at him suspiciously, "Why would you want to assist them?"
"It's partially my fault that Kakashi was captured," Hiroto said, "Besides, I know quite a bit about Orochimaru and his followers. I could greatly help the Leaf ninja in this."
Tsunade's brow furrowed again, "You'd be putting yourself in unnecessary risk. Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Yes ma'am," He nodded, "I was strong enough to be considered a Jounin back when I was a Sound Ninja; I may be able to help them in battle too. If nothing else, it's always good to have extra manpower."
Tsunade mulled over this for a while, but then finally sighed. He had good points. And perhaps he could help the search team, "Very well. You may join the search party, Mr. Isamu. I am grateful for your offer."
"Thank you Lady Hokage," Hiroto dipped his head again. He put a hand on Naruto's shoulder. When the boy looked up at him curiously, he smiled, "Don't worry, Naruto. I'll help get him back."
Naruto smiled back at him, "Thanks Hiroto."
……………………………………......
Kakashi sneered at Orochimaru's words. He was careful not to show it, but they sent a shiver coursing down his spine. Knowing the Snake Sannin, they couldn't mean anything that would turn out well for the Copy Ninja either… He cursed his own bad luck.
"What a nasty look," Orochimaru chuckled, noticing the sharp edge that came into Kakashi's eye, "I haven't even told you anything yet, Kakashi," The way he hissed his name made Kakashi shiver again, "You must be worn out. Aren't you?"
Kakashi said nothing. He wasn't going to admit anything to this bastard. Besides, his tone suggested that he already knew the answer to the question he asked. Orochimaru had expected this of him though; he could tell by the chuckle the rogue gave off when all the response he got was the tightening of Kakashi's knuckles.
"As I thought. Kenshin told me that the mark responded quite quickly and suddenly," With an unnatural gleam in his eye, Orochimaru eyed the left side of Kakashi's neck with interest. The Jounin stiffened. He hadn't thought much about it, but both his vest and headband were no longer on him, and he didn't like Orochimaru staring at him longer than he had to.
With the same smirk still pulled tightly around his lips, Orochimaru reached up to Kakashi's face, making him draw a sharp intake of breath. His head instinctively tried to lean back to avoid contact, but he just hit the stone wall behind him sharply. His open eye widened and a short and sharp gasp escaped from his lips as Orochimaru unrepentantly and swiftly yanked down his mask.
Pulling the fabric down more, and stretching it as far as it would go to the left, Orochimaru glanced at the black mark on his new play toy's neck, surrounded by a ring of ghostly white skin. His smirk widened into a sickening smile. Kakashi's lips carved up into a snarl as he saw the pleasure in the man's eyes. Soon those eyes had met back up with his.
"My, my…" He hissed, "Who would've thought such a face hid behind the mask?" Kakashi proceeded to glare icy daggers at him, wanting to make those daggers stab through him and wipe that disgusting smile off of his face, "Perhaps you are ready to be a good boy."
That last line sickened Kakashi. He wouldn't give Orochimaru anymore satisfaction. Making sure his mouth was full, he spat at the Sannin's feet.
Taking in air sharply with a hiss, Orochimaru's head snapped up to Kakashi, his smile replaced with a potent sneer. The Jounin took the liberty of smirking in grim fulfillment.
"Good, my ass."
One of Orochimaru's arms suddenly shot up, grabbing Kakashi by his neck tightly and causing the man to gasp breathlessly, straining to get air. The Snake Sannin showed no signs of letting go.
"Oh, you will be good. Maybe not right now, but you will learn. Soon, you will learn. Even if that means I have to dent that pretty little face of yours," He whispered, squeezing his drip tighter before letting Kakashi go.
He gasped, coughing several times and taking in shaky deep breaths to regain the oxygen he had just lost. He managed a nasty glare up in his captor's direction. Orochimaru's smirk returned, though now it looked more crazed than before.
"Don't make this hard for yourself, Kakashi," He sneered before pivoting back around and making for the cage door.
Kakashi let his head hang down a while after Orochimaru had left. This wasn't good… Not only for himself, but for the village. He didn't even know what the mark was truly capable of yet. And if it did turn out to be something unimaginably bad like he feared, then the village would definitely suffer for it. If Orochimaru was able to gain control of him-- No. No, that wouldn't happen. Kakashi refused to let himself be controlled by that bastard. No matter what happened…
He would not be broken.
Author's Note:
Hey guys! Izumi here!
This was a quicker update than usual, and I can't really tell you why that is… O.o It's a tad odd, but I feel good about this one! I'm trying to set it up for the big "Search and Rescue" mission! I'm very excited for it for one kind of silly but fulfilling reason: I GET TO MAKE UP ANBU NAMES!! YOSH!! XD
I really shouldn't be as excited about it as I am, but it's one of the small things that I really love about writing these kinds of Naruto stories. :P
Anyway, I hope you're all still enjoying this story! I'll say it again, because I can never say it enough: I love all of the awesome reviews!! They make me extremely happy, and spur me on to write on!
Oh, and please! If you have any suggestions or ideas or anything of the sort, please don't be shy! Please post them in your review!! I will gladly take them into consideration! :]