Amidst the Hate: Chapter 38
The Fourth Hokage had a sullen look as he sat in front of a small contingent of shinobi, consisting of everyone that participated in the Chunin Exams, their senseis, some other chunin and jonin, and Kushina, who looked just as depressed as her husband. "I bet most of you are wondering why I've called you here?" Minato opened, voice not betraying his facial expression.
"Just a little bit, yeah!" yelled the Inuzuka heir.
"Well, you're curiosity will be sated. Two nights ago, someone kidnapped Haruka Uchiha, one of the survivors of the Uchiha Clan Massacre."
"Haruka? Who would kidnap her?" wondered Mito.
"I'll be getting there in a bit. On the same night, someone escaped from the hospital, and an Anbu who went by Owl was murdered, leaving this…" He opened a bag he had on the desk, and brought out a kunai with a familiar 'blink' written vertically on the handle. "As the only piece of evidence. And if I bring this out…" In the same bag, he brought out a perfectly identical kunai. "...you can see the resemblance. The one I just brought out is one of the few kunai thrown by my daughter during our battle."
"Wait...are you saying…"
"Yes, Mito. Anza...is now officially an A-Rank missing-nin. I have sent word to our allies, and had no choice but to put her in the bingo book."
"What are you thinking?! Someone's going to hunt her down and kill her!"
"I full well know the risks of putting her name in the bingo book, but I only put in a reward for her capture, not for her body."
"That won't stop Iwa! You should have kept this local, and give only our ninja the mission to find her! No, give it to me, Sasuke, and Kakashi-sensei, her teammates! I need to make things right with her!"
Kakashi nodded. "She's right, sensei. Anza is technically my responsibility as my student, so the mission to find her should belong to me and the remnants of Team Seven."
"And I agree with that, but we have no idea where she could be. For all we know, she could be international, so we need those extra eyes and ears."
The cyclops eyed the sharp tools. "Sensei...maybe I can find her."
"Your ninken?"
"Yes. Pakkun has the strongest nose out of them all, it would be child's play for him to track her."
He nodded, remembering the dog. "Alright, here." Minato tossed the kunai found at the crime scene to the last remaining member of his genin team. "Might want to go to the south wall when you start the mission. That's where Owl and the kunai were found, it might be easier to pick up her trail."
"Thank you. You heard him, let's go!"
"Yes!" shouted both his genin, and they left the mission assignment area.
The Yellow Flash looked at who was still with him. "The rest of you: I know it goes without saying, but if you see or hear anything about Anza's possible whereabouts, you come to me first. Dismissed!" The ninja thinned out, leaving him, his wife, and a small battalion of hidden Anbu all that were left in the room.
"I want to go with them…" Kushina sighed. "...but all I'd do would draw Anza's ire, leading her to do anything in her power to kill me, and that could end her life…"
"I know...what I'd give to have everything back to the way they used to be, with Anza and Mito chasing each other around the house like their butts were on fire...those were the good days…" He gave a sad smile, knowing that he could never go back to that time. 'It's up to you three now...Kakashi, Mito, Sasuke...bring her back to us.'
-with Team Kakashi-
"Okay, we've reached our destination. The clean-up crew did a wonderful job, there's not even a drop of blood left...or we could be in the wrong spot, either way works."
"So...who's Pakkun? I know about your ninken, but I don't think I've met that one before." asked the blonde.
"You have, it's just been around...eight years since you've seen him. Now, we probably should get started." Bringing out his own kunai, he cut open his thumb, and placed his hand on the ground. "Summoning Jutsu." A puff of smoke appeared in front of him, and after it dissipated, showed a small brown pug wearing a blue vest, a Konoha forehead protector, and had bandages wrapped around his front right paw.
"Hey, Kakashi. It's been awhile since you've summoned me. Does that mean there's someone you need to find?" His voice was surprisingly deep, betraying his tiny frame.
"Yeah. You remember Anza, right?"
"Of course. Wait...does that mean she's alive?"
"She is, but she's a missing-nin now, and we don't know where she's gone. That's where you come in. Here…" He brought out the marked kunai. "Sniff this, it should have just enough of her scent to lead us in the right direction."
"I can do that." Pakkun walked up to his summoner, and took a whiff of the small weapon. "It'll be hard to lose that...I can smell her and hints of beetle, monkey, and turtle, all mixing together to make a unique fragrance." He turned to the forest and jumped off the wall.
"I guess he's got her…" muttered the Uchiha, and they took off after the dog...but they didn't go very far, just about a hundred meters, before stopping behind a tree.
"Yeah...we've got a situation...the scent's gone."
Kakashi didn't like the sound of that. "What?"
"I can't smell her anymore. It ends right here, and I can't smell a distant fragment, either."
He pinched his nose. "That means she used the Hiraishin...damn, that means she could be anywhere."
"Then...what do we do? We can't just go back and say we only traveled a stone-throw's away before losing her!" said Mito.
"Hm...we could try to figure out where she went, but it would be nearly impossible to pinpoint her location without a way to feel her chakra from so far away…"
"We have to try." Sasuke took a seat on the ground, and his team joined him with brainstorming. "Okay...if we consider everything, she couldn't have gone to a very dangerous place. Haruka doesn't have any training, and Anza hasn't recovered enough to actually fight at the level she's used to, so it would be difficult to hold off enemy shinobi."
"That basically would throw out every country...we also need to consider when she learned the Hiraishin, since she could only put markers afterward. If my memory is correct, she might have one in the Land of Whirlpools, the Land of Water, the Land of Earth, definitely the Land of Fire...and the Land of Waves."
"We should probably check out the Land of Waves, then. It's the least dangerous for them, it would take at least a day to get there at max speed, and there is enough uninhabited space for her to hide in while she heals."
"It's worth a shot. Pakkun, I'm going to need you to stay with us for the time being. Let us know if you pick up her scent again." The dog nodded, and they continued southward, to the country they helped freed.
The team finally made it to the bridge that Tazuna built, but they had to stop momentarily to gawk at the sign bearing its name. "Wow...that's...quite an honor." stammered the jonin.
"'The Great Bridge of Team Kakashi'...that's kind of Tazuna, but he didn't have to…" said Mito.
"Maybe he felt like he did? I mean, last time we were here people were chanting our names after Gato was killed." reasoned the raven-haired boy.
"That's true...we should probably stop standing here and wasting time. Neither Pakkun or I can smell her across such a large stretch of water with so much traffic." said Kakashi.
"Right." All four of them became blurs bounding across the large construct, making it across in record speed.
"Oh wow...it looks a lot better than when we left…" commented the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. As far as they could see, the old, run down buildings were in much better shape, almost looking new. Food stands didn't have rotten and decaying food as part of the line up, new stores were open for business, and people conversed on the streets, a large turn around from Gato's iron-clad rule.
Pakkun's nose began twitching, and he sniffed the air. "It looks like we made the right choice. I have her scent again, follow me!" The small dog ran past them and weaved through the citizens, leading Team Seven through back alleys, past a few of the new stands, and finally to a rather large, two-story house. "Here. Her and what I can only guess is this 'Haruka's trail leads inside here and back out, and it seems occupied, so whoever lives here has seen them."
"Then let's say hello, shall we?" Kakashi went up to the door and knocked four times.
"Hold on, hold on, I'm coming!" he barely made out with chakra enhanced ears, and footsteps started making their way towards him. Once they were close enough, the door opened, revealing a familiar old man. "Kakashi?!"
"Tazuna?"
The bridge builder took his hand and started shaking it. "It's good to see you again, old friend! Come in, come in! You must be tired from the journey here!" He let go and walked back into his house, leaving the ninja at his doorstep. The cyclops looked at his genin, shrugged, and followed their old client inside, where they settled into what looked like the living room.
"You seem to be doing well for yourself." he commented.
"All thanks to you and those kids. After using the money Menma pilfered from Gato, we were able to reopen and establish new trades, and the revenue started to come back ten-fold. When your Hokage finalized our alliance, people started requesting my services, forcing me to start moving place to place to do the projects. I just got back about four days ago. Speaking of Menma, where is she? Inari has been waiting patiently for that visit she promised him."
"Um...about that...Tazuna, I need to know, has anyone...unusual stopped by your house in recent days?"
The older man narrowed his eyes, not seeing what this had to do with Menma, but nodded. "As a matter of fact, yeah. Two nights ago, someone knocked on my door furiously while my family and I were sleeping, and when I opened the door...I'm not going to lie, I thought Mito over there was at my doorstep. This girl had the same hair, same face, same height, the only things different were her hair and eye color, the whisker-like things on her face, and the overly white clothes she wore. She had a young, sleeping girl on her back, and asked if she could have some clothes and a bag of food that would last a few days. I asked if she was Mito, since she looked almost just like her, but she responded by saying she had no idea who that was, and again asked if she could have some clothes and food, as she didn't pack any for her journey. I caved, and let her into the house, where I got the things she wanted, and she left with a 'thanks'. The stranger thing is, she payed for it all! Pulled about two-thousand ryo out of thin air!"
He sighed. "I guess you haven't heard the news...not surprising, we tried to keep this in Konoha as long as possible. Tazuna, who you helped out was Menma. It turns out, Menma was Mito's long-thought dead twin sister, which explains the resemblance, and tried to kill their parents, but was stopped by their father, who is, as you know, the Hokage. After staying in the hospital a few days, she escaped, kidnapped that girl you saw on her back, and killed one of our Anbu. We're trying to find her and take her back to Konoha now, which is why we're here. We followed an idea by Sasuke, and it turns out to have been the right thing to do."
Tazuna noticeably looked shocked. "I...I'm sorry...if I'd known, I would have sent word about my encounter."
"It's fine, we can find her now. It's only one island, she can't escape unless she continues to overwork her chakra coils." He turned to Mito. "Can you feel her, by any chance?"
"Kind of. Fuzzball says he can feel Chomei and the others in the forest, but that means she can feel ME, as well."
"Then we could be running out of time." He looked at Tazuna again. "I'm sorry that we have to cut this short, but we need to bring Anza back to the village before she goes off the radar completely. Tell Tsunami and Inari we said 'hi' when you see them again."
"I will. I hope your mission goes well."
"So do I, Tazuna...so do I. Let's go, Team Seven. We need to apprehend our wayward comrade."
"Yes!" The more energetic two shouted in agreement, and the makeshift team left Tazuna's new house and into the nearby forest, where Anza's trail led.
"It's been awhile since we've been here, huh?" asked Mito to her leader, getting him to nod.
"Yes...who would have thought she would have came back to the place we killed Zabuza?"
"The cross is a new addition, though...it looks a little old, as if it's been here for awhile. To honor Zabuza, I guess? But who would place something like this for him?" commented Sasuke.
"I don't know, but that's not what we're here for. Mito, how close is Anza?"
"She's not too far, and she doesn't seem to be moving anywhere. Maybe she's given up?"
"'Anza' and 'give up' don't belong in the same sentence, and you know it."
"Can't we hope, Sasuke?"
"I wish we had that luxury, but like it or not, she at least won't come back without a fight. It's who she is. If she won't give up fighting against Minato, what makes you think she would give up against us?"
"I know...I'm just being optimistic…"
Unbeknownst to them, someone was spying from the trees. 'So...that's him, huh? Kakashi of the Sharingan...he's very skilled, I wouldn't be able to fight him. I might be able to take one of the younger ones down, but there's just too many...'
Pakkun's nose twitched thanks to a gust of wind, which also had the unfortunate character's sent riding on it. "Kakashi…"
"I know." The sensei of the team turned to the dense forest, directly facing the person's direction. "You don't have to hide! We're friendly!"
'Well, their knowing of my presence won't do them much good...but I should go back before they decide to use force.' The spy made a single hand sign, and they were gone, which Kakashi felt.
"Hm...they're gone. They must not want to say 'hello'. I wonder who they were...it wasn't Anza, that much I know, but they must have shinobi training to vanish like that...ah well, nothing we can do about it now. Mito, we're going to still be going in the same direction, right?" She nodded. "Then let's not give her anytime to run." They jumped onto the branches, and hopped their way farther south.
After a few minutes of travel, they made it to a sandy beach, with a very defining structure adorning it. A large purple dome-shaped building, with a single hinged door on the front of it. "There. I feel her in there...with...two others? But...I thought only Haruka was with her?"
"It doesn't matter, we need to go in there and apprehend her. Stay behind me." The jonin jumped back down, and made his way to the entrance. He brought up his leg, charged it with a little chakra, and kicked the door down. "Your time running is-huh?" There was no one inside the un-furnished building, only a large amount of seemingly created recently smoke. In an effort to understand what just happened, he walked into it, with the genin and his summon following him.
"I...I can't feel her anymore! She's out of my range!" exclaimed Mito.
"Damn it, she used the Hiraishin! We'll never find her now!" yelled the Uchiha.
"No...I don't think that's what happened. The Hiraishin doesn't make this much smoke, if at all. A shunshin? That can't work either, she would still be sensible by Mito...wait, what's that?" From the light streaming in from the open door, he spotted kanji arranged in a circle, with lines of markings stretching out from the center. "(Sigh) Well, that explains what happened…"
"What? What did she do?"
"She used the Summoning Jutsu to transport herself, Haruka, and that unknown signature to a place where summons can be found."
"But how does that work? I thought the Summoning Jutsu was suppose to...well, summon animals?"
"It does, but you if don't have a contract and use the jutsu, you will be transported to the home of which animal you have an affinity for. Anza must have known this, probably from stories told to her by Jiraiya, and performed it, taking the other two with her through physical contact."
"So it's over now?! She's gone, and we won't be able to find her?!"
"Yeah, Sasuke. Unless she has gone to the toads, the mission is a failure. We were...just too slow. Let's go, the Hokage needs to know this as soon as possible." Seeing that they had no other option at this point, the children followed his word, and they began the long journey back.
When Minato saw that Team Kakashi came back by themselves, his heart sank. "I take it you couldn't find her."
"Not exactly, sensei. We were able to locate her through the process of elimination and some luck, but she fled before we could capture her." reported Kakashi.
"Damn...and I can't use the Hiraishin to get to her without starting a battle to the death...where did you find her? Give me the details."
"The Land of Waves, on the far end. She set up a temporary residence made out of some strange purple substance that was big enough to house three people, but little else."
"Then I will send an extra team to keep an eye out for any signs of her returning to that place. Despite the mission being a failure, don't let this keep you down. Anza's still out there, and we WILL find her, and she WILL be brought back, no matter what."
"We won't, dad. We're just...disappointed we couldn't get them when we were so close! If only she hadn't used the Summoning Jutsu to escape, she would be in front of you with us."
"The Summoning Jutsu?"
His student nodded. "Yes. Right before I kicked down the door to her abode, she used it to transport herself, Haruka, and someone else to relative safety. They most likely won't make a reappearance for a while, as she still needs to heal."
"Right...well, if that's all that happened during the mission, then you are all dismissed. I'll see you at home, kids." They bowed, and vanished out the doors. Sighing, he stood up, and walked over to the window, where he looked over the village. 'Anza won't slow down...if there's anything to improve, she will work for it, and she already is leaps and bounds ahead of Mito and Sasuke...they will have to train harder than they ever have in order to match her...and I will do whatever I can to help them with that. Starting tomorrow...at least one will be learning how to summon beings.'
A.N.: Sorry, this should have been released yesterday, but I had to go through and delete one-third of it and then rewrite said section, so...yeah.
0lightning0: It is called 'Amidst the Hate' for a reason.
Tsukoblue: Again, thank you.
Deltahalo: No! Bad delta, not THAT kind of training!