Chapter 22
The team travelled for the greater part of the day, using the ninja hounds to guide them. They had made it to the approximate area that the sources had described when suddenly, there was a large bright light that grew as tall as any mountain. The explosion was in the far distance, but it must have spanned at least several kilometers as they were able to see it very clearly even from afar, as well as feeling the aftershock of the quake.
"You don't think…" Sakura trailed off.
"Yeah...it could be Sasuke." Naruto murmured. "Let's go."
The team picked up the pace, dashing full speed towards the explosion in front of them.
"I can smell him now." Pakkun said. The team arrived at a giant crater about 15 minutes later. There was no one to be found, and the ninja hound gave a frustrated snarl when he gave one last sniff. "The trail ends here."
"What?!" Naruto exclaimed. "No way!"
"It must be a teleportation jutsu of some kind." Kakashi observed. "There's no way his scent would disappear unless he went underground, and it doesn't look like the case here."
"Well if it's teleportation, how far could he have gone?" Naome asked, still taking in the damaged scenery in awe.
"It depends...if he was fighting, I doubt he could have gone far." Kakashi said. He gave the kunoichi one last look before he made his decision. "We're going to split up. Fan out from this area. We're going to start in opposite directions from the crater, and then go up to five kilometers outward from there. Our communication devices won't be able to reach, but you can send a ninja hound to communicate. If you don't find anything, come back within an hour and a half. If you do find someone, don't engage alone. Send a hound, and everyone will come as backup."
"I'm going to send out more shadow clones too!" Naruto said as he prepared about 10 of them.
Kakashi nodded. "Alright. Head out!"
The team split, Kakashi heading to the east, Naome to the south, Naruto to the west, and Sakura to the north. As Naome dashed off, the words Kakashi spoke the night before kept replaying in her mind. His pleads for her to stay safe. His pleads for her to save herself. She touched the necklace through the fabric of her shirt. Just being reminded of that item, made her less anxious as she continued the search.
It had been about half an hour when suddenly, there was a sound in the woods. Alert, Naome stopped on a tree branch and hid behind the trunk.
"It's alright." Bisuke, the ninja hound assigned to her said, "he's one of ours."
The large bulldog caught up to the two of them, panting, as if he had been on a full out sprint. "I came to you two first because you're the closest. It's Naruto. He's in trouble."
Naome's eyes widened. "What?"
The bulldog began leading the two in the direction from which he came. He began explaining along the way. "Naruto and some of his clones ran into Itachi Uchiha about 20 minutes after we split up. Itachi has him in a genjutsu right now. I couldn't do anything so I came here."
"Someone has to notify Sakura and Kakashi-sensei." Naome replied as she continued running at full speed.
"Naruto sent a shadow clone to Sakura. It should reach her soon. You're a bit quicker than her so we'll probably reach Naruto first. Kakashi went in the opposite direction though. I don't know if the hound has even reached him yet." The bull said.
After a few minutes, they came to a slower pace, paying closer attention to quieting their footsteps. "It's right up ahead."
Drawing her swords, Naome began to step forward. She hid behind the next tree, and then the next. She nearly let out a gasp when she peeked around one of the trees and found Naruto and another figure with the familiar black and red cloak standing in the clearing. Naruto had his head dropped, motionless, and Naome could only guess that he had already been trapped in a genjutsu.
She reminded herself to avoid making eye contact with the rogue ninja. She must have been ten steps behind already though, because she knew that the longer she was standing there, the more likely he knew of her presence.
"Come out." A deep, dark voice penetrated the woods.
Her mind spun at a million miles per hour. She knew she had been caught. She probably only had mere seconds left to make a decision. Kakashi's words echoed in her mind to run away. To bring herself to safety because he couldn't bear to lose her. Her breathing became rapid as she reminded herself over and over to avoid eye contact and look down.
Setting both blades in one hand, she brought her free hand up to grab the necklace that was tucked against her sternum. She pulled it out quickly and without all her might, she blew into the whistle. The metal tube itself didn't make a sound, so she had only hoped that somehow it had still reached him. A sudden presence appeared in front of her.
The dark aura sent her mind spinning. The familiar robe seemed much closer and much more intimidating than it had been in the past. She didn't dare look up to confirm the presence of the sharingan, but she felt it staring her down as she hopped another step back and readied both her swords again.
She charged her swords, focusing on the torso of the person in front of her while also keeping a close eye on his feet to check his movements.
"Stand down," the rogue ninja said. "My purpose today is not to hurt you. I simply need to speak with Naruto and I will get going."
She wanted so badly to send daggers with her eyes to the enemy in front of her, but she remained focused elsewhere. "Like hell I'm going to leave you alone here with Naruto. I know what you Akatsuki are after. I'm not going to let you take him. Release him now!"
A light, amused chuckle came from the shinobi. "I'll tell you one last time. I mean no harm. I have other plans for today. If you insist on getting in my way, then I have no choice."
"No harm? As if! You are a defector of Konoha. There's no way that can come of any good." She replied.
"And you? You don't hail from the Hidden Leaf Village either. Do you brand yourself as good?"
Naome stood, still for a moment, frozen from the information leaking from the Uchiha's mouth. "H-how did you know?"
A dark laugh escaped the criminal, and suddenly a gust of crows appeared and Naome was surrounded by a foggy red mist around her entire vision. The image of Itachi Uchiha suddenly became distorted and she found herself staring into blood red irises. A distinct dark ring etched within the eyes.
"I know because I know everything. I already have you in my genjutsu now, there's nothing you can hide from me." The voice echoed in the endless cloudy red void, sending shivers down Naome's back. She tried to raise her swords to defend herself but she found that she couldn't move at all. She wondered if this is what Naruto was experiencing now, or what Kakashi had experienced in the past. It was definitely more real and more intense than any genjutsu she had encountered in her own battles. She trembled helplessly under the genjutsu, and she'd only hoped that Kakashi would show up soon to break her out of this mental trap.
"Thinking about Kakashi Hatake at a time like this?" A teasing chuckle came from the male in front of her. "
"How did you- get out of my mind!" She screamed.
"I'm not reading your mind, I'm reading your memories. I guess I better make this quick because my conversation with Naruto is almost done and your precious Kakashi must be on his way soon."
"Make it quick...are you going to kill me?"
"No," he replied. "I don't have a need to."
Finally, Naome dared herself to look into the eyes of the Akatsuki member. Something was different about him. His aura, it was filled with hatred, but not so much so as the ones she had faced before. Those two seemed to enjoy killing. Itachi on the other hand, had a sense of sadness and emptiness to his stoic expression.
"Then why have me here?"
"Like I said, I am speaking with Naruto right now. I don't need you as a distraction."
"Why are you considered a rogue ninja, if you are not going to kill me?" Confusion hit her like a boulder. Who was Itachi Uchiha? None of this made sense. The biggest, baddest traitor in Konoha history, and nothing to show for it?
"I do not need to kill you today. That's all I am going to tell you. Besides...I think you could serve a greater importance later on."
Naome furrowed her eyebrows. "Quit talking nonsense! What does that even mean?"
"You are an orphan too, from the Hidden Rain Village. Just like him."
"Just like who?!"
He closed his eyes, a pained expression showing on his face. "You will know soon enough. Perhaps you can talk some sense into him. If not...my hope is that Naruto will be strong enough to help."
"You're not making any sense Uchiha."
"You will see soon enough." He held up a hand sign with one hand. "Unfortunately my time here is up. I have another mission I must attend to. Nice to meet you, Naome."
"What? How did you know my name?" Nothing shouldn't have surprised her by now, as the Uchiha seemed to know everything from reading her. The genjutsu began to lift, she could begin to see the trees fading into her vision as crows began scattering away. "Wait! Itachi Uchiha!"
Suddenly, she fell to the ground as if she had been shoved back into reality. Motion of her limbs came back after a few moments, and she could finally hear and feel herself breathing again. She breathed heavily on her hands and knees as she took a look around.
He had released the genjutsu, and there were suddenly no traces of him. Naome scanned all the trees to no avail. In the corner of her eyes, she could see Naruto leaning against a tree too, seemingly out of breath. Just as she was about to call out to him, Sakura and Kakashi arrived along with the entire force of Kakashi's ninja hounds.
With Sakura tending to Naruto, Kakashi immediately ran to Naome's side. He supported her so that she was standing upright before scanning her face thoroughly for her mental state.
"You're here." Slowly, her world began to focus again, allowing her to think and see clearly. Naome had wondered how long she was stuck in that genjutsu if Kakashi had already arrived from the other direction.
"Yeah. I came as soon as I heard your whistle." He thanked the heavens that she was alright, but at the same time, scolded himself for allowing her to separate from him to begin with. Had Itachi been...well normal Itachi, he probably would have been too late. In fact, he wondered why both Naome and Naruto were left virtually unscathed.
Once Naome became less dizzy, she took a few steps forward, allowing herself to lean some of her weight on Kakashi for support at first. "We need to get going," she said, "they couldn't have gotten too far."
"Isn't that too risky?" Sakura asked as she walked over with Naruto.
"No." Naruto declared with a new sense of determination. "I promised to bring Sasuke back, and we are going to find him no matter what."
As they went off as a team this time to find Sasuke, Naome looked over at Naruto. She wondered what Itachi had told him in his genjutsu, as it had seemed especially important to Itachi that he was able to converse with Naruto alone. She also made a mental note to herself to talk to Kakashi about the things Itachi told her as well. It almost seemed as if he was giving her a hint to something coming up. Though it was still blasphemous to her as to why he would help them.
It was a few days later that the team returned to the village. Ultimately, the mission had been a fail. They had been cut off by another Akatsuki member with an orange mask, and had lost track of Sasuke altogether. The only form of semi-achievement they had was learning that Itachi Uchiha had died...at the hands of his own brother.
It was dark when everyone arrived in the back in the hidden leaf village. Kakashi had dismissed the team after they reported back to the hokage's office. Both Sakura and Naruto excused themselves, having fallen silent after yet another failed attempt to reunite with their long lost team member.
Naome and Kakashi stood outside the hokage's office, ready to go their separate ways when she remembered the words that Itachi said.
"Hey Kakashi-sensei?"
"Hm?"
"I forgot to mention it before, but Itachi Uchiha...he told me something when he trapped me in his genjutsu."
Kakashi was taken aback by the sudden news. "What did he say?"
"He said something about a person also being an orphan. He said they were also from the Hidden Rain Village and that maybe I could convince him otherwise. He also said he hoped that Naruto would be strong enough." Naome paused as she looked up at her sensei with furrowed eyebrows, "He also said he wouldn't hurt me...What do you think all of that means?"
Kakashi looked up at the moon. "I'm not too sure. Itachi Uchiha was always a mysterious shinobi, ever since he was young. I was never able to read him, even when he was in the village." He sighed, "I guess I'll bring that information to Lady Tsunade tomorrow. Perhaps she will have some insight on what he could have been saying."
"Alright, I'll leave that with you then." She yawned and stretched. Turning in the direction of the Nara residence, she spoke, "I guess that's goodnight then!" She wanted oh so desperately to get home and take a nice warm shower, but a voice stopped her in her tracks.
"Naome…" Pivoting on one foot, she turned around to face the silver-haired ninja who was avoiding eye contact with her. "We...haven't eaten yet...I know it's late but...do you want to come over for a bit first?"
A goofy grin appeared on Naome's face as she eyed the embarrassed shinobi in front of her. Returning to his side, she hooked an arm around his and began dragging him off in the direction of his apartment.
"Yeah, let's go."