Classification: S-rank
Details: A lapse within security occurred and archives of Konoha have been infiltrated in sections regarding security systems and high-profile shinobi of the village.
Goals: Retrieve the three Konohan jutsu scrolls stolen by foreign ninja. Suspected shinobi of Iwagakure. All perpetrators are to be terminated.
Time frame for mission: Mission is to be completed as swiftly as possible as a matter of utmost urgency.
Time issued: 11:49
Signed by: Jiraiya of the Sannin.
The mission wasn't supposed to be difficult. That's why he'd taken chunin, that was why he'd picked anbu who hadn't been as experienced as some of the veterans.
Mistakes.
Mistake after mistake and now it was only him and the continual sound of liquid dripping in the caverns.
Drip. Drop. Drip.
Water. The childish part of his mind whispered.
The liquid was thicker than water though, thick and heavy and disgustingly familiar. His breathing was the only sound other than the blood.
Kakashi knew he was the only being alive for miles. The occasional sounds of bats crying and mice squeaking which had accompanied him and his squadron when they'd first entered the caves were gone. Every animal had been silenced by Chikako's crazy ploys and never-ending plots.
Chickako.
Affiliation: Iwagakure
Gender: Female
Status: Deceased, he'd checked, he'd made sure that woman was dead.
Further notes: A member of Iwagakure's Explosion Corps. One of the weaker members of the organisation though not to be underestimated. Mistakes mistakes mistakes. Known for her quick wits and intricate schemes.
They hadn't had that information when they needed it. They'd learnt the hard way. The way that had resulted in too many lives lost and the static in his head growing louder.
The three jutsu scrolls weighed heavy in his jonin vest. Not a spatter of blood marred them, they were perfectly pristine just as the Hokage would want them. Kakashi ignored the black body scrolls which weighed even heavier.
He hadn't had enough for them all.
Kakashi leaned weakly into one of the cave's walls as he burst into a fit of hacking coughs. The air in the cave was stale and full of dust, even his mask didn't do much to protect him from its effects. At least it was dust rather than the Iwa nins' gas though, at least this only left him slightly winded where that had left his allies choking on their own blood.
Chickako really had been a demon.
Kakashi stumbled to his feet, careful where he let his hands wander on the cool stone surface of the wall. He didn't have enough chakra to enhance his sight in the dark. Maybe enough for a small fire jutsu but for all he knew, the heat generated would set of an explosion and leave him blown to bits. Though the Corps member was dead not all of her traps had been disabled.
He was willing to die but not here, buried hundreds of miles underground, too close to enemy territory and so he gritted his teeth and walked further.
Day 1:
Numb and tired.
Mission assigned by Jiraiya began. Under jurisdiction of the 5th Hokage.
Mission began at 05:00, squadron consists of chunin and a few Anbu in addition to Hatake Kakashi, mission leader. Chunin Tanaka, sensor, and Hatake made efforts to follow a trail and distinguishable foreign chakra was tracked North West of Fire Country.
The pursuit began here.
Day 3:
Kusagakure, time 03:00. Perpetrators confirmed to be shinobi of Iwagakure and they're seemingly making their way back there. We encountered slight issue upon crossing the border however conflict was quickly resolved seeing as the Grass nin are only partaking in tentative peace with Iwa. We continued to make good time and by tomorrow should be approaching the border of the Land of Earth.
Day 4:
We've lost them
Day 5:
Chunin Tanaka stated he sensed a particularly prominent chakra signature rapidly heading towards Iwa. Chunin Suzuki however acknowledged that explosions are being set off within Kusa and there are forces of Iwa stationed deeper in the village.
There are three scrolls and either incident could be a diversion as they're seemingly somewhat aware we're pursuing them. Anbu Boar was given a team to investigate the explosions and Jonin Hatake took the rest to chase the powerful chakra nature deeper into Earth country.
Communication channels were kept running.
Now:
Lethargic. His stumbling walk had become an inconsistent crawl as the time had dragged on. How he hadn't set off Chickako's landmines was beyond him. He should've lost an arm to them or a leg or his life, he deserved to lose his life-
A searing pain struck his abdomen and Kakashi cried out, collapsing to the ground in a painful heap. He sluggishly drew a hand to the area. It came away slick. He hadn't even realised he was wounded, had no clue when it'd been inflicted. Likely a while ago and it was probably going to get infected. He'd managed to get Dr Ishi killed earlier on in the mission and of course he didn't have Rin to solve his problems because Rin was dead and it was all his fault. A chidori to the chest just like he'd done to how many of those Iwa nin?
Kakashi tipped his head forward and was violently ill over the earth. His head spun jarringly and in the complete darkness of the cave, his sense of direction was thrown off even further. Normally his tolerance was high but unbearable pain on top of chakra exhaustion, mixed in with a huge dose of fatigue was a lot, even for a shinobi of his calibre.
He gasped painfully, sucking air through his teeth as he let himself truly slump against the cavern's wall. Sharp stones left small cuts across his skin but they barely affected him. He pressed his hand to the wound again, feeling sick to the stomach as he tried to staunch the bleeding. He needed to keep his eyes open, needed to keep going.
And so despite the fact he was slowly bleeding out, Kakashi crawled leaving a trail of blood behind him.
Then:
A cavern stood ominously before them, dark and sinister in that way that only something affiliated with Iwagakure could be.
"They're directly beneath us," Tanaka muttered, his eyes snapping open as he released his sensory hyperfocus. The boy, he couldn't be older than 17, averted his eyes from the group and rubbed his nape in anxiety. "I'm not so sure following them is a good idea. They could've figured out I'm here… well not me personally but a sensor. It could be a death trap or I could be wrong," he rambled.
Tanaka visibly winced as Kakashi scrutinised him, shrinking in on himself with a high-pitched squeak.
"We're going to follow them," Kakashi finally said, voice as dull as it always was. "If it's a death trap, then at least we died for Konoha."
A fiery woman stepped forward then, her chakra danced with a hot rage, it was almost like Mom's-
"Look here you bastard," she growled, drawing a tanto from her hip and brandishing it in warning, "you may be suicidal as fuck but that sounds like a you problem. The lot of us," she gestured grandly to the assembled squad around them, "don't want to die, so you better pull your goddamn game together before you have all of our blood on your hands-"
She froze, rosy cheeks rapidly paling as her eyes widened and her furious expression turned to one of shock.
"I could have you killed for insubordination chunin," Kakashi whispered. The tanto which she'd held so professionally laid uselessly on the verge of tipping into a nearby marsh and a kunai rested above her throat.
"You're insane," she stuttered. Kakashi's expression remained
"Maybe." Was all he said as he led them towards the mouth of the cavern.
Day 9:
Jonin Hatake led the excursion into the caverns beneath Grass and Earth Countries. A handful of chunin were left behind to keep watch of the entrance. Leader of said team was the fiery Chunin Asahina. Communications with the part of the squadron taking care of the explosions in Kusa were lost. The last sound over the line was a blast accompanied by screaming. Anbu Boar and his team have been presumed dead.
Day 10:
Communications with Chunin Asahina have been lost. She informed Chunin Tanaka the whole cavern was indeed a 'death trap' before the sound of her gurgling on her own blood could be heard down the line. It is likely that she and her associates had their throats slit. I wonder if her blood was as pretty of a red as her hair was.
Bright, shy Tanaka is looking at me as if I'm a monster. They're whispering again but it's angry now not sorrowful. I should care, shouldn't I? Should hurt and want to weep and scream and mourn.
I still feel nothing at all.
Asahina's warning was late, Jonin Hatake's few remaining comrades were ambushed and separated.
Day 12:
I can hear them screaming. I can hear them screaming and cursing my name.
Day 13:
Strategically attacked by four jonin of Iwagakure. Said jonin were eventually terminated. Chunin Tanaka suffered wounds to the leg and chest (though the second injury was shallow.) Jonin Hatake suffered a moderate case of chakra exhaustion. Anbu Parakeet left the exchange unscathed.
Tanaka sensed comrades within range, two anbu. The two parties were separated by a cavern wall however, communication was successfully established through it.
Despite the seemingly positive turn of events, Anbu Stag and Anbu Ostrich were soon dead at the hands of the Iwa nin. They complained of a smell, sickly sweet in nature, inquired if we could smell it and only Jonin Hatake could though faintly. The spluttering and gasping started only moments later, the screaming and groaning. The sobbing and choking and gurgling.
One thud as a body crashed to the floor, setting off a mine. The cave shook and none of us heard the second body.
Then:
Their footsteps echoed resoundingly throughout the empty stone colonnades. Usually as shinobi, they'd move in complete silence however, the nature of the cavern itself seemed to be that regardless of how hard you tried to supress it, noise would be given off.
Tanaka and Parakeet moved in tandem a few paces behind Kakashi, eyes solemn. They'd heard them too, their comrades falling, the persistent thud of explosions and the crunch of bones being destroyed.
They'd heard the screaming too.
There'd been so many and now there were none. Tanaka had said that he'd felt the others' fires being extinguished, he'd said there was no one left.
Kakashi believed him.
Their enemy was playing a game of intimidation and terror. Always empty, it didn't affect him. That didn't impair his ability to see though and it was clear as day that the twisted game was taking its effect on his allies.
Tanaka's bright face was harrowed and had slowly grown more and more fearful as they'd gone deeper and deeper into the caverns. Parakeet hadn't outwardly shown it but he'd felt that same terror slowly accumulating in her chakra. They were the mice in a cat's den and they knew it.
"Captain?" Tanaka's voice echoed harshly on the walls and Kakashi felt the young man wince.
"Chunin."
Tanaka took a breath and stared him straight in the eye, dark orbs determined.
"Captain, I," he hesitated, "I know I haven't been treating you fairly recently and I just wanted to say I'm really really sorry!"
Tanaka bowed, his back slightly crooked. Kakashi could swear he was shaking and if he could see his face he'd bet it'd be scrunched up in anticipation.
He sounded like he was about to cry.
Kami, Tanaka really did remind him of a child and a child had no right being in this situation. He'd been a child and look just how well he'd turned out.
A broken husk, that's what some of them had called him.
Just why had he brought Tanaka again? In fact, why had he not taken the mission alone? It wouldn't have been the first time he ignored Jiraiya's orders. Taking the mission solo would've been thrilling, would've saved him their blood and screams.
He probably would've died by now if he'd been alone.
It took Kakashi a moment to realise doe-like eyes were staring up at him, scared.
"It's fine Tanaka, I know you and Asahina were close," Kakashi said, nonchalant and those big eyes seemed to widen even further.
"You did?"
"It's part of my job."
The silence that followed the exchange was relatively comfortable and some of the tension which had been in Tanaka's shoulders lifted. There was still a droop in his posture and a hesitation to his steps though.
Parakeet's fingers constantly strayed to her blonde hair – her one visible nervous tick. She was humming something familiar beneath her breath. Kakashi should've told her to stop, an anbu ought to know better, but the melody was oddly soothing, wafting softly in the static air.
Nothing was safe, nothing was certain but just for a minute, Kakashi allowed the song to lull him into a false sense of security.
Day 15:
Blood matted her hair brown. She suffered a concaved skull, fluid and matter were drizzled all over the floor. Her skin was mottled and black – it hung off her bones like loose streamers. Her radius and ulna protruded from the skin on her arms, bent, I'd judge somewhere around 45 degrees. Fibula and Tibia were shattered. Parts of her ribs were visible, some whole, some completely decimated. What little remained of her uniform had melted and was stuck solidly to her, just as charred as her body was.
The corpse was burned beyond recognition, the only identifying feature was the blackened mask welded to her face.
Parakeet was dead.
Now:
Kakashi screamed in agony, falling to his knees on the rocky ground. There was light searing his eyes and shrapnel in the wound. Of course there was shrapnel in the wound because a bad thing could never go without getting worse in the life of Hatake Kakashi. It was apparently impossible for anything good to happen to him.
At least he'd found the exit.
He didn't know how many days had passed though; his report would be shoddy at best.
Day 22? 27? 36? Jonin Hatake stumbles out of lethal cavern, playing field of Iwa's Chickako, alone where he started with many, slowly bleeding to death.
He was as pathetic as ever, a complete failure and despite that only coldness remained in the place where the pain should be.
Kakashi wasn't sure if he'd blacked out at some point – it was likely he had considering a relative amount of his chakra had been restored. That in itself was worrying, he was still in enemy territory and falling unconscious alone was easily just as bad as dissociating in the middle of a battle.
He really had been doing worse recently, hadn't he?
Kakashi's legs were leaden, heavy in a way that made him want to scream again. His jonin vest was in tatters, his navy undershirt wasn't doing much better, darkened in places by crusted blood.
A minor medical jutsu kept him in one piece. A faux-stasis jutsu he'd seen field medics using in the past. If applied to an injury that wouldn't be lethal, it could imitate stasis on the affected area until patients could get more intensive care. It left him in just as much pain as he'd been in when he'd found the injury and considering the shrapnel had been there when he'd cast it, aside from keeping him from dying immediately, it wasn't doing him much good.
Kakashi slowly shook his head, it wouldn't do to worry over things he had no way of fixing. With a grunt, he pushed himself back to his feet. Sharp bursts of pain ran through them and each step felt like he was walking on shuriken. The first step was difficult, the second was harder.
His own breathing rattled in his ears but the sound of birds crying signalled his starting line.
Kakashi closed his eyes and with a deep breath, pushing through the pain, he began the race back to Konoha.
Then:
Tanaka was scared, Kakashi could feel it. He hadn't stopped crying since Parakeet.
At least he was quiet.
He shouldn't be here though, shouldn't. He wasn't capable of taking on the threat they were dealing with.
Spider.
Parakeet had written spider in her own blood. The Spider, an alias for Chickako. Chickako who was an A-rank at the worst of times on enemy turf.
They were in the middle of The Spider's web though, flies to be picked off.
In her web, Chickako became an S-ranked threat.
Research on the woman had been an academy assignment when he was a child and only the crafty lived to grow as old as she had as shinobi. How he'd allowed his squad to walk into her death trap was beyond him. He should've just listened to Asahina, maybe then they wouldn't all be dead on his watch.
She really had been right.
"Kakashi?" Tanaka muttered. Kakashi ignored him in favour of keeping his eyes ahead, he didn't have time to waste comforting distraught chunin. He needed to keep the pair of them alive, needed to return at least one person home safe.
"Kakashi, she's near," Tanaka whispered, clutching at his arm. Kakashi could see the goose bumps which covered Tanaka's dark skin. His eyes were dilated with fear and his small frame trembled uncontrollably. "Her chakra," Tanaka's wide eyes were turning glassy and his lip wobbled, "it's disgusting, it's vindictive and poisonous and- and-" he hiccupped, "I don't… I don't want to die yet!"
Kakashi ripped his arm away from the chunin, careful not to push him away with enough force to hit the wall. They didn't need to set off a mine and be dead before the old nin found them.
If he could feel, he might've been sympathetic or maybe uncomfortable.
He wasn't either of those things.
"If you don't want to die, then enough of this, Tanaka. Get up and use those shuriken of yours. I know your accuracy is nigh perfect."
"A few perfectly thrown shuriken aren't going to stop an S-rank kunoichi!"
"Complete terror isn't going to stop her either, is it now?"
Tanaka bowed his head and Kakashi averted his eyes as the boy rubbed away a few tears.
Kakashi didn't dare to hum as he was tempted to, he instead rested a solid hand on Tanaka's shoulder and attempted to offer the boy an eye smile. Just when was the last time he'd done that? From the way Tanaka was looking at him, it'd probably fallen flat.
"Look, you have a good head on your shoulders, you'll be fine Tanaka and besides," Kakashi's face furrowed as he uncovered his sharingan, "I'm not going to let you die."
Tanaka gave him a small nod, face relieved before panic flooded it.
"She's got Iwa-nin right-"
Kakashi rapidly flipped back, putting more space between himself and the place he'd been standing with a quick substitution. The rock he'd replaced himself with shattered with a loud crack as an exploding tag was detonated.
He'd forgotten The Spider didn't fight her own battles. She sent flies to do it for her and this particular battle wouldn't be over until both they and their leader were dead.
Tanaka stood tall, determination gleaming in his eyes just as brightly as the shuriken between his fingers. Kakashi took his eyes off of him, sharingan analysing the seven ninja before them in a flash.
Kakashi sunk into his own fighting stance, he wouldn't allow himself to lose.
He couldn't.
Tanaka let his shuriken fly and the cavern descended into chaos.
Day 17:
Jonin Hatake and Chunin Tanaka successfully staved off the fifth wave of Iwa nin. Tanaka sensed a sixth wave in addition to two jonin-level opponents and Chickako further in the cave.
The sixth wave arrived and we fought: clanging as metal hit metal; muttering as jutsu were called upon; cursing as attacks missed and the shuffling of footsteps as we all danced with death.
Then there was screaming.
Tanaka was bleeding, a sword protruded from his chest. Shock and betrayal marred his cherubic face. His eyes glistened with tears as he collapsed, gasping for air and clutching at his wound. The weapon had missed his heart but he coughed up splotches of blood all the same, breaths short and shallow.
They stabbed him again and then he was dead and then they were dead too, ripped apart limb from limb, limp bodies twisted like contortionists.
The two jonin Tanaka warned me of were quick to follow. I don't remember it, the whole event was hazy. Crushed skulls and pink sludge and grey matter which spattered over my toes.
Cracked spindly old bones, broken in as many ways as possible. A bashed in skull – blunt trauma and whisps of silver hair dyed a disgusting crimson. An explosion corps cloak torn to bloody shreds and gaping holes where eyes should be.
Explosive tags for good measure, all of my explosive tags and now she and Parakeet match. A blade through the chest for Tanaka.
Dead as dead can be and yet there's still no satisfaction, no vindication or sadness or disgust.
Just static and cold and so much emptiness.
Now:
Tsunade's fingers moved nimbly as she braided her hair for bed. Her eyelids were heavy after a long day of signing and filing paperwork yet her mind drifted to other matters.
The one at the forefront being the huge problem that was Kakashi.
She had been furious when Jiraiya had told her he'd permitted Kakashi to go on the S-rank mission he'd wanted so badly – his mental health was in shambles for Kami's sake, he shouldn't have.
Now though, she was just worried.
Tsunade carefully took up her toothbrush, scanning it for poison (as the hokage, she could never be too careful) before pasting it and brushing her pearly whites in the familiar reflection of her bathroom mirror.
The squadron had gone completely silent a few days into the mission and nobody in Konoha had any idea what had happened to them.
A week had passed, then another. The third had ticked along slowly and now the fourth was drawing to a close.
She gurgled some mouthwash before flashing herself a bright smile in the mirror and turning off the bathroom light. Her mind still whirred insistently as she threw herself onto her plush double bed with a deep sigh.
She'd send a follow-up squad in the morning, she couldn't just ignore the brat's mission luck finally running dry.
With that thought, she allowed her eyes to flutter gently shut and sleep to take her away.
It couldn't have been an hour later when someone knocked on her door.
Tsunade cracked her eyes open, fully awake as any shinobi ought to be. Blankets were thrown everywhere as she sauntered out of bed, fuming. A quick glance at the mirror on her nightstand revealed that being woken up in the middle of her beauty sleep had indeed given her dark and ugly eyebags as it tended to.
On a mission that was fair enough but at home when there was likely nothing to be worried about… Jiraiya knew better than to wake her up, he'd learned the hard way when they were kids. It was going to be someone else and their face and her fist were going to become good acquaintances.
Screw being the hokage and not hurting citizens, if they weren't dying or dead, they were asking for it.
Tsunade marched to her door with every intention of yelling at the person on the other side for waking her up and punching them in the face if their reason for waking her up was idiotic. When she swung it open though, all of her thoughts froze just as her whole body did at the sight which befell her.
Kakashi stood in her doorframe, his clothes and hair drenched in crimson, completely alone. Three familiar, aged scrolls rested in his bruised arms while a fourth, which she assumed to be his mission report, hung loosely out of what remained of his jacket pocket.
"Mission complete," he said in a completely emotionless tone, levelling her gaze with that single empty eye before dropping all four scrolls and vanishing into the night, leaving a trail of blood in his wake.
Tsunade didn't sleep again that night. She instead rushed to Jiraiya.
For once in her life, Tsunade didn't mock him for the messiness of his home when she barged past his tired form into the cluttered hallway. She paid no mind to the collections of books which riddled the floor or the familiar photos on the walls, hurrying to the kitchen.
His table was flooded in so many manuscripts and concept ideas that she couldn't see it. In a split-second decision and a swift movement, to Jiraiya's chagrin, they all laid on the ground.
"Was that really necessary?" He asked, looking a lot more awake as he glared at her. Tsunade invited herself to a glass of his fine sake before sinking into a mismatched chair.
"Kakashi's back."
"And this relates to my work being scattered all over the floor how?" Jiraiya said the line jokingly but his eyes were sharp, serious. Tsunade slammed the mission report onto his table in response before taking another sip of her drink.
"Read it aloud, I haven't looked at it yet."
Jiraiya did what she said, unfurling the scroll and beginning to read. It wasn't like most of Kakashi's other reports, strict and organised – it was chaotic and lost. Jiraiya clutched the paper tightly as he read the words written on it, paling more and more the further he went.
The report confirmed that not a single other person sent on that mission had survived it nor had any of the Iwa nin who'd been the cause of it in the first place - many dying by Kakashi's own hand.
"We're not sending him back out there," Jiraiya said wearily as finally he set the report down. It was disturbingly detailed and worryingly detached in a way that scared even him. Towards the end, Kakashi had gone into excruciating detail over the condition he'd found each and every corpse on his way out of the cavern, both ally and foe. No detail had been missed and that in itself was terrifying.
Tsunade nodded in complete agreement. She was a medic and his report had been enough for even her stomach to churn uncomfortably.
"That's exactly what I thought," Tsunade muttered.
"How can somebody go through something like that and still be alright?" Jiraiya mumbled, eyes downcast.
"My only answer to that would be I don't think Kakashi's been alright in a long time," Tsunade said, voice soft as she took his hand in hers. Jiraiya leaned his head on her shoulder and Tsunade allowed him to though she'd vehemently deny it ever happened later on.
In that moment, they both needed the comfort.