Author's Note: Chapter 30! Thank you to the 15 followers, for those who have added this story to their favorites, reviewed, and even added me to their favorite author's list. You're so kind! Hugs!

Citations: Completely Original with inspiration from Naruto Shippuden Kazekage Rescue Mission Arc.

Sasori was about 15-years-old when he left The Sand Village; with age difference that makes Akina 10-years-old.

In Chapter 267, Chiyo says that the Third Kazekage's abduction happened over 10 years ago. So I think it fits seamlessly enough.

Chapter's Song: "Let The Flames Begin" by Paramore

Chapter 30
Flame In The Darkness

Akina stood alone in The Third Hokage's office, eyes down, as she was lost in her thoughts. Picking her head up to glance at the door behind her, sensing The Third Hokage as he opened the door to enter.

"Akina…" He addressed, holding his pipe as he passed her making his way to his desk. "Sorry I'm late to discuss the details of your mission." The old man sat down. Akina seeing him readying his paperwork to reference.

"Where's Izumo and Kotetsu?" She wondered out loud being just her standing before The Hokage's desk.

"They won't be going on this mission with you…" He looked over the paperwork, and sat it down to sternly look at Akina, his hands steeple. "We have intel that the Third Kazekage was kidnapped… Infiltrate and bring back any info."

"The Third Kazekage… Kidnapped?" Alarm rose in Akina's eyes so subtly.

"This will be a long mission…"

"I understand… And…" She contemplated. "I accept."

"Me being gone… Itachi will forget about me, and it will allow him to get close to Izumi… It's for the best." Akina thought, as she packed her backpack.

Shisui came in to lean in her doorway, holding a cloak, Akina noticing, but not wavering from her packing. "The Land of Wind… For how long?"

"Until I get satisfiable reasoning for the disappearance of the Third Kazekage." Akina informed emotionlessly. She stood up, swinging her backpack on her back.

"Here's a cloak," Shisui held out his arm with the cloak draped over it, blocking her way. Akina looked at his sweet eyes. "The sandstorms get brutal. Be careful."

"Thanks," Akina smiled a soft smiled and nodded with gratitude; she took the cloak to place it on. Shisui's arm still out straight to block her way, she eyed him.

"Let her go, Shisui." Yuasa's voice ordered.

"Mom!" Shisui looked the other way into the hall, his mother standing there; worry in her eyes. Akina smiled.

"She's capable, Shisui…" Yuasa urged.

"I have a duty to Konoha. You and Itachi can't expect me to not rise up the ranks." Akina explained as she dunked under Shisui's arm.

"This sounds way beyond a Chunin ranked mission… What is the rank of this mission anyway?" Shisui pried.

"A-rank." Akina said with no emotion.

"Akina!" Shisui scolded.

"I have nine lives remaining…" She smirked to comfort her friend.

"Like a cat…" Shisui scoffed in a chuckle. "You better be as sneaky as a cat or Suna Shinobi will have your head."

"I'll be fine," She opened the door, and her green eyes full of adventure glimmered as she smiled, "See you."

3 Days Later

Akina reached the Great Cliffs surrounding Sungakure; she peaked out from the mouth of a flytrap hiding on the surface of the sand, the wind blowing the sand every which way in the disk air.

"They will have a shift change any second, and that's when I'll make my move…" She thought as kept her eyes keen. A medical kunoichi then came out to the guards, giving them food pills from a woven-grass bowl.

"What?" Akina's eyes rose. "No shift change?"

Halfway through the long, narrow pathway between the cliffs, once the medical kunoichi was about halfway, a flytrap beneath the kunoichi's feet appeared to swallow her before she could make a sound.

The flytrap disappeared in the sand, and Akina same out, changed into the medical kunoichi's attire; she threw her Konoha clothes into the mouth of the flytrap for him to disappear into the sand.

Akina proceeded, coming out of the narrow pathway, passing the guards inside the village's gate with ease to see Sunagakure. "So this is the Village Hidden in the Sand."

"What do you mean she's gone?" Itachi asked from inside Shisui's home, opening Akina's bedroom door to see that she indeed was gone.

"I told you, it's an A-rank mission. Stop worrying." Shisui held his neck. "Hm?"

A flytrap then grew in the middle of the floor in Akina's room, puking out Akina's pants and maroon yukata. SLLRRPP!

Itachi blushed at the sight of Akina's shorts and yukata on the floor of her bedroom.

"You're blushing…" Shisui blankly teased.

Itachi's keen eyes went slant in annoyance to glare at Shisui.

A Month Later

"Deliver these records to Chiyo-sama." A higher-ranking medical shinobi handed a few scrolls to Akina. She took them and bowed.

Akina walked through the streets of Sunagakure, coming to the Kazekage's office to knock, but then hesitated to listen closely, her ear to the door. "He's simply vanished!"

"Simply vanished?" Akina questioned in a murmur.

"Lord Kazekage wouldn't just abandon us…" Another voice interjected.

"Well no one can rival the Third Kazekage with his Iron Sand and Magnetic Release." A third voice thought out loud.

Akina then sensed someone and turned as the old woman said, "Eh-em."

"Oh, Chiyo-sama" Akina remembered from studying every propenant character in Sunagakure.

"Have we met?" The cynical woman raised an eyebrow.

"No, ma'am." Akina bowed, holding out the scrolls to offer them to Chiyo. "I'm new in the medical corp."

"Name?" The old woman asked as she glanced over one scroll.

"Kaoru, ma'am." Akina said, standing straight. She then eyed a wound on Chiyo's bleeding. "Can I heal that for you, Chiyo-sama?"

"Huh?" The woman glanced, raising her hand. "Oh, it's just a scratch from a fishing hook."

Akina had an empathic smile, as she took Chiyo's hand with her own right hand, and healed with her left hand, Chiyo observing this keenly.

The wound was healed in seconds, and Akina released Chiyo's hand. "Don't be a suck up trying to distract me from the fact that you were eavesdropping a moment ago!"

A drop of sweat awkwardly streaked down Akina's forehead, as she sheepishly grinned. "I'm sorry, Chiyo-sama. I've been distressed over the state of our village… No Kazekage and all."

"Yes, indeed." Chiyo acknowledged, and turned away. "Follow me."

"Huh?" Akina's eyebrows rose.

"I'm taking you under my wing. You seem to have potential." Chiyo reported as she kept walking.

4 Months Later

Akina waited for Lady Chiyo in a room in the Sunagakure Hospital, but then— A puppet came flying out of a trunk, for Akina to dodge with a knife, looking at the red-haired puppet as he was close— Another female puppet came out of nowhere to pin Akina between the other puppet, Akina hit her foot to the ground to splint the rock floor and dive in— Evading the puppets.

"Hahaha," Chiyo cackled. "I thought I'd get you to use a water clone!"

"A water clone?" Akina played dumb, seeing Chiyo pull the puppets away from Akina.

"Knock off the act!" Chiyo tilted her head. "Aren't you from the Kirigakure?"

"Chiyo-sama…" Akina scolded in her faked confusion.

"If not Kirigakure… Konohagakure?" Chiyo nodded as she stared at Akina, nodding, as she was certain about Konohagakure. "You should train with that Tsunade!"

"…The Leaf Sanin?" Akina continued to play, "But what ever do you mean, Chiyo-sama?"

"I won't hurt you, Leaf child…" Chiyo reassured, the puppets dropping. "I found you out months ago. When you healed my wound on my hand…"

"Back then?" Akina faltered, senbon going into her fingers. "I've developed too much affection for this old woman while she trained me…"

"Medical ninja from Sunagakure would use their right hand when using Medical Ninjutsu, but you healed with your left hand." Chiyo explained.

"Such a cumbersome mistake… My left hand is dominant in water release and I use similar chakra when using Medical Ninjutsu." Akina scolded herself, gritting her teeth discreetly.

"I take it you're a Water User… But from Konohagakure?" Chiyo tried to figure it out. "I'm not ignorant that we have spies in every village and every village has spies here, but to send a mere seedling— You're a Mochizuki?"

"I suppose I've failed my mission…" Akina sighed.

"What was your mission?" Chiyo asked empathetically.

"To find out what happened to the Third Kazekage…" Akina reported hesitantly.

"I see…" Chiyo nodded. "Well, you've found out nothing because we still know nothing ourselves. I can allow you to leave."

"But why train me all this time…?" Akina questioned.

"I don't know, Kaoru-chan…" Chiyo contemplated. "To lower your guard, I suppose… I thought you were Kirigakure, but you have a gentleness about you that I admired… It reminded me of my son…"

"Your son?" Akina inquired.

"He… And my daughter-in-law were killed by the White Fang of the Leaf."

Akina saddened, bowing her head. "I'm so sorry."

"Did you lose someone in the Third Shinobi War?" Chiyo requested.

"My mother…" Akina answered, her hair falling forward as she raised her head from bowing. Pity filled Chiyo's eyes. "I was four-years-old."

"I hope you never lose your gentleness… My grandson lost his at the death of his parents… It haunted him." Chiyo gestured to the puppets that had dropped. Akina knowing she recognized who these puppets resembled, the two people that were in a picture on Chiyo's desk.

"Your grandson… He went rogue?" Akina recalled from her reading.

Chiyo nodded and changed the subject, "You really should train with Tsunade."

"Tsunade-sama isn't taking any students…" Akina informed. "I have to let you know one thing…"

"What is it, child?" Chiyo's brows rose.

"I have the ability to die and revive myself… So the Kisho Tensei: Self-Destruct Technique… I can give my life to someone, die myself, and then revive."

"Oh my…" Chiyo exclaimed. "Don't abuse it. You will just have to accept the death of some people in your life, and don't let anyone know I've taught you such a Jutsu. You'd put yourself at risk."

"Yes, Chiyo-sama." Akina bowed.

"A spy must be aware of every single little detail of the nation they infiltrate. Every single cultural aspect… Greetings, table manners, speech, et cetera, et cetera! You did well in everything… You had everyone fooled… Except that one misstep of how you healed my hand." Chiyo smirked. "Now go."

"Thank you, Chiyo-sama." Akina puffed into petals in an instant and whooshed past Chiyo, out the window into the sandy village.

"Mochizuki… I hope we meet again so you can introduce yourself by your real name… Kaoru-chan…" Chiyo declared as she watched the yellow petals leave Sunagakure.