Chapter fourteen
Confession

----

Kakashi retraced his steps back towards the village, thoughts whirling madly. It was terrible waiting for word from Pakkun, but if his suspicions were correct, he'd be better off in the long run taking the time to check this out. He was lucky they'd developed that technique between them, all those years ago.

He was reluctant to admit it, but as much as he hated his father, he'd managed to learn a lot from him in the time they spent together. Much of Kakashi's early prowess could be attributed to tips and hints Sakumo had slipped him during training, and he remembered one morning in particular when he was about four that had helped more than he could know at the time.

"What are you doing, Kaka-chan?" His father smiled down at him and used the nickname Kakashi had come to hate.

Kakashi scowled at the Shougi board in front of him. A notebook lay on his lap, the pages covered in scribbles and formulae. "I'm trying to figure out a good move that I can use next time we play."

His father laughed. "Moves that you create before play are never as good as the ones that come to you during a game. The heat of battle is a much better thinking ground than an empty training field, right?"

Kakashi screwed up his face. "I...guess..." he said, not really agreeing. Being under pressure and without a technique didn't sound safe at all.

Sakumo sat down beside him. "Think of the pieces as symbols. Symbols are power. They are only such because you give them power, and you understand their capacity for that power. How much power does a hisha have?"

He scrutinised the piece in the second rank of his soldiers. "Um, a lot?"

His father nodded. "It does. It can move nearly anywhere you want it to move. But what is its limit, Kaka-chan? What is its capacity for that power?"

"I can only move it up and down, or left and right," Kakashi said slowly. "The limit is that the hisha can't move in a diagonal direction."

"Right." His father beamed at him. "It has great power, but there is a strict guideline for that as well. Understanding the limit is understanding the piece."

Kakashi nodded.

"Has that helped, at all?"

"Yeah." He grinned up at his father. "Thanks, Dad."

"You're welcome." Sakumo noticed the notepad. "Here, give me that. I'll show you something else you might like to think about as well."

Kakashi handed him the book and went back to the game board, pushing the pieces around and considering each one's capacity for power. After a minute his father dropped the book down over the board and Kakashi started, glancing down at the childish picture drawn on a fresh page.

"A...face?" he asked incredulously. "How does that have power?"

Sakumo chuckled. "Look closer. Sure, it's a face, but what are the eyes made up of, what makes the nose?"

He leaned over and gave the picture a closer inspection. As his eyes neared it he made out the strokes of familiar hiragana characters, and he nearly gasped as it came together. "It's writing that makes a picture!" he exclaimed delightedly.

His father bent over also and pointed out the shapes with a pale finger. "The eyebrows are 'he', see? And the eyes, they're 'no'. If you look at the nose, you'll see it's a 'mo' shape, and there's another 'he' that makes up the mouth." He traced the outline of the face itself. "And the chin and ears put together are a 'ji'. Can you pick them all?"

Kakashi nodded. "So it's a henohenomoheji?" He crossed his eyes at the long and unfamiliar word and Sakumo laughed again.

"That's right, my boy. And it's the best thing for you because it's clever, like you are, and sometimes farmers put it as a face on scarecrows."

He scowled at the reminder that he shared his name with a crow-deterrent.

"Don't be like that, Kaka-chan. It's a good name, a strong name, and the best personal symbols are the ones where you have a great connection with them. One day, when you're an accomplished ninja, you might want to seal things and make them your own. Think of this picture when you do so, and your power will grow with it. Remember these words, my boy."

He smiled once more and Kakashi returned it freely, basking in his father's attention and the affection that they shared.

Despite efforts to the contrary, Kakashi had remembered those words, and when he'd raised the ninken, he'd chosen Pakkun for their leader, and made him a hitai-ate and a small coat to distinguish him from the rest of the pack. He'd hesitated at the coat but had wanted to give the head dog as much power as its capacity would allow, and had spent some time marking out the symbol, drawing each character as carefully as he could. And it had paid off, as his father had promised, and Pakkun's power had grown, allowing him to talk with both Kakashi and the nin-dogs, rendering him invaluable for communication between both.

The Hatake legacy was a curse of sorts, but Sakumo lived on in a number of ways, and not all of them were bad. Kakashi rubbed a hand across the pale skin of his arm, and wished he didn't look so much like his father. Memories were funny things - they warped and twisted until sometimes you couldn't remember if they really happened or you just wished they had.

He shook the thought and recalled another occasion when the henohenomoheji had proved its worth.

He'd dropped into the academy shortly after making ANBU and had time to kill, so he whiled away some hours in the library. He found a scroll that mentioned the possibility of infusing symbols with jutsu and memorised the process, Sharingan carefully storing the information for later use. He summoned Pakkun at his earliest convenience and the pug had worked with him, letting him seep chakra into the symbol on his coat, and patiently waiting as Kakashi had done the same to his newly inked tattoo. It was a slow process, and a difficult one, but when he'd finished they had a perfect communications line, a way of letting the other know what was happening, and a small link to follow each other to.

"So if you activate the chakra, our respective symbols will glow and work as a kind of beacon, allowing us to home in on each other?" Pakkun had asked, sounding almost impressed.

"Yeah," Kakashi had panted. The jutsu had taken a lot out of him.

"Handy," Pakkun decided, and they'd put it to the test. Kakashi summoned him before leaving on a mission to the Water country and activated the jutsu once there; his team had returned a few days later and the pug met them as they ported, waiting on the dock.

"So it works, then?" Kakashi drawled, grinning at the dog.

"Like a charm," he'd agreed.

Surprisingly, they hadn't used it very often, perhaps on only a handful of occasions. He rubbed his bicep reflexively and wished the sign would come soon. He was a patient man with some things, but now that Sakura could be in danger, he was afraid of his control.

----

The village was very small, and reminded him of a shanty town of sorts. The highway had been built, stretching out between major cities, and any number of small villages had sprung up on either side of the road. They were here to offer comfort to weary travellers, and boasted all the amenities of home for an apparently reasonable price.

He had no money, and so any price was unreasonable...not that he wanted the kind of 'comfort' they provided here, anyway. And maybe he was being too generous, thinking they offered everything. Most of those passing through were merchants with wagon trains...therefore most of those passing through were men. Warui Town - the name in faded paint on a billboard at the gates - offered 'comfort' with this in mind. The town provided two things, women and grog, and from the number of people out and about, it did a roaring trade.

The air was heavy with intermingled odours. The sweet, heavy scent of sake blended incongruously with the sour smell of unwashed bodies, and the ammonia reek of stale urine flavoured the air as well. Kakashi wrinkled his nose and stepped aside as a pair of brawling drunkards spilled out of the closest pub, a mob following them and cheering the fight on. He shook his head and kept walking, clamping down on the gnawing urgency that curled within his belly. Maybe he'd made the wrong choice, deviating from his course to enter the village. But who else could Pakkun have meant, when he'd hinted at old friends?

A young girl with a heavily made up face beckoned to him from the shadows of an alley. "You're a handsome one, Silvertop," she cooed, tugging at the tie of her wrinkled kimono. He looked away, then stopped in horror. Silvertop? Had the dye worn off already?

Glancing around, he spotted a cleaner looking bar of sorts, with glass-paned windows instead of open holes and good luck curtains. He crossed the street and bent down upon reaching a window, pretending to peer inside.

Dammit. At some point in the abrupt journey from Ontou to here, the colour had leeched from his hair, returning it to his natural silver. It looked a bit darker than before, a metallic gray now. He was thankful for at least that small mercy, but it would still be obvious to anyone that was looking for him specifically. And of course the eye patch had been left behind...or had it? He fumbled in his knee pocket and withdrew a crumpled ball of string and leather. All right! One thing, at least, that hadn't gone wrong. He tied it into place and was pondering what he could use for a bandanna when a soft voice caused him to turn.

"That more your style, huh?" He glanced at the speaker to find the young street walker from before.

"My style?" he echoed confusedly, still caught up in the bandanna idea and wondering why he'd never thought of it in the past. She gestured and he turned again, actually registering where he'd been staring at this time.

A brothel. Of course he'd been peering worriedly through the windows of a brothel. His luck just got better and better. He sighed and looked away from a large lady inside who waggled her fingers suggestively at him, and was about to make up some reason for his perusal when he caught a brush of some very familiar chakra.

He considered walking off but there was a possibility he could be followed, so he ignored convention and disappeared in a puff of Kumokasumi Senko, reappearing in a swirl of leaves at the far end of the street. He ducked into a nearby alleyway to get his bearings and tried to sense that chakra again.

He could feel it. It was like a tingle across his skin, and opening himself up to it made the hairs on his arms stick up, as if he was in the calm before a lightning storm. He relaxed his chakra as much as he'd allow, unwilling to endanger himself by giving in to, or challenging, that dark, primeval force. They were two streets away, and with no word from Pakkun, it was still the plan to check it out.

Kakashi had no desire to run into other street walkers or be approached by people he'd never met, so he boosted his legs and leapt lightly to the roof of a building overlooking the alleyway. He then jumped across a few other buildings until he reached his destination, dropping down onto the street.

He found himself outside a bar that had signage hinting at other pleasures, but it seemed less overt than a lot of the places he'd seen already in his short time in Warui Town. He was well aware of what went on in these places, but despite his penchant for the Icha Icha books, they weren't really his scene. There was a line between fiction and reality, and it was one he preferred not to cross.

He'd prefer not to cross the threshold of this establishment, either, but some things had to be done.

...Or not, as fate would have it. No sooner had he stepped forward to traverse the street, the door to the bar flew open, and a white-haired man stumbled out, rich voice proclaiming loudly that he loved all the girls there and would be back as soon as possible. A louder voice issued from behind the man, and Kakashi was not surprised at all to see a familiar blonde youth run out behind him. "We're never coming back, Ero-Sennin!" Naruto yelled, coming up behind Jiraiya and smacking him soundly on the head. "All you ever do is spend all our money and make a fool out of yourself, so from now on it's just regular inns and single-sex onsens!"

"Naruto, you say that every time," Jiraiya replied, rubbing his head and wincing.

"Well, this time I really mean it."

"Mou, you say that every time too!"

Kakashi wondered absently what Naruto would say in response to that, but it was at that moment the boy looked up, crinkling his nose. "Smells like..." he muttered to himself, before catching sight of Kakashi in the middle of the street.

There was a moment of shared stupefaction. Kakashi had been watching them interact for a full minute but he was unprepared for the rush of familial affection that hit him when Naruto made eye contact. There was something - had always been something - in the boy's clear blue gaze that humbled him. It was admiration akin to complete faith; Naruto had trusted in his abilities even when he hadn't, and even in this instant of recognition Kakashi could see the unshakable belief that if he was here then everything was okay.

The familiar twisting started in his gut again. It wasn't okay. Naruto had always trusted and he suddenly realised why it hurt. The boy saw him as Kakashi had seen his own sensei, and how had that faith turned out?

He started as Naruto launched himself at him, pushing past a calm Jiraiya and running over, stopping short just before reaching him and crossing the last stretch at a more sedate walk. The boy hesitated upon coming close and looked like he was debating the appropriateness of giving him a hug. Kakashi waited as he reached a decision before Naruto stretched out a hand and gave him a hearty clap on the arm, apparently restricting himself to this gesture.

"Kakashi-sensei!" He enthused, voice welcoming even if his lack of physical affection was not. "I didn't think we'd see you again until all this was over. And you're not wearing your mask! I almost didn't recognise you and you're not disfigured at all, I owe Kiba money now, and me and the Ero-Sennin have been all over the place, and what about you and Sakura-chan?"

Jiraiya followed Naruto over and stood next to the boy, crossing his arms.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto was glancing down the street now, looking for his teammate. He looked up, confused. "Where is Sakura-chan?"

Kakashi couldn't meet his eyes, didn't want to see that blind faith crumble. It wasn't deserved and he'd never asked for it; all it did was cause them both pain when he failed to meet the boy's expectations. He'd screwed up, again, and the last thing he needed was to lose the trust of his remaining student.

Jiraiya caught the evasion and pinned Kakashi with a look of his own. Understanding passed between them; a moment and the raw look Kakashi could feel on his face was apparently all the Sannin needed, and the older man sighed, pushing a hank of white hair from where it had fallen over his shoulder.

"Naruto," he said to his apprentice. "Go back, settle the bill, and then meet us at the Yoi Tavern on the next street over."

The boy looked like he wanted to argue, but Jiraiya gave him a firm shove and sent him off down the road. "Hurry now," he called. "If you're lucky, I'll treat you to dinner."

"Food threats don't work, Ero-Sennin," Naruto groused, but Kakashi couldn't help but notice his steps picked up a little after that. When he'd taken a corner and was out of sight, Jiraiya gave Kakashi another measuring look.

"I assume it's a long story, and I'm not getting any younger, so you can tell it to me over a low table and a warm cup of sake. Besides," he grinned, "you look like you could use a drink."

He didn't drink very often, but for once Kakashi was inclined to agree.

----

The place was a surprisingly upmarket bar and inn and they were ushered to their booth by a demure, reasonably clad waitress. They ordered and Kakashi wondered if Jiraiya's tastes had changed, despite the scene he'd witnessed earlier.

The older man watched the girl go collect their drinks and sighed wistfully once she was out of earshot. "Ah, it's the quiet ones I like the best, and the more layers of clothing, the better." He leaned forward and continued in a conspiratory fashion, "Helps get the imagination working, you know."

Or maybe not.

Kakashi gave him a flat stare and the Sannin sighed again, moving back into his seat and returning effortlessly to serious mode. "She's alive," he said, and Kakashi nodded, even though it hadn't been a question. "Orochimaru?" he hazarded, and this time Kakashi had to shake his head.

"Not exactly. The woman we're facing -" Jiraiya's eyebrows shot up, but he refrained from commenting, "-appears to be a subordinate of his, and has a family member, a brother, that I assume is higher up in the ranks. I haven't seen enough of her fighting to say exactly how skilled she is, but possibly high chuunin level tai- and ninjutsu. She also has a hiden that would have to be A-rank, at least."

"A hiden?" Jiraiya echoed.

"Yes. A jutsu that allows her to use the body of a sacrifice and change its appearance to that of anyone she chooses. I assume it's by investing chakra into the corpse, making the power of the copy proportionate to the chakra given. It cannot be seen through by the Sharingan. I'm not sure about the Byakugan but I've sent Tsunade a missive and hopefully she'll know more than I do."

"This jutsu," Jiraiya murmured. "It sounds familiar..."

"You've heard of it?"

"Something like it, at least. It would have to be about twenty-five years ago now..." The Sannin trailed off, brow creased in thought. After a moment he looked up and gave Kakashi an apologetic smile. "No, I can't remember. One of the perils of getting old, my boy; your faculties just ain't what they used to be."

Oddly deflated, Kakashi gave a tight smile in return. He'd gotten his hopes up when Jiraiya thought he'd heard of it, but again, he was no better off. He rubbed his left arm reflexively. But no worse off, either.

"Here you are!"

Naruto dropped the packs under the table before slipping into the booth beside Jiraiya. His cheeks were flushed and it looked like he'd run all the way from the other inn. His eyes were bright and there was a determined cast to his features that Kakashi knew only too well. Naruto had made up his mind about something, and there wasn't a force powerful enough in all the world to sway him.

"Kakashi-sensei," the boy said, and his heart sank. He'd hoped he'd be able to fortify himself with a few strong drinks before explaining what had happened, again. "Where is Sakura-chan?"

He was given a short reprieve as the waitress returned, carefully setting the sake bottle and two bowls in front of the older men. She bowed and asked Naruto respectfully if he'd like one too, but he scoffed at the question and asked for tea.

"Sake's stupid," he said, sending a scowl at Jiraiya, who cheerfully ignored him and took a deep swig from his bowl. "It's a terrible vice that makes you do idiotic things, and I hope never to turn out like some people who act like halfwits under the influence."

The waitress stared at him, admiration plain on her face. "Yes, young master," she breathed, then glided off to prepare his tea.

Jiraiya set his bowl down. "See what an excellent example I set for my apprentice?" he said proudly.

"You set a terrible example, Ero-Sennin!" Naruto shouted, missing the waitress' return as he turned to face Jiraiya.

"Now now, Naruto, it's 'do as I say, not as I do', as you know."

The boy looked like he had a response to that, but Kakashi cut him off before the conversation could escalate.

"Naruto," he said, refilling his sake bowl. He'd managed to down two full cups of it while the pair exchanged words, and he felt ready to tell once more how he'd failed everyone, especially Sakura.

The boy looked at him.

"How long has it been since we left Konoha?" he asked, and Naruto considered.

"A few months?" he guessed. "A season at least, since we're midway through autumn now."

"Right," Kakashi agreed. "So, three months ago Sakura and I set out from the village and headed northwest, working our way up into the Earth country..."

He told them how they'd travelled through the forest and trained in the rain. He described the battle against the enemy-nin and mentioned his own negligence in investigating Yumi's ability further. He spoke about their first impressions of Ontou and the fire that had claimed the inn, and then moved on to Izanami's 'generosity' with allowing them to stay. Finally, he got to Yumi's duplicity and the Kamikaze scroll, which had worked incorrectly and wound him up here.

"Wait a minute," interrupted Naruto before Kakashi was quite finished. "You honestly believed the Obaa-san would give you a death scroll?"

Kakashi blinked. Wasn't that what Pakkun had said too? "Yes," he replied. "She was troubled enough to temporarily exile us, so I didn't think anything of it at the time."

Naruto shook his head. "No way. Maybe she used to think like that, but she changed ages ago. I thought you'd know that, Kakashi-sensei." Surprisingly, the faith was still there in his clear blue gaze, and only his voice sounded disappointed.

Clearing his throat, Kakashi continued. "Well, anyway. So the jutsu failed, obviously, and set both Akio and myself down in a forest not too far from here. I summoned the ninken and got them to check out the surrounds, as well as sending Pakkun off to track Sakura's current whereabouts."

"Will Pakkun find her? Is she gonna be okay?" Naruto sat forward abruptly, dislodging his untouched teacup. Kakashi whipped a hand out to right it before any real damage occurred, and he froze as a bit of the cool liquid sloshed over his hand. He stared at the wet patch, unwilling to look up.

"I don't know, Naruto. If Pakkun hadn't hinted you'd be here, I'd be out there with him now. His nose is far superior to my own, but I can't stand not being able to do anything myself." He clenched his fists and a dribble of the tea slid down into his palm. "I've messed up. Sakura's in danger because I couldn't protect her and I'm afraid that next time I'm going to do it all again. Can you - will you - come along with me when Pakkun finds out where she is?"

Naruto nodded. "Danger in numbers, and all that."

"Naruto, it's safety in numbers," Jiraiya corrected absently, running a finger around the rim of his cup, but Kakashi found the misquote strangely accurate. Maybe Sakura would be okay, at that, since now they were apart.

He fell silent. His throat felt raw from talking and he took another big gulp of sake to soothe the obstinate ache.

Ow. So maybe sake wasn't the best choice, but they didn't have any water, and he'd already had a few glasses of the stuff. It wouldn't hurt to have some more. He took another gulp. Maybe he just wasn't used to it because he didn't drink very often. He'd have to rectify that. Sake was pretty good. He went to take another drink but his bowl was empty. When had that happened?

Oh well. Better fill her up. Her poured some more sake and watched as the clear liquid filled up the cup, stopping only when it was nearly overflowing, the delicate meniscus fascinating him for some reason. The challenge - because there had to be a challenge, didn't there? - was to bring it to his mouth without spilling any. Could he do it? Of course he could. He was a ninja.

"I'm a ninja," he told Naruto seriously.

The boy stared at him. "Are you all right, Kakashi-sensei?"

He paused, the challenge cup halfway to his lips. "Of course I am. Why would you even think such a thing?" He raised the bowl the rest of the way and sipped. Booyah! He'd done it. He was definitely a ninja. And quite possibly invincible. He eyed the sake bottle and calculated if he'd be able to pour a bigger amount into a bigger bowl and then drink that without spilling it. His eye lit up. Maybe a ramen bowl...

"Naruto." Jiraiya had been quiet for a long while, but spoke now. The boy looked away from Kakashi.

"Yeah?"

"Here." The Sannin handed over a bulging frog wallet. "Go and organise a room for the three of us. We'll be up shortly."

"Eh!" Naruto was incensed. "Why are you giving me my own wallet to pay with?"

Jiraiya waved it off. "Do you want to stay in respectable inns like this? If you do, pay yourself. Otherwise..." he trailed off and winked.

Naruto scowled and snatched the wallet, getting to his feet and dragging the packs out from under the table. "Stupid Ero-Sennin," he muttered, giving Kakashi one last worried look before crossing to the waitress and asking to settle the bill. Kakashi watched her name some ridiculously low amount and blush prettily, telling Naruto the tea was on the house.

"Really?" The boy grinned. "Thanks! Also, I need a room for myself and my two sensei." He glanced back over. "I think they're both drunk."

"Ah." The girl nodded and led Naruto out of the room. "This way."

Drunk? Kakashi was insulted. He was most definitely not drunk. A ninja, sure, but drunk? He laughed.

"What's so funny?" Jiraiya was giving him a piercing look.

Kakashi shrugged. "Nothing, I guess. Just...Naruto said I was drunk."

The look turned sympathetic. "You don't drink much, huh?"

Kakashi shook his head and winced. Why was the room moving? Were they caught in a jutsu? "Last time was about...uh...five years ago, now?"

The Sannin took a sip from his own bowl. "That was around the time the last Uchiha joined Orochimaru, wasn't it?"

Yeah. But he'd been drunk since then, hadn't he? "Ah. Maybe it was two years ago, then."

Jiraiya looked thoughtful. "That was when the body switch occurred." He took another sip. "For someone who always hides his face and feelings, you're surprisingly sensitive, Kakashi."

Kakashi reached up to touch his face, but succeeded only in slapping himself. "I'm not hiding my face now."

"True," the older man agreed. "Why did you take off your mask?"

"I was injured," he replied, managing to rub his forehead. His head was pounding slightly and he wondered why. "Sakura had to cut through the clothes on my upper body to treat the wound."

Jiraiya nodded. "I see."

"And then we thought it would be safer having it off, since it was like, my thing," he continued, flapping his hand. "And it felt nice."

"To have the wind on your face for once?" the Sannin asked flippantly.

Kakashi shook his head and felt his brain slosh around inside his skull. "Ugh. No. To have someone see me as myself, for once."

"Ah." Jiraiya's tone was shrewd. "You seem to have taken this separation very hard. Sakura-chan has been taught by the Slug Queen herself; I don't think you have any reason to fear for her safety."

"I know that," Kakashi hissed. "She's strong, I've always known that. But I want to be there for her, beside her. I want...her..." He trailed off. What was he saying?

"Are you saying you love her?" There was nothing in Jiraiya's tone to indicate his thoughts. No compassion, no incredulity, but best of all, no judgment.

"...yes," Kakashi whispered, almost to himself.

"Sorry?" Jiraiya leaned forward, cupping his ear. "I didn't quite catch that."

"I love her," he said more clearly, before the room spun and tilted and sweet unconsciousness embraced him before his head could hit the table.

----

When he woke the next time Kakashi almost wished the Kamikaze no Jutsu had worked, because he felt like death had claimed him only to spit him back, beaten and bruised. His mouth tasted like he'd been chewing on one of his old sandals and his throat felt like he'd gone on to swallow it; his eyelids felt like they weighed a kilogram and he wasn't looking forward to getting up.

"Are you awake, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto said, very loudly and very close to his ear.

"No," he croaked, and felt like crying. Why did he drink? Everything from last night had turned into a blur and he couldn't remember even finishing the tale of what they'd done in the last three months.

"The Ero-Sennin is checking us out of the inn now," Naruto continued, cheerfully oblivious to Kakashi's fragile state. "So he said you have to be up and out the door in five minutes."

Five minutes? Kakashi was fairly sure he'd need about five hours to get his arse into gear. Or maybe longer.

"Ugh," he said noncomittally, and willed the boy away.

"And we'll need you to show us on the map where that Ontou place is." Naruto was undeterred. "We can't see it, and we want to get a move on as soon as possible."

Kakashi froze. "Ontou?"

"Yeah, that's the village, right? Where Sakura-chan was? Aren't we gonna go and get her?"

Kakashi sat up, his eyes open. The room tilted dangerously but he ignored it, and clamped down on the bile tickling his throat. "We are," he said, nodding at Naruto.

Five minutes, Jiraiya gave him. They were out the door in two.

----

Kakashi sipped gratefully from a waterskin as he pointed at a map of the Earth country. "No, further above Iwa, and to the east of this river here. I'm fairly certain that's where we'll find it."

Jiraiya gauged the distance. "Well, we're here." He indicated a section in the Waterfall country. "It's going to take about five days to make the journey to the village, but it's the only thing we can do until you get some sign from that dog of yours, right?"

He nodded. "Until Pakkun sends notice, I can't think of a better alternative. At least we'll be closer to the last place we know Sakura was. Anything else is guesswork and I'd prefer to stick with facts for something like this."

Beside him, Naruto shifted impatiently from foot to foot. "Have we sorted this out yet? I want to start moving now."

Kakashi smiled at him. The boy's enthusiasm was infectious, and a slow buildup of anticipation was growing in his chest. "Yeah, Naruto. I think we're ready to get this show on the road."

Jiraiya gave a throaty chuckle. "Yes, let's start. As I like to say, the sooner we leave, the sooner we get there."

They jumped up onto nearby branches and pushed forward as one, Naruto giving the Sannin a tired glare. "I really wish you actually used all those stupid sayings, instead of just remembering them and bringing them out at random moments."

The Sannin laughed again and this time Kakashi joined him. It felt good to be proactive. He was doing something now, and already the chasm between him and Sakura seemed to be that much smaller.

----

Jiraiya had been spot on with his prediction of five days, and they reached the outskirts of Ontou on the afternoon of the fifth.

"This is it," Kakashi said as they dropped onto their respective branches and paused in their flight. He indicated the village below them. "I don't think we should go through the town proper; it might be best if we just go around it and check out Izanami's house for some sign of Sakura."

The other two nodded.

"Right," said Naruto. "So are those enemy-nin based around here? Since they ambushed you close by and that Yumi-woman knew about Izanami."

Kakashi frowned. He'd wondered that also but had found it more logical that they'd just come from Sound, as it was as close to Ontou as Sand was to Konoha. "I don't know, Naruto," he said. "I never got the chance to ask."

"Lead on," said Jiraiya. "These tired old legs of mine want a rest, and I can't see them getting one until we find Sakura-chan."

They pushed off again and Kakashi took them the long way round, dropping down onto the garden at Izanami's place right at the back of the property.

Naruto landed beside him and stumbled, a confused expression on his face.

"What is it, Naruto?"

"I smell..." The expression changed and he was off, pushing through the ferns and disappearing into the brush.

"Wait!" Kakashi called, but the boy was out of sight in an instant. "What was that about?" he asked, frowning as the Sannin dropped down also.

Jiraiya sighed and rubbed his head. "It's strange," he admitted. "It's been happening in fits and bursts since his puberty, but in this last year it seems to have kicked in permanently. Naruto...he can sense a specific person's chakra. It's not like the heightened awareness you or I would use; he seems to liken it to 'smelling' them, but I can't be sure if it's an olfactory response or a metaphysical one. I'm also not certain as to whether it was Naruto himself or the Kyuubi who initiated this development, but regardless, it's quite an unusual skill."

"So we could have followed Sakura's scent directly?" Kakashi was miffed. Had they just wasted nearly a week?

"No," Jiraiya replied. "It's not a long distance thing yet. He needs to be near the person or have an actual track to follow. I would have suggested we used this ability, otherwise."

Kakashi looked away. Of course. How foolish of him to doubt the Sannin. "Ah," he said. "Let's follow him, shall we?"

They made their way through the bushes and travelled for some time, eventually finding Naruto crouched near some recently turned dirt, eyes closed and one hand on the ground beside a battered looking kunai. "She was here," he said, without opening his eyes. "Ten days ago at most. She was here, and she was crying, but she was alive, and," he opened his eyes and pointed to the east, "she went that way."

"You can sense her?" Kakashi asked, his heart in his throat.

Naruto shrugged, at a loss. "I'm not sure. I just...know these things. I don't know where she is right now, but..."

Kakashi's arm tingled. He fumbled with his sleeve and tried to roll it up; when it stuck at his elbow he grunted and ripped it clean from the shirt. The ANBU tattoo stood out in stark relief against the pale skin of his bicep and he tensed as the scarlet symbol flashed then faded, changing colour to a pale, throbbing blue.

"What is that?" asked Naruto, his voice unnaturally high.

"That's a message," Kakashi said, a fierce smile lighting his features. "You may not know where Sakura is, Naruto, but Pakkun does. He's found her."

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Notes

hiden: a jutsu passed down through a family or group, like the Naras' Kagemane no Jutsu or the Yamanakas' Shintenshin no Jutsu. (Shikaino equals love!)

This chapter had a few things in it that are worth mentioning. Shougi is a game of Japanese chess played with 20 pieces per player on a 9x9 tiled board. Each piece is the same shape and they have kanji characters on them that say what they are. A hashi is the equivalent piece to a rook in chess; it's a castle of sorts and can move in a cross shape, any number of squares right or left, or up and down.

A henohenomoheji is the face symbol you see on Pakkun's coat. As Sakumo explained to Kakashi, the face itself is made up of hiragana characters and the names for each character make up the name of the symbol. It really is used for the faces of scarecrows in Japan, and as most of you will know already the word "kakashi" means scarecrow in Japanese, perhaps a play by Kishimoto on the jounin's wild hair. :)

There is no jutsu like the one I made that connects Pakkun and Kakashi, I invented it for convenience in this story otherwise I would have never been able to reintroduce Naruto and Jiraiya at my leisure; Kakashi would be all, "MUST SAVE SAKURA" and it would have been most unfortunate for all involved, since he'd have no help and the other two would still be off wandering in some random country somewhere. And we most certainly could not have that, because I love both of them very very much.

Someone mentioned that they thought the Pakkun that found Sakura at the end of chapter 12 was a fake, and I just wanted to clarify that he's actually the real deal and chapter 13 and 14 happen during the time covered in 12. Sorry if I've confused anyone, but it was important to have Sakura's reaction first and then play catchup with Kakashi because there would have been no point in her thoughts about Kakashi's death if I'd already reassured everyone that he was actually fine. Events are basically happening at the same time now; you'll see in 15 where they seam together.

Thanks as usual to DS, Molly, Candice and everyone who inspires and helps me and keeps me on track even though I have five fics going at once (cries), and also to everyone who reads and those who leave a review. I think chapter 13 got the most long/detailed reviews, and it was a pleasant surprise to hear from people who'd just stumbled on the fic, and those who'd lurked for a while before deciding to let me know what they thought. Please keep reading, and I love to hear your take on where the story is heading. Till next week!