This chapter and chapter 7 of The Dove and The Crow coincide with one another. Enjoy
Kakashi's View:
After another day of rest, my team was already chomping at the bit to get out there again. Tsunade had a meeting with us to discuss the next move, to my surprise they were there before me. I thought I'd beat them, even with my stop to pick up Kurenai's team. Naruto wanted to find Itachi now to lure Sasuke back home. I don't think he realized who we were up against.
"Unfortunately, it's not going to be that easy. Remember our previous encounters, it was either too dangerous or not an option." I stood in the doorway, watching Naruto and Sakura's shocked expressions.
"Then what should we do!?" The blonde shouted.
"All we can do is do our best to find Itachi." It didn't calm him much.
"You wanna use Itachi to find Sasuke. Let's just say you find him, what then?" Jariya came through the window. It was what I was trying to get to, but he beat me to it.
We discussed the plan, having two teams gathered for this mission. Yamato would take over as captain of my team again while I took over as Team Eight's captain. We would leave the next morning, our main goal was to find Sasuke but if we ran into Itachi first we would capture him.
Aurora had lots of questions that night about what the new mission was about. She wondered who Itachi was and wanted to know why Sasuke hadn't come home yet.
"It's...complicated." I told her as I finished packing. "Have you learned about the Uchiha clan in class yet?" Iruka shook his head from behind her.
"We haven't gotten to that yet." He answered.
"Ah, well, where to begin." I sat her on the bed with us, knowing this was going to take a while to explain. "Itachi and Sasuke were the sons of Fugaku Uchiha, the head of the clan. Itachi was a prodigy, making him the pride of the clan. He was one of the best ninja I have ever seen, but there was a darkness growing within the clan. I don't know all of the details, but Itachi snapped and slaughtered his clan. He spared Sasuke, telling him he was too weak for him to have bothered with." I never figured out why the mild mannered boy had done it. He never came off as a mad man, almost seeming to hate killing.
"But...why?" She asked, not understanding why someone would kill their family.
"No one really knows." Itachi was the only one that knew that answer. She couldn't comprehend the thought and stayed in a shocked state the rest of the night. I regretted telling her everything.
Aurora's View:
After father and dad tucked me in, I got up and looked out the window. The stars were always calming for me. I wondered if Sasuke was looking at the same ones, making him calm too.
I couldn't imagine what he saw, to be betrayed by someone you counted on...it must hurt. I felt a sudden drop in my stomach, realizing he had kind of done that to me and his friends. I guess revenge made you do things you wouldn't normally do. Father explained why Sasuke was after his brother, wanting to kill Itachi for what happened. Still, he shouldn't have left like that.
I could remember Sasuke, but I couldn't remember everything about him. I remember when father was teaching him chidori, he played with me on their breaks. He carried me home on his back after training once. I remember I was tired and didn't want father to carry me. Sasuke-nii offered to carry me, which I had been excited about at the time. The one that stood out the most was when he had smiled at me, telling me I did a good job. I just don't remember what I did, but I was happy to make him smile. I felt sad again, knowing I might never see him again.
"Sasuke-nii…" I whispered to the stars. "Please come home…" I know it was stupid, but I wished he could hear me.
Iruka's View:
I had gotten up to get water, but stopped at the top of the stairs when I heard Aurora talking. I snuck up to her door and opened it just a crack to over hear her talking to the stars. It broke my heart, hearing her want Sasuke back. Sure, she had Naruto and the others but she hadn't connected to them like she had to the Uchiha.
I watched her tuck herself back in before going back to our room. Kakashi was out, snoring softly and unaware I had left. I wondered if he still felt guilty for Sasuke leaving, I know he had for a while. I tried to assure him it hadn't been his fault, but Kakashi took those kind of things pretty hard. Sure, it had been shocking one of my old students had left, but I know it wasn't any of our faults. Sasuke had been swept up in his need for revenge.
"You know, it's rude to stare…" I jumped, nearly falling off the bed when the silver haired ninja spoke. "I can hear your mind whirling…" he rolled over to look up at me, reaching out to cup my face. "Something wrong?"
"Err...no, just thinking." I scratched my scar as he sat up to bury his face in my hair. He had an obsession with it, but never told me why. "I heard Aurora making a wish on a star."
"The one about Sasuke coming home? She's asked them once before when she was little, but she might not remember doing it." I nodded, feeling him pull me into a loose hug.
"You...don't blame yourself still, right?" He stiffened a little, letting me know subconsciously he did.
"He chose his path...but I thought he would stay after he saw her reaction." He admitted. "He had been so shocked by how upset his actions made her...I thought if he knew he wasn't alone or unloved, he might stay. But then Orochimaru's men had to show up…"
"They waited until you left." I fit the pieces together from other stories he had told me.
"If I had just stayed...made him come home with us instead of leaving him." I stroked the back of his neck, knowing it soothed him.
"You can't blame yourself for that." But he was stuck on the what if's. I listened, having heard him ask himself these questions when he thought he was alone. If Sasuke had stayed over, he might have stayed, but it could have pushed him away further as well.
"Maybe he'll finally come home this time." Kakashi was hopeful, but I heard some doubt in his voice. Sasuke was well known to be stubborn.
Thankfully it wasn't a school day, the weather had turned and a thunderstorm had settled over us. Kakashi had left earlier this morning, leaving me to deal with our terrified daughter. The storm got worse as the day went on, lightning now flashed in the sky and the thunder shook the windows.
"Sweetheart, it's alright." She was under our bed, hiding from the noise.
"No!" She cried, frozen in fear. A flash lit up the room, which had her flying out from under the bed and into my arms. She buried her face into my chest, saying something about someone coming for her.
"No one is coming after you." I tried to calm her, but she wasn't convinced. I was trying to come up with a way to distract her from the storm. So far, nothing worked.
"Daddy, I'm scared…" she still had her face hidden, the thunder decided then to shake the house, making her cry out again. Kakashi had a trick, but I wasn't able to do it. He would have her make little ice partials and lit them up with a lightning jutsu.
"Do you remember what your father does when you're scared? I want you to make little ice squares for me, ok?" She looked up finally, giving me a look like I had gone crazy. "I know, it's not the same, but trust me." I stroked her hair, assuring her it was ok. I felt the air cool down as I got up and turned the light off. I heard her gasp in fear, but I was quick to get back to her and sat her in my lap.
The little pink ice pieces lit up when lightning flashed, lighting the room in fragments of pink. The color changed with her feelings, so with each flash the color was different. Finally, she was having fun with it and was able to change each piece of ice to a different color. Now the room looked like it had windows made of stained glass. I ruffled her hair as she played with the pieces and made abstract shapes to be lit up. I was amazed that she had control over this many pieces of ice.
Kakashi's View:
By noon, Pakkun and I were deep in the forest when a large explosion was set off. I lifted my headband, watching it with my sharingan.
"Kakashi, what is that?" Pakkun asked.
"That chakra...Akatsuki." It was the same chakra those twins had. I wasn't sure which one had done it, but it could only mean one thing, Sasuke was nearby.
Everyone met back up, the dogs all catching the same scent and leading us to where the explosion had been. Sasuke's scent was just gone...but he couldn't have been far. A reverse summon of any kind had to be close by to work properly. It was pointless, however Shiba had tracked a new scent. This one was one he found in town, one that had also held Sasuke's scent.
"He was just here, along with other scents…" Kiba confirmed. I could smell them as well, but had no idea where they went.
"Let's go then!"
"We can't…" Pakkun told him
"The trail ends here." I confirmed, but Kiba was concentrating.
"Looks like they weren't blown up after all, I got 'em." Kiba smirked. "Nowadays, my nose is better than a ninja hound's." That meant I no longer held the title for most sensitive nose. We followed the trail from here, knowing it had to be one of Sasuke's new teammates.
"What's wrong?" Kiba suddenly got tense, causing Naruto to panic.
"Something's not right...Sasuke's on the move but his scent is going all over the place." Kiba reported.
"They must know we are on to them and are trying to fool our senses." I told them, knowing of this tactic. It was the best option when you had a hound on your trail.
"How did they…" Sakura started.
"I don't know. They might have an experienced sensory type on the team…"
"We can't split up too far, the coms won't work ,which scent do we follow?" Kiba shouted. Naruto solved this problem and made a bunch of clones, making them fan out to find Sasuke.
On our way, we ran into a man with an orange mask. He wore the Akatsuki attire, but I'd never seen him before. Despite this, something felt familiar about him.
"That cloak...Akatsuki." Yamato noticed him next.
"He's not in the report Kabuto gave us." We'd run into his as well, but he wasn't doing too well. He wanted Orochimaru's jutsu to take control of him, to become the next snake sannin. He was going to end up consumed by power if he wasn't careful.
"Oh, that's cause I'm new…" The man answered, over hearing us. I heard Kiba yell at him for being too cocky.
"Not taking me seriously? Not cool!" The goofy man called back. Naruto in this time had used a clone to attack from behind, but instead of landing a hit, he went through the man. The masked man laughed at him. He led us on a chase through the forest, seeming to be leading us somewhere.
"Be careful, he could be leading us into a trap." I warned everyone. They all nodded, taking a new formation and attacking again, only to seemingly miss him.
"Tobi!?" I heard a new voice up ahead. When we got closer, I saw it was one of the twins. It was the woman and she looked terrified to be caught by the masked man.
"Uh oh, looks like I lead them here…" Tobi didn't sound so sorry about it. He drew us here to her. She didn't have clouds on her cloak, making me wonder if she had ever really been part of Akatsuki from the start.
"You again?!" Naruto yelled. "Where's Itachi?!" Sakura was behind him and missed her by inches, hitting the tree instead.
"You're not getting away this time!" The pinkette yelled. Sai tried to corner the bomber, but she escaped his ink by using clay mites.
"You have it wrong…" I turned around to the soft voice of the blonde woman, watching Yamato capture her. I wanted to ask what she meant, but Naruto attacked. "Wait, no!" I heard her cry.
"Naruto!" Hinata called out. "She's pregnant! Don't!" Naruto let the jutsu go in shock and instead smacked into her, forcing her backwards out of the tree. I saw her ankle get twisted, knowing she couldn't run anymore. Now I understood, she wanted to get away from this guy because of the child she held.
"Yamato, we need to try and get the woman away from him." I told him, which he relayed to Sai. We kept the new plan quiet, knowing Naruto would shout it out and kept it from him.
"Nina-chan!" I heard Tobi call out, watching him put Nina's arm over his shoulders and take off with her. Shit...too late.
"Our formations aren't working...how is he able to avoid them?" And now we couldn't risk the woman he had.
"How the hell did he dodge it, we nailed him!" Kiba said, landing near Naruto. He and Naruto talked about how their attacks seemed to go right through him. Shino, confirmed that was what was happening.
"It must be a clone or a genjutsu then…" Sakura thought.
"I-I thought so too...but other than her, there's no other chakra signatures around us." Hinata had been watching with her Bykugan. I was learning Tobi was far stronger than he let on, hiding his real power from us and just playing pranks on us.
"Teehee!" Tobi laughed in glee as he leapt back.
"What do you think, Kakashi?" Yamato asked, knowing I was watching with my sharingan. Only thing was, I couldn't copy it.
"It must be something unique to him...which makes things hard for us. Shino." I knew his bugs would be perfect for this.
"I know..." He quickly used his bugs to surround the two Akatsuki members, trapping them in the sphere of bugs.
"Now Shino! Suck their chakra out!" Naruto was happy we had them, and then suddenly Hinata noticed something was off.
"T-They're gone!" The bugs released, showing no one was left.
"My bugs...were tracking their chakra. This is unprecedented…"
"Was it a teleportation jutsu?" Sakura asked, but Shino said it could not of been. That left a space time jutsu...that's impossible. Unless, he had the sharingan!
"I found them!" Hinata said, turning around and looking into a tree. The blonde woman was throwing up over the edge of the branch.
"Oops, should have warned ya. First timers usually get sick." Tobi told her. Kiba attacked, but it went through Tobi again. He shouldn't have attacked on his own like that, he nearly hit the blonde.
A plant started growing by them, revealing a man inside. What the hell?
"Well?" Tobi asked the plant.
"It's over…" Sakura asked what he meant. "Sasuke won. Itachi is dead." All of us were shocked, but none of the reactions were like the woman next to Tobi. The child...no, it couldn't be. But that reaction confirmed for me that she had been with Itachi.
"Oh! Didn't see that coming! NOT! Just as I predicted." Tobi was gloating, rubbing it in all for the sake of upsetting her more.
"Sasuke collapsed a second later. We should hurry, he might be fading fast."
"Hey! Aloe Vera! Where is Sasuke!?" Naruto yelled. The plant man didn't like the name.
"I'll play with you children another time…" Tobi's voice changed, suddenly deeper and far more menacing. He hauled Nina up by her arm, watching her face as he caught her in another portal. She was afraid of what was going to happen to her. As Tobi left, I saw the glow inside of his mask.
"Sharingan?!" I was shocked, not knowing there was a third Uchiha out there. "We have to get to Sasuke before they do! Hinata, what do you see at four o'clock?!" I asked her.
"Um...it's six miles from here...the forest is on fire, with black flames."
"That's it! Everyone, follow me!" I rounded them back up, taking off again in the direction the blonde woman had come from. I just hoped we got there to save them…
Once there, we realised there was no way to get in. Yamato made an earth jutsu to split the earth for us to pass, but he had to stay back to keep the path open.
Inside, the area was covered in rubble and small patches of blood, but there was no sign of Sasuke.
"There's a trace of their scent, but…" Kiba started.
"We're too late…" I sighed. Naruto stood off to the side, angry we were to late. I worried, what would become of Sasuke and the woman that seemed to be trapped in their clutches?