8.
- K -
Patience had always been a strength of Kakashi's – or so he'd like to believe. But being back with Naruto and Sasuke without Sakura to act as a mediator was proving difficult. Even Sai, the new addition that he'd barely socialized with, was all but useless as he observed the argument and oddly seemed to take notes on the insults. The two men bickered non-stop, competed to a point of risking injury, and generally weren't good patients. Kakashi had also been suckered into taking the lead of giving them orders since Izuhara looked like he would rather crawl into a hole in the ground than say even one word to the men.
Naruto had prompted Sasuke into an argument about who was strongest and, for being so confident in his abilities, Sasuke was easily goaded. Even Icha Icha had failed to absorb his attention enough to override the back and forth yelling. The Jonin opened his mouth to silence them when a messenger came sprinting onto the grounds with a red, flustered expression.
"I have an urgent message from the Hokage!" the girl shouted as she huffed for air due to her rush. They all stared at her expectantly, waiting for her to continue. "She requests you in her office immediately!"
None of the men gave a moment's hesitation to take to the rooftops with a silent understanding among them.
This had to do with Sakura.
All but busting down the door, Naruto shoved his way into the Hokage office and Kakashi couldn't help but to noticed Sasuke was no more than half a step behind the blonde in his aggressive entrance with Sai close behind.
"Baa-chan, what's wrong?" The rude nickname was ignored as Tsunade lifted her gaze to lock Naurto with a ferocious glare.
"Lower your voice, this meeting is official business," she ground out as she reached for her sake bottle. Silence only lasted a few moments before Sasuke chimed in.
"Why call me here? I'm not a nin of the Leaf." Tsunade's pouring of her sake slowed, but she still didn't speak. "Who's on her team?"
Tsunade's grip on the sake bottle tightened.
"It was a solo mission."
Every muscle in the room tensed. If it was a solo mission, they were likely not being called in as backup. They were being called in as a recovery team. Naruto burst forward to brace his hands on Tsunades desk as he spoke desperately. "Is she injured? Where are we meeting her?"
Nothing about this meeting made sense to Kakashi. Sasuke's presence was a red flag since the Uchiha male wasn't capable of engaging in any official village business. Tsunade's oddly quiet nature was a red flag of massive proportions on its own.
"Sakura is missing in action."
Reality seemed distant for a moment before Kakashi regained control of his thoughts and his reaction was to gather more information. "When is the last time you had contact with her?"
"She was only meant to be collecting a sample and I received the sample three days ago, but there was no follow up report, nor has she checked in since then. I knew no matter how I tried you all would find out somehow." Taking a generous gulp of sake, the blonde woman continued. "And I wanted to clarify, none of you will be on the reconnaissance mission – nor do we know if we'll need one." She added the last piece hastily.
As hokage she had to stick to facts. As a ninja and Sakura's teacher, she knew better than to think Sakura would ever miss a check in unless in serious danger.
Or dead.
His cynical mind could terrorize him at the worst times.
Naruto flexed his fingers pressed to the desk with his palms splayed out in front of him as if he was grasping for answers he could pick out of the air.
"If we don't hear from her within the next few days I'm going with or without official permission." Naruto's answer was direct defiance of his hokage and he was testing his future position as hokage by ignoring orders so openly.
"Don't be a dobe." Even Sasuke seemed to realize the severity of Naruto's threat and attempted to check the man.
"Dickless, I am certain Sakura is ok—" Sai spoke in time with Sasuke's attempt to calm the emotional blonde.
Naruto whirled around to stalk towards the dark haired man, thrusting an open palm against Sasuke's chest to shove him back before throwing Sai a glare. "I know you can't come because of your probation, but there's no way in hell I'm leaving her out there."
"I am not just leaving her out there!" Tsunade roared, leaving Kakashi to wince at her volume and the anger Naruto had initiated. "It is protocol to send out a search team, but only after four days missing. The nature of the mission also factors in and, with the mission I gave her, it may endanger her further to have Leaf nin show up. I haven't the slightest idea of what alias or cover she may have been forced to assume and having you idiots bashing down doors won't help anything."
Sighing deeply, the woman leaned back in her chair while keeping her sake cup so tightly in her grasp it looked as if it may shatter.
"This mission is…..highly ranked." The busty woman was attempting to remain vague in order to uphold her duties as hokage while still giving them enough information to abate them. "I can't disclose the content but know that I will send out a team within the next 48 hours if I haven't heard back from her."
No one seemed to know what to say.
Somehow, as Kakashi thought about it, it would make sense if one of the male Team 7 members was missing or compromised. Sasuke had left plenty of targets on his back from the wreckage left in his wake of years trailing merciless killers. Naruto was the kyuubi container and an eternal source of attack. Sai? Well the man was ex-root and that likely left some unresolved ties.
But Sakura?
Hospital running, healing Sakura? She was still active duty and had proven her skill more than enough times, but somehow the idea of someone going after her was….wrong. There was no entanglement with enemy nin nor innate family power that could be harvested. That didn't make her any less skilled or useful, but it certainly made something about the whole thing surreal.
The image of her name on that cold, hard stone left him wanting to follow Naurto's lead.
Staring down the other teacher in Sakura's life, Kakashi felt some kind of understanding between he and Tsunade.
"Go home, all of you. I don't want to see your faces unless I call you in here and don't think for a second that I don't have border patrols up for her sake and yours. I will know if you try to leave and I will personally hunt you down," she threatened. "Don't waste my time chasing you. Dismissed."
Silence fell upon the room as the men all departed in stiff unison. It seemed Kakashi wasn't the only one unsure of how to respond to Sakura's status as MIA.
"I know it's not the same for you, but she's like my sister. She comes before our training and I'm leaving if she needs me," Naruto softly told the Uchiha.
"Tch. She's assigned to our training, it would be a pain to work with someone stupid."
Naruto stared at the dark haired man in wonder for a moment. Sasuke had just unknowingly acknowledged Sakura had something to offer that others didn't. Valuing a skill was one of the highest compliments the Uchiha had to offer. "Y'know Teme, it's okay to say you're worried." Broadly grinning, Naruto's somber mood tapered off to reveal smugness.
"I'm not worried. She's more annoying than I thought if she does something dumb on a mission and I have to put up with an air headed nurse."
"C'mon everyone, let's get Ramen. I'm not in the mood to beat anyone's ass right now. Some of the guys were already going to meet us for lunch." Sasuke's scowl deepened and Naruto continued before he could reject the offer. "Don't try to get out of this, I can always start telling fangirls where you hide from them." The scowl only dragged deeper on his lips and Kakashi found himself trailing along with them.
When they arrived, the group Naruto referred to was already seated at the counter. Neji, Shikamaru, Lee, and Kiba all sat at the bar. Naruto settled into the seat next to Neji, Sasuke next to Naruto, Sai following, and Kakashi on the end. The late joiners ordered, and the group fell into basic chatter of missions, training, and some complaining.
"I swear Ino gets a bigger mouth every day. Between her and Temari women are too troublesome." Naruto snickered at the comment.
"I'm sure Temari would love to know you called her troublesome. I'll let her know next time she's in Leaf, ne?" Kiba jeered. Kakashi swore he saw the strategist pale for a moment before gathering his composure.
"That would be very troublesome." There was a comfortable lull in conversation as the men ate before Shikamaru spoke again. "I'm sorry to hear about Sakura. I was working on her extraction strategy this morning."
Kakashi's attention was drawn into the conversation at this change of topic. They're already planning for extraction? Tsunade made it sound like she called us in immediately. It seemed the blonde knew how to play her cards right and having a plan before Sakura's team was informed was a wise play.
"Sakura-san is a very capable ninja, I imagine the situation must be extreme for her to not be reporting. I think a team should be dispatched immediately." Neji's comment only further put Kakashi attitude on edge.
"Tsunade won't let me join the recovery team." Pouting by Naruto was not surprising with the circumstances.
"Don't be stupid, you're too emotionally involved. The recovery team is mostly shown here. Kiba, Neji, and Ino are going," Shikamaru explained plainly.
Kakashi analyzed the use of the team. It was kept small for discrete extraction. Kiba was obviously skilled in tracking and Akamaru could could track almost as well as his own nin dogs. Ino had followed Sakura into the medic field, but of course was nowhere near the skill level of their pink haired teammate. She would still be of use if Sakura was injured. Finally, Neji would be able to trace her chakra signature best with Byuuakaya.
"If she hasn't reported within the next 48 hours the team will be sent out. In the instance her cover was blown, 4 days would be plenty of time to return here and a hasty exit would explain not being able to send a scroll to avoid it being intercepted."
The men shifted to talking general mission protocol and Kakashi resumed tuning them out.
He ate and left quickly, something that went unnoticed by the younger men consumed with eating and talking. With an intent to sneak away, their exuberant conversation worked in his favor. Scaling the seemingly endless stairs to the hokage tower office, Kakashi didn't bother to knock as he entered. Tsunade was still taking back shots of sake like her life relied on it and Kakashi merely raised an eyebrow at her behavior.
Shooting the man an annoyed glare, she yanked open a drawer roughly and deposited her drinking paraphernalia in it before slamming it shut.
"Don't look at me like that. We're in the same shitty boat," she snarled. Her voice had lost the strength from their earlier conversation and it came out more like a plead than a growl.
"What can you tell me that you couldn't tell them?" Not one for small talk, even the cynical type, Kakashi pushed ahead with the issue at hand.
Tsunade dropped her face into her hands with red tipped nails. "She's been captured, we both know that." A nod was his only response and she knew he'd done it without looking up. "She was near the sound border."
Kakashi shifted his weight from one leg to another subconsciously.
"I want you to head the team if we send one. You will be just as useful if not more so than the Hyuuga, but I want you both. I want this to be a rescue mission not just a recovery one." The difference was clear – body bag or no body bag. "I obviously couldn't say that in front of Naruto, but I still don't have much more information to give you – hell, she barely had any when she left."
Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the woman, suddenly feeling so bold as to question her decision making. "What exactly did she know?"
"Watch your tone, Hatake. I can take you off this just as easily I put you on it," she warned, and he attempted to sooth his rising temper. "We only had reports of poisonings occurring by the land of the Whirlpools and the Sound border. A Leaf border patrol happened to find a series of bodies and at this point I assume they were meant to be found in order to draw us – her – out.
"She was sent to collect a sample of the poison and come back immediately after. However, I received a sample and within the hour I received another. Being her usual bleeding-heart self, it seems she got led into a trap through collecting another sample – or more accurately by healing another person."
Kakashi found himself fisting his hands roughly into his pockets. It was hardly the time for porn, but he felt an itching for something to do with his hands.
"I don't know exactly what to make of it, but at this point it seems the initial bodies were meant to be discovered and they knew she was the only one qualified and able to come with me in office."
"They targeted her?" The question was more of a statement that echoed Tsunade's earlier implication and he didn't even need Tsunade's confirmation nod in assent.
It seemed Tsunade was just as lost without her sake cup in hand as he was without his novels as she tightly locked her hands together and flexed her fingers intermittently. "Sakura is a world-renowned medic and fighter as well as a prized ninja for the Leaf. The possible motives are endless. Unlike her teammates, there's no clear explanation as to why someone would be after her." It seemed neither of them could find clear reasoning behind her disappearance.
"48 hours?"
"48 hours. If she's not back, you depart the morning after next." A heaving sigh escaped the woman's lips as if all the air had been forced out of her lungs. "Dismissed."
Not bothering with the streets, Kakashi appeared in his apartment living room with a gentle puff. His nin dogs appeared moments later at his summons.
"Sakura is missing," was all it took for the dogs to all raise their hackles. "If she doesn't report of return in 48 hours, I'm going assigned to the recov—rescue team. Be on stand by." The silver haired jonin caught himself at the memory of Tsunade's clarification of the differences.
"Yes, boss."
With that he allowed them to disappear and made his way into his bedroom where he began to strip away his clothes for a very necessary shower. Training hadn't even had a chance to begin, but he felt the need to try and wash away the day.
She hadn't reported.
She was near Sound.
She was MIA.
Sakura was MIA.
Maybe he'd been naïve, but he'd never entertained the idea of something happening to his female student. Naruto and Sasuke had tried to kill each other for fuck's sake, violence and death had followed them both since chidlhood. Sakura had been different. She was a child with a clan that carried no special genetic or skill-based trait. There wasn't a whole lot of raw talent she'd shown in her genin days, so he'd scarcely taken notice of her.
Not that he'd paid enough attention to notice if she had any.
Guilt caused by his neglect of Sakura's training appeared from time to time, but no other instance had it been as strong as it felt under the hot spray of the shower in this moment. The guilt was usually accompanied by prideful ideas of what other skills she could possess had he properly taught her. In this instance, it wasn't based in hypotheticals of how he could have made her stronger. This time it was about how she was his student out there somewhere and he was powerless to help her.
Maybe he was underestimating her, again, but Tsunade's expression and actions had spoken volumes for the severity of the situation. Tsunade had been Sakura's biggest supporter and had never allowed anyone to speak poorly of her apprentice at the threat of seeing the true power of the Hundred Seals. The unspoken fear of the pink haired kunoichi being dead had left the air stale and created an itch in his lungs that made him want to choke on his own breath.
Outliving one's students was a tragedy in itself, but it struck him in a harsher way that it could be Sakura lost to this world.