I do not own Naruto!
Enjoy! :D
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Bright orange tendrils of heat licked the sky as flames grew in intensity and spread across the east side of the village. The fire started at the barrier wall that separated the large village from the woods that surrounded it. The forest from which it pulled its name from, and the forest which protected it from outsiders. No one had predicted that the village would need help protecting itself from something that had happened within.
It should have been noticed. The turmoil that was growing from within.
Villagers had been going missing. It wasn't anything at an alarming rate. Just one every now and again, at such a pace where it would seem that they were just taking trips to other nearby villages. Those who had gone missing never had family, and they stayed to themselves, so no-one really noticed that they had gone until it had been months later.
That all changed just nights prior when two different people had gone missing on the same night.
An alert was raised. Nothing big enough to alarm the village, but something to put the Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai, or ANBU, unit on edge. The black cloaked ninja raced through the shadows of the village trying to decipher the clues that would point them in the direction of the two missing civilians.
The only problem: there were no clues.
The first civilian that had disappeared was a small child almost four years old. A child with hair the colour of the sun, and eyes as blue as the ocean. He was an orphan, had been for his entire life, surely someone that would never have been noticed missing if he wasn't already under the watchful eye of the ANBU.
There was a five-minute gap where the boy wasn't being watched over by the careful eye of the highly trained ninja as the shift change was occurring, and within that small gap of time he had vanished as if he was never there to begin with. No noise, no scents, no nothing.
The young ANBU with an owl mask, under different circumstances wouldn't have batted an eye at a child disappearing that quickly. Children are after all, unpredictable and have a tendency to get in to trouble and slip out of sight. With a quick outward flick of his chakra he realized that this wasn't the case and quickly appeared inside the orphanage and marched straight up to the matron, demanding to know the whereabouts of the young child.
Despite the abrupt appearance of the menacing looking man, the woman lazily dragged her eyes to a door on her left and shrugged her shoulders. "In its room I would assume."
The man reached an arm out and took a hold of the front of the woman's shirt. "Do you think I would be talking with the likes of you if he was?"
At this point the woman started to shake as killing intent slowly leaked from the bird masked shinobi.
'Y-y-you're g-going to sc-scare the o-o-other children!" she shrieked, her hands grabbing at the man's arms trying to get him to put her down.
"Where is the boy?!" The ninja demanded his voice low.
"If the monster isn't in its room then I don't know! The door hasn't opened!" The words spilled out of the woman's mouth in one quick jumble. "If it's not there then the demon probably slipped out the window."
The ninja tossed the woman to the side, and turned his back on her, a sneer unseen from behind his mask. "I wouldn't get too comfy. We will be back to question you further." He said over his shoulder as he walked out the front door.
The man slipped into the nearest set of shadows, disguising himself from view, and again reached his senses out to try and pinpoint the unique chakra that the young child contained within himself.
It was just gone. As if he was never there to begin with. Weasel had been watching him over the last eight hours. He was professional in his job, and wouldn't have given him misinformation to cover his own backside. Something strange was going on, and he didn't like it. There was only one thing that gave him solace as he hightailed it to the Hokage's office: knowing that Inu was out on a mission, and wouldn't kill him. Yet.
On the other side of the village a young man with long flaming red hair was finishing up his paperwork within the main office building of the Konoha Military Police force. He wasn't a member of the police force, so to speak, it was difficult to get in to the force if you weren't an Uchiha, but he still insisted on assisting from time to time when the force was a little understaffed.
Now the force would never outwardly admit that they were low on staff, as they were always 'recruiting', but with all the increase of civilians disappearing, it was difficult to not be stretched thin. The red-head knew that Uchiha Fugaku was doing all that he could to investigate, but after a point they almost had to swipe them under the rug. In his words, "People of that standing go missing all the time. Sometimes they just don't want to be found."
Now he didn't agree with the elder Uchiha's words, so he did everything he could in his spare time to research into what was going on. He didn't have much time as he was almost constantly out of the village on missions, but it pained him knowing that so many people had been disappearing from under their noses. He had made it his personal mission to comb through every last detail of each person left unaccounted for within the village.
He had to have had close to fifty files stretched across the table that he had called his desk, just trying to work out the details. Most of the ones who had disappeared had vanished without a trace. Their homes were spotless, and any traces of their persons had literally vanished in to thin air. It was something that should have been impossible to do for a civilian. So that meant that they had to be dealing with a shinobi, or at least someone who was skilled enough in kidnapping to make sure their targets couldn't be found. But that brought on a new problem: how were they able to get away with it inside the village of all places, where there were so many elite shinobi that were constantly in the village?
The man was brought out of his musings as the bell on the front door jingled alerting to the occupants of the room that someone was entering. Looking up from the files he saw a woman with long raven coloured hair and a purple coloured dress entering the room, her dark black eyes betraying the concern the she obviously tried to hide from those within the hall.
"Mikoto-sama!" a gentleman with the same shade of her as her exclaimed, running up to her. "We didn't expect to see you here today. Is everything all right?"
"Motoki-san," the Uchiha matriarch regarded her clansman "I was wondering if you had seen Momo-chan today?"
"No ma'am, I've been in the barracks all day. Did something happen?"
"She was supposed to come around for tea this afternoon and she never showed."
Overhearing the conversation, the red head felt his heart skip a beat. Uchiha Momoko was a very capable kunoichi in her own right, but she was currently a very pregnant woman, who was expecting her new child any day now.
The man stacked the files together neatly and stood up. Brushing his long locks behind his ear he walked up to the Uchiha matriarch and offered a small bow. "Uchiha-sama. Please allow me. I'll go see if I am able to locate Momoko-san."
"Ah, Minoru-san!" a smile lit up the woman's face "I didn't even realize that you were here!" She reached a hand out and laid it atop the gentleman's shoulder. "I'm sure she just got sidetracked at the market, you know how talkative the girl is, but with her due date so close, I would really appreciate it if you could!"
"It would be my pleasure," the man gave another bow as Mikoto took her hand off his shoulder. "I'll drop by the compound later to let you know what I find."
Mikoto smiled at the young man in front of her, he wasn't too much younger than she was, but he was always to perfect example of professionalism. His bright green eyes smiled as his mouth turned upwards, showing off a toothy grin. His long blood red hair was contained in a low ponytail that reached down to his middle back, only a few strands were left loose to be pulled behind his ears. His clothing was that of a standard Jonin, with black shinobi pants and sandals, and a green chunin vest pulled over top a long-sleeved black shirt. Despite being off the clock, he was prepared for anything that could be assigned to him at a moment's notice and had multiple weapon pouches attached to the waistband of his pants, and a kunai holder attached to each leg.
"I would appreciate that, Minoru-san. Thank you."
The man quietly left the building thinking of the young Uchiha. She had long black hair, much like everyone else in her clan, but it hung in ringlets around her face when it wasn't contained in a bun at the top of her head. Her eyes were a soft black colour, not nearly as heard looking as those of the rest of her clan, and she had the sweetest smile that would cause her lovely eyes to curve upwards when she was truly happy. She truly was the opposite of so many in her clan, and was as down to earth as one could get with being born as an Uchiha. But she was able to use that to her advantage as well, she was a tough fighter, and she would wait until you were wrapped around her finger until she struck, taking the enemy down quicker than a blink with her quick acting poisons.
She was loved by all, in and out of her clan. There was even talk of her becoming ANBU within the next few years, or joining the T&I department with her penchant for poisons. That all changed though, when it was discovered that she was pregnant.
It wasn't uncommon for kunoichi to get pregnant, even more so for one to become pregnant out of wedlock. It was an occupational hazard that one had to be extremely careful about. There were ways to avoid it though, and especially if one was as skilled in poisons as Momoko was, it was a hazard that should it have happened and she not want it to, that she could have made it so no-one had known.
She didn't though. She was so determined to carry the baby to term, and kept much about the coming child a secret to all but a select few. The one piece of information that she refused to give though was the child's father, and it made the council furious. The Uchiha was a founding clan of Konohagakure, and it infuriated the council that the father of the child could have been a no-name civilian, and some bastard child could eventually unlock the doujutsu that they had strived so long to keep unique to the Uchiha clan.
The clan council had tried to have her abort the baby, and when that plan failed, they went to the Hokage and the shinobi council. The Hokage put his foot down quicker than you could say the word 'Jutsu' and denied that request, the shinobi council backing his answer, stating that they would not help diminish the will of fire by acquiescing to that request.
Continuing to keep her head up despite everything that had been going on around her, Momoko still kept her silence of the name of the father and had moved to the furthest section of the compound, so that she could stay as far out of sight as she could of the rest of her clansmen.
Minoru actually admired the woman as she would still go out daily and chat with the civilians, asking about their days and how their families were. No-one would have known what was going on in her daily life if they had not already been privy to the information. That's what made her deadly as a kunoichi though, her ability to keep secrets and keep up facades despite the situation.
It wasn't like her, though, to not show up to pre-arranged meetings like the one she had with Mikoto. That's what put him on edge. The woman was prompt as a shinobi and that bled over in to her daily life. While she could be moody and childish at times, she always showed up when and where at the appropriate times.
He strolled through the streets of the village a little quicker than he normally would as he kept his ears and eyes open for anything that would point out that the peach named Uchiha had been there at some point through the day.
He had helped her shop a few times previously so he knew the locations she tended to stop within the markets, and a few stops later he quickly learned that no-one within the little shops had seen her during the day. That in and of itself was worrisome as the woman loved to take walks, and hated being cooped up in the house all day, so for no-one to have seen her at all could not have meant anything good.
Continuing on his way he decided to pop in to the hospital to check there. She was due in a few days after all, and it wasn't uncommon for the little parasites to come early after all.
A few words with the nurses later, and he was back on his way again. The staff within the hospital had not seen her since her appointment a few days ago.
Minoru was coming down to the last straw. She was way to far along to have been assigned a mission, even one as simple as a D-rank would be too difficult for her right now with her restrictions. At this point there was only one place that she could be that he hadn't personally checked, that he could only assume that Mikoto had checked before coming down to the precinct: her home.
Uchiha Momoko's house was a small little cottage at the far edge of the compound. It was a small building that was far enough away as to not draw attention to herself, but close enough that if there were ever any trouble, someone within the compound would be able to assist.
As Minoru got closer to the compound, he couldn't help the pit that was growing in his stomach, telling him that something was wrong. Keeping up appearances, he waved at the gate guards as he walked in to the compound and headed down the dirt pathway to the quaint cottage. For what felt like the thousandth time, he flicked out his chakra for a moment, trying to pick up the young woman's gentle feeling chakra when he stopped in his tracks.
Her chakra was gone.
He started running towards the small cottage his mind running wild.
He slowed when he got close to the house. Looking around he saw nothing truly out of place, so he walked up the small staircase, willing his beating heart to slow down.
Crossing the threshold into the house, he flicked his chakra out again, and the pit in his stomach grew ever deeper. There was no trace of her chakra in the house.
Outside a building, the absence of residual chakra could be explained. Heavy rains and wind would blow the chakra from the air and scatter it, making it difficult for even the most skilled tracker to find the source. Inside a building though, it was intentional. When one lived in a building for even more then a few days, their chakra would slowly start to settle into everything, and even years after leaving a building, one could never truly erase someone else's chakra, it almost became a part of the building itself. Unless it was just built, there was no way for a building to be void of chakra, yet here he was. In a house that he knew Momoko to be residing in, and yet it was barren of chakra.
The red-headed shinobi took a further step in to the small cottage trying to gain a few more details as to what had happened. No matter how hard he looked though, he wasn't able to find anything. It was in as pristine condition as it had always been when he stopped by to assist the young woman with groceries or other basic necessities during her pregnancy.
He was just about to leave the house to report back to Mikoto when he caught the clue that he was looking for. He took a deep breath and wondered how he didn't catch it earlier.
Now, he was no Hatake, but his nose was as good as any other. When one was trying to cover their tracks, sometimes they would do a little too good of a job. There was one tool that he had used often in his career as a shinobi, and that was smoke screens. Usually they did what their name implied and cause the appearance of smoke so that one could make their escape as quickly as possible while trying to create a distraction.
There was one type though, that did not create a smoke screen, it simply eradicated every smell within the area. It was used to disorientate trackers so that they couldn't pick up the scent of their targets. It was a tool that was used to cause as little distraction as possible. So that no-one would notice a thing was off until it was too late, and it wasn't something that was used on comrades.
Taking one last look around the small room he made a decision and disappeared with a small pop.
Reappearing with a similar pop, he steeled his eyes on the figure ahead of him and instantly dropped down to one know and lowered his head.
"What is the meaning of this?" the voice asked, annoyance clearly evident.
"I'm sorry for breaking protocol, Hokage-sama, but it is for a matter of upmost importance." Minoru's voice was low and even. "Uchiha Momoko has gone missing."
There was a silence that almost echoed through the office room.
"What do you mean missing?" The Hokage almost growled out, his eyes narrowing.
"I was at the barracks earlier today when-" There was a small rush of wind in the room that caused Minoru to stop recounting his tale.
"Hokage-sama-" an Owl masked ANBU suddenly appeared in the room, he too dropped into a kneeling position.
"I'm guessing no-one likes listening to protocol today." There was almost an amused lilt in the man's voice despite the cross look on his face.
"The jinchuriki is missing."
Everyone froze at the words of the ANBU, and the temperature seemed to drop almost ten degrees.
"What. Do. You mean. That he. Is. Missing?"
"I had just started my shift. Took over for Weasel, sir. The boy was unattended for five minutes at maximum. I went to my post and he wasn't there."
"And did you not search for him?" The God of Shinobi growled out the question, and Minoru had to do everything in his power to not start shaking in his boots. The man truly was a formidable ninja.
"Even if I wanted to, sir, I wouldn't have been able to. His chakra was gone." Minoru picked his head up and looked at the ANBU, his eyes wide. "Felt like it was gone for ages, the only person within the village who might have been able to track him is Inu and he's out on that S-Ranked mission."
"It was the same with Momoko." Minoru stated, both the Hokage and the Owl faced ANBU turned to look at him. "There was no trace of her chakra, anywhere. And when I went to her house, the entire place was wiped of smells, it was as if she hadn't even lived in the building. She's just gone."
This was not good. Both Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Momoko had gone missing on the same day. Momoko would have been a high target due to her being of the Uchiha clan. Naruto's status as a jinchuriki, while known throughout the village, was an s-ranked secret, so no-one outside the village should be aware. No-one should even know about his parentage, so that would make him even less of a target, unless-.
"This was an inside job." Minoru breathed out, looking up to the Hokage.
"Excuse me," the Fire Shadow said, raising an eyebrow.
"Were there any disturbances at the gate, lately?" Minoru looked to the ANBU next to him, and waited for him to nod or shake is head before continuing. "Did anything out of the ordinary happen today?" The Hokage continued to stare straight at Minoru. "Who else would know the procedure of the ANBU watching the young Uzumaki, to have known the precise five minutes that no-one would have been watching him to be able to snatch him, wipe all traces of himself as well the child, and get out without being caught by the ANBU? It would have to be someone from the inside." The inhabitants of the office got quiet as they thought about what the red head was saying. "And how would an outsider now that there was an extremely pregnant Uchiha who is shunned by most of her clan, almost a perfect combination to be able to kidnap her as well as wiping all trace of it before being caught by anyone else?!"
A stern expression crossed Sarutobi's face before he slammed a fist down on his desk, scattering paperwork across the desk and the floor. "I want the borders closed, and the gates shut. No-one gets in or out without my approval!"
The room was silent for a moment, and no-one moved.
"Did I stutter?" The man shouted, and instantly the Owl-masked shinobi saluted the elder and disappeared. "Rabbit!" Instantly, another shinobi materialized out of thin air. "I want your best tracking team looking for the two. Get on it now!" The shinobi gave a curt nod and he too disappeared. "Minoru!"
The man in question looked up to the village leader, ready to receive his mission to help with the searches.
"Go home." Minoru looked sharply at the Hokage, confusion written strongly across his face.
"Sir?"
"I know you have been researching the civilian disappearances, I am sure that this is related. You have a clever mind. Find the clue that we have all been missing."
Minoru saluted the Hokage, a look of determination on his face as he disappeared in a swirl of leaves. He was upset that he couldn't be out there actively finding the two missing citizens, but he knew that this was important. He wouldn't let the old man down.
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The last three days had passed quickly, and Minoru had gotten very little sleep as he continuously combed through every aspect of the cases that they had. He'd admit that there wasn't much information, but he dug into the information that was contained in the missing persons reports, the evidence if there was any, and eye witness recounts from their neighbours and friends if applicable.
Minoru, on several occasions, had almost given up. It had seemed impossible. He had read these cases over a thousand times before the Hokage had tasked him with this and it had seemed impossible even then. It was a mission now though. He HAD to discover the missing clue. He HAD to find Momoko and little Naruto.
The victims had all been loners. Rarely talked to their neighbors. Only reached out to family when they needed to. Had the least amount of possessions that one could have. Never had any visitors-.
Well. There were several who had a visitor days before they had ended up going missing. A Konoha shinobi. They were known to do wellness checks every once in a while, just to make sure everything was alright.
Minoru looked back through the first report stating that the missing person had received a visitor just a few days prior. The witness stated that the shinobi had long greasy black hair, and pale, almost seemingly translucent skin.
He glanced over the next report, and it showed a similar description of the visitor: sheet white skin, and dressed in all black, the witness thought that it was an ANBU.
The next three reports were written similarly, giving him a full description of the man. Greasy black hair, with pale white skin, wearing black shinobi sandals and grey chest plate armour. The man had apparently moved deftly through the streets, and one witness claimed that he heard the man almost hiss like a snake.
Orochimaru.
He had no reports from the barracks stating that Orochimaru was ever approached about speaking with these people before their disappearances, and Minoru could only assume that it was due to his title as a Sannin.
That was going to change. Minoru had just started to get his answers and he wasn't going to stop until he had them all.
He got up from his kitchen table, leaving the folders scattered across the table and jumped out the nearest window looking for any trace of Orochimaru that he could. It shouldn't be too hard, it's quite difficult to get the smell of snake out of anything after all.
He found several leads, but they all lead him to a dead end. It wasn't until after night had fallen that he finally got a whiff of snake that not only had to have been fresh, but couldn't have been a decoy.
As he followed the scent, he couldn't help but worry about how the night would play out. It was October 10th after all. The villagers were all unaware of what was going on within the inner workings of the village and were celebrating the defeat of the Kyuubi only four years ago, unaware that the child who kept them safe from the demon itself was currently missing.
He weaved in and out of the villagers who still crowded the street despite the late hour as he followed the scent further from the town center and closer to the edge of a small forest that laid just within the village walls. He walked up to the edge of the woods and felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on edge, alerting him to a potential danger.
Minoru put his hands up in to a cross seal and mumbled "Kage-bunshin no jutsu!" and an identical clone of himself appeared next to him.
Putting his hand up flat in front of him the clone grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled it down revealing a portion of its chest to Minoru. Placing his hand on the exposed portion of skin, he applied a sizable amount of chakra and whispered "Fuin!"
Removing his hand from the clone, he quickly inspected the work and clicked his tongue in approval. "It's been a while since I've done that, but it should hold. You should be as sturdy as I am now."
The clone saluted the original as it awaited its orders.
"I want you to keep close, but keep hidden. I don't know what's going to happen when we get there, but I have a feeling that it's not going to be good."
The clone nodded and seemingly disappeared into the forest around them to stay hidden and follow the original.
Minoru took a deep breath and headed into the forest, following to the scent of snake as it led further and further into the trees, until he eventually came to the front of an old dilapidated building.
"Is this a joke?" Minoru sighed as he looked at the obviously uninhabited building.
"I'm afraid not." Minoru jumped at the voice, and looked over his shoulder to look at the person who had snuck up on him. The man had spikey shoulder length hair, black shinobi pants, and a grey armour chest plate on top of a chunin vest. With the two red lines that ran from his eyes it could only be one person.
"Jiraiya-sama-"
"He's here." the man took a step further "There's no mistaking the stench of my teammate."
"Are you sure?" Minoru whispered looking at the man from the corner of his eye. "Do you know how to get in?"
"I think we'll just try to front door." There was an amusement to his voice that Minoru didn't quite like.
He followed the sannin in through the front door of the old shed and they were instantly greeted with a large staircase that seemed to plummet into the earth.
"You want to go first, Princess, or should I?" Jiraiya laughed, causing Minoru to cross his arms and frown at his immaturity. This was a serious situation and the man was cracking jokes.
He brushed ahead of the man and took the lead climbing down the stairs, dropping further and further into darkness.
When he finally reached the bottom and stepped off the staircase, he was surprised when the halls instantly lit up, torches along the wall coming alive with fire.
"So much for coming in unannounced." Jiraiya mumbled from behind him. "Come-on. We have to make quick work of this. Let's find the kids."
Minoru paused in his step and looked back at the sannin with a confused look on his face.
"You thought I just showed up for a social visit with the snake? I think we've both come to the same conclusion by now. He's the one stealing people, and he's got a couple of someones that we are both looking for." He had a steely glint in his eyes. "You coming with, or you going to run back like a scared little girl?"
Minoru matched the look in his eyes to Jiraiya. "I wouldn't dream of backing down. Now I think we've got work to do."
"That's what I was hoping for." Jiraiya clapped the younger shinobi on the shoulder, before turning on his heel and taking off running down the hall. "Let's find what we're looking for before he finds us."
The two ran down the hall, splitting up to cover more ground checking the contents of each room, leaving no stone unturned in their search.
Most of the rooms had been abandoned at this point, but the smell still lingered. The smell of dried blood, sweat and other bodily fluids. It was obvious that the rooms had been cleaned at one point, but whoever cleaned it didn't put too much work in to it.
There was a room with the walls lined with bottles that contained different organs. There was another with a shiny metal table and sharp utensils sitting on a tray next to it. One other had shackles hanging from the ceiling, and blood still staining the walls and the floor.
After walking into the last room Minoru almost turned right back around but a voice in the back of his head told him to go in and check to room out further. He walked in to the room and stood in the center, trying to decipher what it was about the room that put him on edge. Despite the shackles on the wall, it was just a plain square room made out of cement blocks. It was cold, and smelled just like the other rooms, except-
He took a step closer to the shackles. The blood smelt fresh. It wasn't stale like in the other rooms. He reached his hand out to the wall and grazed it with his fingers, feeling the sticky wetness of the obviously fresh blood.
"Kukuku, little Minoru. I never expected to find you here."
Minoru whipped around to face the pale skinned man that he originally came to question.
"Orochimaru. Where are they?"
"Oh, my boy, I think you may have to be a little more specific than that." There was a twisted smirk that made its way across the snake man's face.
"Naruto and Momoko."
"Oh!" Orochimaru chuckled. "Why didn't you just say so?" there was a sing song lilt to his voice and it unnerved Minoru.
"What did you do with them?" Minoru reached to his weapons pouch.
"Well I would tell you, but I don't want to." The man stepped closer to him. "So why don't I just kill you instead?"
The snake sannin launched two kunai at Minoru, which the red head blocked with a kunai of his own, before firing of several shuriken and taking off to the right, trying to get around the man and out the door.
"Kukuku," the laugh echoed off the walls around Minoru, "You're going to have to try a lot harder if you want to fool me, Minoru-kun."
Minoru stopped in place his eyes wide as he saw Orochimaru's neck seemingly stretch out, and his jaw dislocate as it came racing towards him. He threw a kunai back at the incoming face of Orochimaru, but it did nothing to deter him, so he put his arms up across his face in an X shape hoping to at least be able to defend himself from whatever it was that the sannin was trying to do.
A moment passed and the attack never came. Minoru looked up and could only blink as he processed what he saw. In front of him, was the clone that he had created earlier, taking on the full brunt of the attack that Orochimaru had planned for him. It took him only a second though to take the opportunity to run as fast as he could.
The sannin's eyes were wide in anger as he saw what he had caught, and Minoru took this as the opportunity to run. Orochimaru spit the clone out, and roared in anger and ran after the red headed shinobi.
"Where is Jiraiya when you need him?!" Minoru mumbled under his breath as he continued to run through the halls.
Looking over his shoulder he saw the greasy haired man had started to run after him, and making six quick hand signs he turned around and called out a jutsu "Fire style: Pheonix Fire Jutsu!" balls of fire shot from his mouth flying back down the hall towards the sannin.
He took back off running down hall and grinned as he heard the hiss from the man, hoping that meant he had caught him with the technique.
"Don't get too confident with yourself!" He heard the man behind him shout. "Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"
Minoru threw himself down the nearest hallway, barely dodge the snakes that the man had summoned. "Why did it have to be snakes?" He mumbled to himself as he kept running, hoping that one of the hallways led him to either Jiraiya, or an exit.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
"No!" Minoru panicked to himself as he searched desperately for another hallway to throw himself down to keep himself out of the path of the jutsu.
With no luck though, he took the full brunt of the wind attack, with it throwing him further down the hall causing gashes to litter his body.
His body came to stop abruptly, slamming against a wall at the end of the hall.
Falling to the ground in a heap of limbs, he tried desperately to pull himself up to a standing position.
"How cute, kukuku," The snake summoner laughed. "Who would have thought that this is how it would end for you Mino-kun?"
Minoru glared at the pale man, bracing himself against the wall as he felt the entire building shake. "Whoever said it was going to end?"
"Awh, and you don't know how to quit. Just like your sister."
"And just like my sister, I won't let a monster like you destroy my village!"
"Too late, child. You can't stop me now. I have the perfect weapon, thanks to the Kyuubi brat and the Uchiha." The grin on Orochimaru's face gave him the chills, and his heart skipped a beat as he could only dread what the man meant.
"What do you mean?"
"I guess it won't matter if I tell you. Since you're going to be dead soon anyways." A pointed tongue slipped its way out of the snake summoners mouth, truly giving him the appearance of the animals that he summoned. "I was able to create an artificial jinchuriki. A little chakra from one demon, and a little of another, swirl it together, and all of a sudden, I have a brand-new demon just waiting for a host."
The shocked looked on Minoru's face must have pleased Orochimaru as he continued his explanation.
"I had to go through a few different hosts, and a lot of research, but it did prove to be most fruitful when I got a hold of the container and the whore. All it took was studying that blasted seal of the Yondaime, and a little research as to who the father of the child is to be able to create the perfect weapon to destroy Konoha!"
"I won't let you destroy my village!" Minoru shouted, the building shaking again as he got an idea. He put his hand out flat on the floor in front of him and channeled chakra to the ground, his eyes on the snakelike man as he walked towards him, jaw unhinging for a second time.
"Time to die, brat!"
"Funny, I was going to say the same thing to you!" Minoru pulled his hand up from the ground to reveal a fuin arrangement. "ACTIVATE!" The ground glowed a bright white colour, and Orochimaru put his hand up to shield his eyes as the seal grew brighter and brighter.
Minoru felt the building shake once more, walls falling to the ground around him, and he took a calming breath, ready to accept his coming death as his bomb seal was ready to blow, taking Orochimaru with him.
"Oh no you don't!" Minoru heard as a hand grabbed his collar and yanked him harshly backwards through gravel and rocks, causing further gashes to appear across his exposed skin. He finally came to a stop in time to hear the blast go off, the intense heat licking at his skin.
The loud blast disoriented, and deafened him as he tried to gain his bearings.
What seemed like hours passed before he was able to ascertain up from down and stand up to face the man who had saved him: Jiraiya.
The Sannin had a furious look across his face as he studied the younger man in front of him. "Are you crazy?" He asked the man before shaking his head. "Doesn't matter now. ANBU will be here any moment. Come-on. Let's go."
"Go? Where?" Minoru asked taking in the full view of the man. He had a small bundle in his hands, and another thrown over his shoulder. The bundle over his shoulder he could clearly see was a child, blonde hair poking out from the top of his head. "Is he alright? What about Momoko?"
"We don't have much time, come-on kid!" the older man had started moving towards the woods.
"No! Tell me, what happened to her!"
The Toad Sannin stopped and looked back at the red head. "She's dead."
Minoru felt his world crumble. He had grown up with Momoko. She had been on his team. She had so much life ahead of her. She-
"You can't think about that now, Minoru. You can grieve later. Now, hurry up and follow me." There was no questioning in his voice. Only a demand. "There's only going to be a brief time frame that we can get you out of the village without raising suspicion, and it has to be now."
Confusion was evident on his face, but he knew better than to question the sannin, so he followed, thoughts running rampant in his head.
The travel to the village wall was quick, and the two stopped atop when they decided the coast was clear. They looked back from the way they came and saw the flames licking the sky on the other side of the village from where Minoru had set is bomb seal off.
"He's not dead." Minoru stopped in his thoughts and looked back to the sannin.
"I blew a bomb up in his face, what do you mean he's not dead? Hell, I would have been dead if you didn't yank me out of there!"
"Orochimaru has been experimenting with things not of this world for years. And he has slithered his way out of messes way worse than that. That's why I need your help." Jiraiya looked down at Minoru and handed him the small bundle in his arms. "Protect her. He's going to come back for her."
"Her? What?" Confusion was evident on the man's face as he looked at the bundle. "We should stay here! It will be safer for her in a village with ninja!"
"You've seen what they have tried to do to young Naruto. If they find out what she is it will be ten times worse." A crestfallen look crossed his face.
"So, you know?"
"I saw the alter that she was on. I don't know what he sealed into her, but it was obvious that he was trying to create a weapon." There was a moment pause. "We don't have much time before they get back to their posts. You have to go now. Here are the coordinates for a safe house located just before the border. Go there and wait for me. It's laced enough with seals that the old snake won't be able to find it."
Minoru looked from Jiraiya to the east section of the village that was still on fire. "I'll be marked as a missing-nin. They'll come looking for me."
"Your re-inforced clone was caught in the blast. For all they know, you died in the fire. I'll make sure of it. They won't come after you. I'll meet you at the safe house with documents for you and the girl."
"What about Naruto?" He couldn't leave the blonde bundle of joy by himself.
"It would raise too much suspicion. You're going to have enough trouble with the girl." Jiraiya's answer was firm, leaving no room for questions.
Minoru looked at the bundle and noticed little wisps of silver hair curling at the top of her head.
"Shouldn't she go to her father?" Minoru at this point was trying to stall, or at least find a way out of this. He didn't know how to be a father; he was a ninja. "Or at least the clan?"
"You're Satsuki's father now." Jiraiya turned his back on the man. "The less the other party members know, the better. I'll meet you in three days there'll be supplies enough to last you." With that, Jiraiya took his leave and jumped off the wall towards the fires.
"So, you're Satsuki, huh?" Minoru sighed as he held the girl close to his chest as he jumped off the wall. He pumped some chakra to his feet to silence his landing, and then took off running as fast as he could towards the coordinates he was given.
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Kakashi was furious. He had come back from his almost year-long undercover mission to learn that his sensei's only child was kidnapped while he was gone. The child was safe, but that's not what bothered him. It bothered him that one of the sannin, one of the strongest shinobis that the village had ever produced had orchestrated the whole thing, and no one could ascertain for what gain it was.
The lair, so to speak, was engulfed in flames. There was no way for them to be able to find what the means to any of this was.
From the reports it took them hours to put out the flames, and even longer after that going through each room to try and find any salvageable items that could point to what he was doing down there.
It wasn't long into their search for clues, that they found the first body. Or what was left of it.
They had hoped that it would be the only one, but they were sadly mistaken. It had reached a staggering forty-five bodies that they had found. There was not much left of the bodies, most of them were just charred skeletons after the fire had broken out, but two of them had been on the outliers of the fire, and had just enough identifying markers left on them to be able to tell who they were.
They had held a mass funeral for the forty-three civilians that they had found, but they held a more secluded one for the two shinobi that were found.
The Hokage gave his eulogy of the two ninja and how they were dear comrades and they would do anything for the sake of the village. He explained how the two of the were the epitome of the will of fire, and how they will live on in each of their fellow shinobi for ever and always.
As the Hokage finished his words, he allowed each mourner in attendance to bring a flower up to pay their respects to the dead.
Kakashi held towards the back of the line, not wishing to bid more of his friends the final goodbye from this world, but knowing that it would be disrespectful to the dead if he just flat out refused to show up.
It slowly came to his turn, and he felt his breath hitch, and he looked at the picture of the smiling raven haired Momoko.
He took a deep breath and steeled himself. He was a Hatake, and Hatakes do not cry.
He bowed his head, saying a small prayer, and laid the flower down on the top of the casket, offering his condolences to Mikoto and Fugaku for losing a clan member.
Coming to the next casket, he could only look sadly upon the photo of the beaming red-headed Minoru. He had no-one to accept the condolences on behalf of his family, as his only living relative was a four-year-old who would not have understood what was going on. He was never super close with the man, but he was an excellent shinobi, and despite everything that had happened in both of their lives, Kakashi looked up to the man. Bowing his head again, he offered another short prayer before moving on and allowing the next mourners to show their respects.
The process took almost another full hour to get through the rest of the teary-eyed mourners, the two shinobi having worked with most of the ninja in the village at one point or another due to their specialties. Kakashi held back and watched as each ninja said their goodbyes, greatful that it had started raining, allowing the tears to slip down his face, blending in with the tears being shed from the sky.
Jiraiya was the final one to pay their respects to their fallen comrades. He had explained that he had gone with Minoru to the snake's hideout, and stated that he felt it was his fault that the two had died. If only he had been in the village days earlier, they could have kept a closer eye on Momoko and her unborn child. If only he had been within the village walls maybe his old teammate wouldn't have felt so bold as to rob not only Momoko of her life, but of the life of her child as well. Saying that if only he been in the village earlier, the red head wouldn't have had to go confront Orochimaru. If only he had paid closer attention to where the blooming seal master was, then maybe, just maybe he would have been able to get him out before Orochimaru activated a bomb tag setting the whole place up in flames to destroy the evidence that the two had found against him, linking him to the disappearances.
Water was streaming down his face, no one being able to tell if it was from the rain or his own tears as he laid his head a top of each casket, saying his final goodbyes. Everyone was so caught up in their own reminiscing that they didn't notice Jiraiya put his hands flat across the top of Minoru's coffin in a single seal and murmur 'Release'.
The sannin, stood back up to his full height a moment later and walked back to his seat, as the Hokage gave a few last words and the two coffins were lowered into their final resting place in the ground.
Kakashi Hatake was the first to rise from his seat, no longer able to bear the emotions that threatened to spill out from his already cracking mask. Taking one last look over his shoulder as the eternal beds of the two shinobi disappeared below the ground, he shook his head and disappeared in a small flurry of wet leaves, one final goodbye floating through the wind as he left in a shunshin.
"I sure am going to miss you guys. Momoko Uchiha, and Minoru Uzumaki."