Chapter 8

As Karasu left the desolate village behind her, she began to think more about how she was going to casually walk into Konoha without being recognized. She looked different, but she wasn't confident it would be enough to convince any local ninja because no one in Konoha had silver hair with blue eyes. She needed a little something extra. She then remembered something from one of her dreams. Her mother had given her father an Amegakure headband when they first became close as a token of friendship. He had left it behind as a reminder that he would return for his love. She knew where it was in Amegakure.

Karasu sat alone in a small shack, hidden away in a lone part of Amegakure. She had seen this place enough in her dreams, she knew exactly where to find it having not known about its existence otherwise. There wasn't much to it; a small table, a small kitchen area, some sleeping bags, and a small book case which had nothing shelved for the exception of a couple items. The walls were lined with wallpaper; a taste in design which she easily recognized as her mother's.

She looked around and let out a deep sigh. This was their first home. This is where her parents lived when they first met. Karasu laid down, stretched herself across the floor, and closed her eyes as she listened to the intent sound of rain beating on the roof of the shack.

After some time, Karasu rose and began to look around the room again. There was a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach, the same feeling that drove her to this place. Something was calling her. Her gaze casually made its way to the bookshelf. On it were two items. She picked both of them up, neither of which had a title, but peering inside both, she discovered they were journals, both written by her father. One journal had a dark red leather cover, the other was in black.

The red journal seemed to contain love letters, all addressed to her mother. The black journal seemed to contain various entries about miscellaneous things. Karasu began to thoroughly read through the red journal. The dates which these letters were written were so long ago, it was amazing how time had probably flown since then. Each and every letter was filled with deep emotion but the further she read into the journal, the more she could tell her father's emotion was changing, from active love, to active longing. Her father wrote in earlier passages how happy he was to have arrived here and met such a wonderful woman like her mother. In the later passages, he was dreading his assignment to leave due to his diplomatic mission to all the major villages. He professed how much he'd miss Konan and how he'd try to visit her, however it would have to be secret due to her past. The journal ended with a note addressed directly to Konan explaining to her that this journal was to be left behind here in this shack for her to come and read the letters written inside anytime she was lonely and was thinking of him. His hope was that the contents would make her smile.

Upon opening the black journal, Karasu immediately could tell her father's tone had changed. Compared to the red journal, this tone felt more natural to her and she didn't understand why. It wasn't until a couple pages later she read a disturbing truth. "I find it interesting that I intend to leave this journal here, in this shack where Konan and I first lived together, just as the Don in this world did before me with his..." Karasu was puzzled by this statement, but she kept reading on. "I have been secretly researching the infinite tsukuyomi to better understand what it is, and a question I haven't answered yet is how one inhabits the world. Is my body genuinely mine, or am I inhabiting the body of the Don of this world? If I'm not inhabiting the other Don's body, then what happened to the other Don?" Seeing this statement made her wonder if her father found some useful information she could add to her own findings. She continued reading, going through passages which showed a deeper side of her father than he ever let on. She couldn't help but smile when she reached the journal entry on the day she was born, how happy he was. She eventually reached a passage which described the nature of the dreamworld and Don had written something most intriguing: "The key is not to enter the dream world with hate, but with love." What did that mean? Karasu cast the statement aside and finished reading the journal. At the end of it, she was shocked to see how much her father had discovered.

A few days later, Karasu stood outside the gates of Konoha nervous as can be. She took a deep breath to calm herself down. Despite her appearance being different, she still was afraid she'd be caught. She proceeded carefully into the village. Following the map, she found the secret entrance which led into the mountain. Hidden within the mountain was a huge sanctuary. It had long since been forgotten about.

Karasu explored the sanctuary until she came upon a large chamber. In the middle of the chamber was a pedestal which cradled a glass orb. The orb looked familiar to her, she stared at it for a while as she tried to remember where she'd seen it before. It wasn't long until she recalled it was from one of her dreams about her father. He claimed he was going to use it in order to bring her back with him to his world. She continued to explore the sanctuary but found nothing that could help her so she only took the orb.

She began to think about everything she had collected thus far about performing the ritual. With this glass orb, she had the key to unlocking the portal to her father's reality. She suddenly sensed someone was in the chamber with her and she took a defensive stance.

"Come out, whoever you are!" she shouted.

Minori walked forward with his hands raised. "Calm down, Karasu, it's just me." he replied calmly.

She let her guard down slightly, "Minori, is that really you? What are you doing here?" she asked.

Minori walked toward her slowly, "I came back to apologize for running off on you like that. It must have hurt you pretty bad." she replied his tone slightly louder than usual.

"Yeah, it did, you asshole!" Karasu replied.

Minori took a few steps closer to her, it was then she felt like something wasn't right. How did he know she was here? It was at that moment, Minori was close enough to whisper in her ear. "Run."

The dark chamber lit up as a giant fireball can shooting toward the both of them. Minori and Karasu jumped out the way in the nick of time.

In the dark corners of the chamber, Karasu could barely make out the silhouettes of a handful of anbu. They surrounded Karasu and Minori, prepared to take their lives.

Karasu took her defensive posture, "When we get out of this, you have a lot of explaining to do."

Minori said nothing, he just grabbed her hand, "Like we practiced?"

Karasu grunted, "Reluctantly, I have to accept. This situation calls for it."

Their grip tightened on one another and Karasu sprouted her paper wings. She began to twirl Minori around, while Minori made a hand sign shooting fire of his own from his mouth. The two of them now separated from the anbu by a ring of fire. This wouldn't hinder them for long, the merely passed right through it unfazed. The floor beneath them lit up and all of the anbu were petrified on the spot. When Karasu has formed her wings, the slips of paper she had shed became trap tags. When stepped on they activated. The anbu were bid farewell with the silent smiles of Karasu and Minori. Knowing there could potentially be reinforcements outside, Karasu shot out of the cavern dissolving into a trail of paper in the wind.

Miles outside the village, Karasu and Minori reappeared. Minori hunched over and supported himself on his knees while he caught his breath.

"That was a close..." he began and was cut off by Karasu uppercutting him. Before he could catch himself, he was restricted by roots which shot from the ground.

"I haven't seen you in months and you all of a sudden show up in a place I only recently found out about. What the hell is going on? You're working with them aren't you!" Karasu said.

Minori tried to break free but the more he struggled, the tighter the grip the roots had on him. When he realized this, he stopped. "Let me explain." he said with barely any air in his lungs to breathe.

"Better explain quickly before those roots squeeze the life out of you." Karasu replied.

He took in a gulp of air, "I was captured shortly after leaving you." he gasped again, "They interrogated me for your whereabouts but since you never told me your full plans, I told them nothing."

"Then explain to me why they sent you to meet me at the Uchiha's family chambers?" Karasu asked.

"They wanted me to be a distraction while those anbu surprised you to kill you." Minori replied.

"How did they know I'd be there?" Karasu asked.

"They had help." Minori replied.

"From who?!" Karasu shouted.

"A man called Sasuke Uchiha." Minori replied.

At that moment Karasu heard those words, she released Minori of his restraints. "That can't be... My godfather, betrayed me?" she said softly but in shock.

"That man is your godfather?! Karasu, that man shouldn't be trusted. He's been working heavily with the anbu to bring you down." Minori replied.

"That explains so much now. How the anbu were able to tail me everywhere I went so effectively, especially up until now. He knew I changed my look so when I entered the village, his anbu lookouts knew who I was." Karasu said.

Minori caught his breath and stood up straight and he met Karasu's glare.

Karasu turned around and began to walk towards the darkness of the night.

"Wait, Karasu, where are you going?" Minori asked.

"I'm going to find a place to lay low." Karasu replied in a serious tone.

Minori smirked. He could read her well enough to know she didn't trust him anymore so she wasn't going to ask him to come with her. She felt hurt and betrayed by his leaving. How blind was she to the fact that her obsession with her work and her detachment from their relationship was what drove him away. She was too proud right now to even ask, she was too busy being the victim.

So Minori walked away, disappearing into the night just as Karasu had. He'd find a new place to stay and rebuild his life. It wouldn't be that difficult since Karasu was attracting all of the anbu's attention and resources.

Karasu returned to her home in Amegakure. She unpacked her things to find all but one of her items missing. The bag which contained all her scrolls and notes about the tsukuyomi was gone. The strap had been cut. One of the anbu must have managed to cut it during their incursion in the cave. The only thing she had was the glass orb. All of her hard work was gone, and probably in the hands of the enemy. She let out a loud painful howl.

"We recovered this, my lord." an anbu agent said handing Sasuke a bag. He looked through its contents.

"It seems Karasu did better than expected. However, this doesn't remove the threat she poses. She's a smart girl, she could have easily memorized the information or made copies elsewhere. I want her found, dead or alive." Sasuke said.

The anbu agent bowed and disappeared into a cloud of smoke.