Disclaimer: I do not own any Naruto characters, nor the story line, with exception of the characters you've never heard of.
Chapter 3.
Sen stared wided up at the elite shinobi, standing above her with the log in his hands, shielding her from the danger. She couldn't believe it. This had to be the Shinobi that Rin told her all about. The description matched so perfectly. He was tall, had white hair and he was masked. But it could easily be a look alike. She wanted to ask him but she couldn't find herself to do it. Not to mention, it wasn't exactly the best time.
The white haired Shinobi finally tossed the log to the side and turned around to look down at her, probably seeing if she was okay or not. His revealed right eye looked her over, seeing what kind of state she was in rather quickly before he looked over at Chiro on the ground and injured. The strong guard was also looking stunned to see their rescuers but suspicious. He didn't know who they were. They had the leaf symbol but he wasn't going to let down his guard, not that he really had a guard to let down.
"Sakura," The elite ninja spoke quietly. "The man needs your assisstance. Why don't you go over and help him while Naruto, Sasuke and I deal with these bandits?"
The pink haired kunoichi, Sakura, nodded as she rushed over to Chiro and dropped down to one knee. Chiro tensed under her touch, looking like he was about to jerk away but she shook her head. "Relax. I'm here to help." She tried to reassure him before she laid her hands on one of his wounds and started the healing process.
"Who are you?!" One of the leading bandits snapped as he stood up. "How dare you interfer?! This doesn't concern you so go away!"
All of the Shinobi turned their eyes onto the men gathering together before them. They were outnumbered, but by the way they had just fought, Sen knew they could take on the bandits. They didn't show any fear at all. Kakashi stuffed his hands into his pockets and took a few steps away from Sen, looking at the man who spoke. "When someone, especially a woman, screams for help, we will interfer." he said dryly. He let his revealed eye look the bandits over, seeing how they were dressed, then spying their own forehead protectors either on their heads or around their necks, some even wearing them as belts. And it was no doubt he was deeply frowning now. "Shadoai? Here, in the Fire Country? What a surprise."
His three students looked surprised and interested that he knew what and who these men were. So he must have had a run in with them once before, or some like them. But where and how?
Naruto bounced on his heels, somewhat excited to even hear that Kakashi knew these men. "Hey, Kakashi-sensai! What are Shadoai?!" He asked brightly. Sakura and Sasuke just looked as interested as Naruto. They wanted to know as well. They had never actually heard of shadoai before.
Kakashi kept his eye lazily on the Shadoai bandits before them, not going to take it off of them. "Shadow ninja from the Valley of Darkness, Naruto. It's a place way too far from here. I think it's on the farthest side of the Land of Earth. Not really sure where it is, seeing that I've never been there." His eye narrowed a little. "But I know for a fact that they don't like socializing with other countries or villages and they don't do social calls. They are extremely anti-social." He tilted his head to the side. "So why are you here now?"
Chiro now tried to wave Sakura off of him as he climbed to one knee, wincing a little, seeing that he was only half healed. "Please!" he gasped. "They're criminals, bandits and after my young mistress! They must not touch her! She's the daughter of a Diamond miner and the Shadokage!"
"Diamonds?!" Sakura gasped, stars now dancing in her eyes. Even Naruto and Sasuke looked surprised to hear that.
But Kakashi frowned towards Chiro and Sakura. "Sakura, the man, now." He told her and she immediately grabbed Chiro's shoulder trying to heal him again. The white haired shinobi turned his revealed eye back onto the bandits. "Kidnapping is a terrible crime for all countries. Even for the Shadoai." His eye narrowed even more seriously. "And especially when its an offspring of a Kage."
The bandit leader growled at him but shook his head. "Mind your own business, shinobi! This does not concern you!" He snapped. "We just want the girl and we will have her! And we don't need a stupid plant ninja telling us off!" He then smirked as he made a sign and vanished in a puff of black smoke, disappearing. Immediately, everyone was tensed up. They all looked around sharply to see where the bandit had gone.
Just then, Sen shrieked when she felt someone grab her arm, not knowing who it was. And sure enough it was the bandit, appearing in the shadows of the tree. But as soon as his hand clamped tightly around her arm, he yelped when Kakashi grabbed his. Without a word, the elite ninja yanked the bandit away from Sen and then jerked his arm upward and hard. The action made bandit do several spins in the air before being slammed into a tree, several feet away from Sen, who scampered to her feet and over to Naruto and Sasuke. The two stood at her sides, ready to defend her immediately.
"Do not," Kakashi warned dryly as he faced the bandit leader again. ", try that again. I may not have been to the Shadow valley but I have fought one or two shadoai in my time. I know your movements and few of your techniques. So don't attempt to touch the girl again."
The bandit quickly got to his feet, gasping from the loss of air but he wasn't ready to get in another fight with this elite Shinobi. He quickly backed away with his men, who now looked nervous after what Kakashi just did. They all gathered around each other, still backing away. "Y-you foolish Sh-shinobi! You'll be s-sorry! You've provoked the rage of Sei Zangetsu and our fearsome leader, Caligo! They'll get you!" The leader shouted before they were quickly running away. "In the mean time, your stupid guard, Ling will die! Sei's gonna kill her after hearing this!"
Naruto made to rush after them but stopped when Sasuke grabbed his shoulder, shaking his head. Kakashi just nodded as he watched the bandits. "Let them go, Naruto. We've no fight with them. Not yet anyway. Besides, they're not worth it." he turned his eye onto Chiro who finally allowed to let Sakura finish healing his wounds then over to Sen, who looked like she was in deep pain.
"R-Rin..." She whispered almost unaudible.
However, Kakashi barely heard it. He just frowned and tilted his head as he took a few more steps over to her. "What did you say?" He asked, interested.
Sen looked up at him with surprise but then swallowed hard. "I...I said Ling." She lied, and he knew it but didn't press. "L-Ling's my...she's my friend and body guard. B-but..." Sen's voice cracked as she started to break down. Chiro again pushed Sakura to the side and hurried over to her, strong arms wrapping around her. "Sen, don't cry! Ri...Ling will be all right. She can take care of herself." He told her. Sen shook her head as she looked up at him. Her eyes were slowly filling with tears but she didn't reply. She just looked around at the Shinobi standing around her and her guard, noting all of their headbands with the leaf symbol. "You, nin. You're all Shinobi of the Leaf Village, aren't you?"
Kakashi nodded as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Yeah. And who are you? Why were those shadoai after you if you're the so called Shadokage's daughter?" He rose his eyebrow at her. "If I didn't know any better, shadoai are suppose to guard their kage and their families, not try to kidnap them."
Sen sighed with Chiro as they both stood up, next to each other. The guard still keeping an arm around her shoulders. "They're not shadoai, in particular. Only Shadoai wannabes." He paused as he went over and picked up his scimitar then returned to Sen's sighed while hooking his weapon to his back. "We're from the Valley of Darkness, as you guessed. I am Chiro Nagataka, a personal guard of the Shadokage, assigned to my young mistress, Sen." He motioned to Sen.
"And the bandits?" Kakashi asked lazily.
Chiro shook his head as he placed his hand on Sen's shoulder again. "They're only criminals from other places who wishes to be Shadoai. The only true Shadoai of their gang is Sei Zangetsu and his brother, Caligo Zangetsu. They're banished criminals from the valley who are attempting to kidnap Sen for ransom against the Shadokage." he told them. But it was clear that he was hiding something.
"And you mentioned diamonds?" Sakura asked excitedly pushing her pink hair out of her eyes. Kakashi and Sasuke both rolled their eyes but Naruto grinned. He, like Sakura, liked the mention of diamonds.
Sen nodded, a light smile now on her pretty face. "Our village produces diamonds out of our mines. Our village is somewhat famous for our silver diamonds as well as the black diamonds." She saw how surprised Sakura and Naruto looked though Kakashi and Sasuke didn't look very interested at all. "So our clan is quite rich because we own the mines."
Chiro nodded in agreement, still looking very serious. "That's what attracted the Zangetsu brothers to trying to kidnap her. They want to hold her for ransom for the diamond mines." he shrugged lightly. "Only a month ago, they nearly succeeded to getting her if it hadn't been for a travelling kunoichi called Ling Shiahay. She had been serving as a guard for Sen for a few years and has earned our greatest respect. But still, Sen was in danger while in the village. There were attempts on her life every week. Then Ling announced that she was from the great Hidden Leaf Village, Konoha. She said that Sen would be safe there. So the Shadokage, Kageri decided to send Sen away to Konoha to be safe. Just until he could take care of Caligo, whose behind it all." He let out a long and tired sigh. "Unfortunately we had a lot of trouble getting here."
Sen slowly nodded as she looked up at her guard. "We were attacked numerous times. Ling always managed to take on the bandits chasing after us. But they kept coming. And finally they came with Sei Zangetsu." She now shook her head. "This time, she disguised herself as me, using a Transformation jutsu while I hid in a rice barrel and she used a shadow clone to pose as herself. And my guards were all pretending to be traders. But then, we were attacked and she was taken, mistaken for me." She then looked up at Kakashi with hope. "Please, can you help us? Can you help us save Ling? I can't leave her to die in Sei's hands. She's my best friend." She said with a plea.
Kakashi just frowned for a long while, a very thoughtful look on his face as he took everything into thought. But after a long moment, he looked back at Chiro. "You said that this...Ling was from Konoha Village?"
Both Chiro and Sen nodded solemnly. "That's what she claimed, sir. She even has a forehead protector like yours. With the leaf symbol. She doesn't wear it very often but she has it on her person as we speak." The guard told Kakashi.
Kakashi frowned again but then he slowly nodded as he took it into thought. He was curious the least to say. But also confused. He did not remember any Shinobi by the name of Ling. And he knew he had heard this girl, Sen, had said a different one. He just didn't hear it clearly enough. Maybe he could get her to say it again sometime soon. But for now...he turned to his three students, giving them the look that he was about to give orders and that they should listen up. "We're taking these two back to Konoha and reporting to Tsunade. They'll be safe there and they can discuss their request for a mission with her." he turned his eye back onto the hesitant Sen. "Don't worry about your friend. If she really is a Shinobi from Konoha, she can take care of herself for now." And as he said that, he was pulling out a small scrowl from his vest pocket. He opened it while slicing open one of his thumbs, letting blood spill out onto the paper until it was open completely. Then he slammed it down into the ground. Immediately, his pug nose dog, Pukkan jumped out of the ground and looked up at him. "Pukkan," Kakashi spoke as he bent down to one knee. "The Shadoai that were just here, follow them and find out where they are keeping their prisoner, a Shinobi. If she needs help, help her out. But stay with her until I come or a few others."
Pukkan gave a grunt of acknowledgement before he was running off into the forest.
Kakashi gave a nod of satisfaction before he stood up straight, holding his bleeding thumb. "Let's move out. Take a defensive position. We will protect these two visitors until we get to Tsunade's place." He told the three young Shinobi, who all nodded. Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were immediately around Chiro and Sen, their eyes looking around as if waiting for an attack.
"Sir, what about Ling? Surely that dog can't..." Sen was saying.
Kakashi shook his head as he wrapped his thumb with a small cloth and was already moving away with everyone behind him. "Don't underestimate Pukkan. He's not just any ordinary dog. He's more than able to take care of himself and whoever he's helping. If he can't, I'll be disappointed. And I'm not a happy person when I'm disappointed." He told her.
Sen opened her mouth to keep arguing but Chiro placed a hand and gave her a shushing look. "Sen, just listen to him. I think he knows what he's doing. He's an elite Shinobi. They are trained to work out any problem. Let him just pull the shots." He told her gently. Sen sighed but then nodded to the Shinobi. "You never really told us your names. Do you mind us asking?"
Naruto grinned as he bounced over to her side, still looking excited. "No! We don't mind! I'm Naruto Uzumaki! I'm gonna be the next Hokage someday!" He told her, offering his hand. Sen just smiled as she shook his hand. "Pleased to meet you, Naruto."
"I'm Sakura Haruno." Sakura said smiling pleasantly as she too moved a little closer. Agan Sen nodded her greeting then her eyes went over to Sasuke, who looked away, hands stuffed into his pockets. It was clear that he wasn't going to share his identity.
So Naruto did it for him. He ducked around behind everyone and popped up beside the dark haired young man, clapping him hard on the shoulder. "This is Sasuke Uchiha! He's too shy to say anything so don't worry about him!" He said. Sasuke glared at him before slugging Naruto in the shoulder. "OW!" The blonde cried out before swinging at him next but Sasuke ducked and he ended up spinning around right into a tree.
"Hey, knock it off, you two!" Sakura told them seriously, her hands on her waist. However, Chiro and Sen were nearly laughing. They found these two a little amusing.
Kakashi shook his head with a sigh before glancing over at Sen. "I guess it's my turn, huh? All right. I'm Kakashi Hatake." He told them. Chiro and Sen wasn't laughing anymore. They looked at him with surprise, as if they had just been told a very big secret. "You?" Chiro said almost breathlessly. "You're Kakashi Hatake? The Sharigan Copy Ninja? I've heard of you. You have copied over 1000 techniques!" He said with amazement. Kakashi rolled his one eye and shook his head. "Yeah, that would be me." He said, sounding not at all amused. Sen just lowered her head as she walked between Sakura and Chiro. She had heard of Kakashi of course. Who hadn't heard of Sharingan Kakashi Hatake? He had a legacy on his shoulders. She had heard them of course, but she also had heard of his childhood.
"...Ling told me about you." She said quietly. She saw Kakashi tilt his head but didn't look at her. He was listening, she knew. "...she told me that she was your friend when you were in the Ninja Academy together."
It grew very quiet between the entire group as Kakashi halted in his footsteps but he kept his eye forward. None of his students wanted to say anything. They were very interested in hearing what Kakashi's response would be. But after a long moment, the elite Shinobi started to walk again, not replying to what Sen said. He acted as if he hadn't even heard it. But when in fact, he was thinking very hard on her words. He did not remember a Ling but he did have only one girl as a friend while in the Ninja Academy. But he knew it couldn't have been her. She was gone and she was not going to come back.
The very minute they arrived, she knew something had gone wrong. She could feel it in her gut just by the way they looked at their leader. They looked tired but relieved that they made it without getting into too much trouble on the way back. It worried her a little, seeing that they were roughened up.
But at least they did not have Sen.
Rin was not in the greatest shape right now. She had been beaten a couple of times after arriving to the so called base, which actually just small cave between the roots of a giant tree. She was tied up to the thick roots stuck in the ground and could hardly move. She was definitely a little roughened up. One of the bandits had cracked her lip after deciding to punch her for 'trying to escape', when she really hadn't. She had only tripped on a tree root and he decided to punch her for it. Her clothes were now dirtier than ever and a little torn but not by much. She had a few bruises growing on her face with a small trickle of dried blood on her lips and chin. Her weapons had been taken away of course and she had no chakra at the moment. But that was because of the binding she was in. She had tried to pull her hands loose but that only caused the jutsu on the rope to activate and it hurt her wrists.
She was in trouble, she knew that. And she knew that she had to get away as soon as she could. But right now, it was looking hopeless.
"What?!" She heard Sei shouting, and he sounded very angry.
Rin lifted her head and looked out into the opening to where the Shadoai bandits were. She could see them all standing around in the forest clearing, looking at the returned bandits. Sei was facing the bandit he had left in charge of retrieving Sen and he looked extremely furious.
"Where is the girl?! Why have you lost her?!" Sei Zangetsu asked angrily. He looked like he was ready to pull out his katana and slice someone open right about now. The bandit had his hands raised for his own defense. He was terrified out of his wits. Everyone knew that Sei Zangetsu was not a nice guy and even worst when he was angry. "W-we...we almost had her, S-sir! But a bunch of Shinobi sh-showed up and stopped us!" He shook his head fearfully. "I almost had her! I would have gotten a h-hold of her if it hadn't been for that stupid white haired nin! He...he seemed to know all my moves! I used the shadow port that you taught us but he saw right through it! He knows about the Shadoai! He knew wha-what we were!" He whimpered.
"Damn it!" Sei growled as began to pace like a wild animal in a cage. He did that a couple of times before stopping before the bandit. "All right! How many shinobi were there?" There was a long pause and that made him look at the bandit dangerously. "How many Shinobi were there?"
The bandit swallowed hard before lowering his head. He was clearly not happy that he was about to reveal this. "...f-four...sir. F-four Shinobi."
Sei's face darkened to a deep shade of red when he heard that. He clenched his teeth and faced the bandit completely. "Four Shinobi?" He asked dangerously. "ANBU then?" He grew angrier when the bandit refused to look up into his eyes.
"...n-no, s-sir. One elite Sh-Shinobi and th-three..." The bandit paused for a millisecond. "...th-three kids, s-sir." And then he yelped in pain when Sei let out an outraged cry before kicking the bandit in the face.
"THREE CHILDREN?! YOU WERE BEATEN BY THREE CHILDREN?!" Sei roared angrily. "How foolish and weak are you?! You let a bunch of kids stop you?!"
The bandit held his now bleeding mouth, after biting his tongue but then spat the blood out. "M-more like teenagers, s-sir. They were-weren't really children." He told them. He flinched heavily when Sei glared at him. "But it wasn't just the teens, sir! It was that elite Shinobi! He was really hard to even fight!"
Sei growled again before he went back to pacing like an animal. He moved back and forth a few times before looking at the bandit. "All right. So you were beaten by a bunch of ninja brats. They were probably trained by the elite." He then nodded, still pacing. "Tell me about this elite ninja. What did he look like? Did he say what his name was?"
The shivering bandit shook his head, looking upset again. "N-no, sir. He didn't say his name." He flinched again when Sei growled at him. "But I knew who he was! I've heard of him! He's a white haired Shinobi who always wear a mask to hide his identity and a forehead protector covering his left eye!" He shuddered when Sei gave him a look that clearly and impatiently said, "Well?" before he swallowed hard. "It was the Copy Nin, s-sir. The Sharigan Kakashi Hatake." And he really yelped when Sei slammed his foot into his face after he exploded with fury. The impact sent the bandit skidding across the clearing until he slammed into a tree, out cold.
Inside the cavern of roots, Rin's breath caught in her throat and her eyes grew wide. That was a name she had not heard in a long time. She had heard of his legacy, heard what he had been doing throughout the years but she had known him before he became the Copy Ninja. Before Obito Uchiha's Sharingan eye had been passed to him. "Ka-Kakashi?" She whispered.
"GREAT!!" Sei exclaimed with rage. "Kakashi Hatake is protecting that little brat, Sen Zangetsu now! You've really messed up!" He began running his hands through his hair, trying to figure out what he should do. He even ignored all of the shocked and frightened looks he was getting from his men. He didn't care. He knew who Kakashi Hatake was. He had heard of him through tales and had actually spoken to a few nin who once seen him before. The Copy Ninja was trouble. Especially to the Shadoai bandits. But then again...there was his brother. "I didn't want to resort to this but I have no choice. I'm contacting Caligo. He's going to be very unhappy but we will need his help in this."
"What about the kunoichi? Should we kill her?" One of the more braver bandits asked.
Eyes flickered over to the tree roots but then Sei shook his head. "No. We'll kill her later. I'm going to send a message to Caligo right now. Then I'll deal with Ling later." And then they moved away.
Inside the roots, Rin stared at the place where the bandits had been talking, many thoughts running through her mind. She was glad that Sen was safe and she knew that she remain that way if she was near Kakashi. But to hear that Sei was bringing Caligo into this, that was not good. That Shadoai had a very bad reputation and he was one of the most dangerous enemies to mess around with. She remembered the last time she had came across him and it had not been a good thing. She still had a scar in her back from what he did to her.
With a deep sigh, Rin lowered her head, her eyes closing for a long moment. She had to get out of there and warn Sen and Chiro, warn Kakashi. To think she would have to face him again was unbearable. He must have hated her for leaving but back then she had been too weak. She couldn't have handled the stress that was obviously going to come her way if she had stayed.
"But still," She whispered to herself. "I have to face my past."
She then opened her eyes again with determination, only to freeze with surprise. There was a pug nose dog sitting right in front of her, staring up into her shocked eyes with his small black ones. He was just staring up at her as if she was a very interesting person to look at. "What the?" Rin gasped softly. She saw it tilt its head in confusion, one floppy ear cocking up like an eyebrow would. "Where in the world did you come from, little guy?" Rin asked smiling softly.
And to her surprise, the dog answered. "My master sent me to help you. My name is Pakkun."
Rin's eyes snapped wide open with shock. She had not been expecting to hear a dog speak. She knew this was probably some kind of summon or demon, for normal animals couldn't just actually talk out loud like this one was doing and if they could, it was because they had a bond with just one person. And only that person, they could speak to. "You can speak." She received a nod from the dog but then she smiled as she let Pakkun's name roll around on her tongue. "Pakkun. What a nice name." She then frowned, shaking her head. "But I don't think you can help me though. Unless you can untie my bonds. But I have to warn you. There's a jutsu technique on them. And I can't break it without help."
Pakkun nodded as he stood up and moved around to behind her, only to stop when he heard hissing sounds coming from behind her. He saw what jutsu it was and it made him wince. He wasn't exceptionally fond of it either. The ends of the ropes tied around Rin's wrists had the form of snake heads. The dog knew that if Rin tried to move or jerk her hands out of the bonds, they snakes would bite her. And by the looks of it, she had tried it a couple of times. There were so many holes in her skin, which were bleeding badly.
"The Snake Head bindings technique." Pakkun muttered with a low growl. "Not exactly and easy bond to break but I think I can help you. Just don't move." He told her quietly.
Rin just nodded before turning her eyes towards the entrance. She figured she better keep watch for any guards or even Sei. She heard Pakkun growl and the snake heads hiss before she felt a fight break out between them. The dog was attempting to bite the heads off while avoiding to bite her. The snakes, however, chose to attack him and her at the same time. Rin winced a few times but she kept herself from crying out. At least Pakkun was keeping quiet, the snakes unfortunately were not. They hissed loudly, snapping their fangs at the intruder. And it was loud enough to draw someone to the roots.
Rin saw a bandit now appear in the clearing and was starting to walk towards the tree where she was trapped. He didn't seem to have noticed that she was awake but he was coming in her direction.
"Shh! Pakkun, a guard is coming." Rin whispered quickly. She heard the dog immediately go quiet as he pressed himself against her back, trying to hide from view. She didn't mind. There was no sound of hissing anymore and she could feel the ropes come loose, so it let her know that the Snake head bindings was broken. But she didn't do anything just yet. All she could do was just lowered her head and pretended to be asleep.
There was a long pause as she listened to the movement of the guard. She could hear him move to the mouth of the roots and stop. She didn't dare to look up at him, afraid to see him move forward to hit her again. But after a minute, she heard him move away and she opened her eyes to see that he was gone.
"He's gone." She sighed to Pakkun.
Pakkun moved out from behind her, pausing to grab the ropes with his teeth and help her pull them loose. A few seconds later, she was freed. Rin smiled as she rubbed her bleeding wrists before looking at Pakkun. "Thank you, Pakkun. Now let's get out of here." She said before quickly gathering her things by the mouth of the entrance.
The dog nodded as he moved with her, peering out to see if it was clear. When they saw that it was, with only bandits facing away from them.
"If we hurry, we can leave now. No one is looking this way." Pakkun told Rin in a very low voice.
Rin nodded as she crouched low to the ground, looking out with Pakkun then they crept to a bush near the tree, being careful to not make any noise. Luck was on their side. No one noticed or heard them. So carefully, they made their way out of camp. To Rin's freedom.