Kakashi tried to open his eyes, finding out quickly that the motion was suddenly extremely hard to do. Nevertheless, the Jounin's stubbornness made him try to squint at least, just to get a quick look at where he was now. Without even opening his eyes all the way, he could tell that he'd been moved.
For one thing, he was looking up at the ceiling. (Or at least what he assumed to be the ceiling based on the angle he was at) His whole body felt numb, but Kakashi could still feel something cold and hard on his wrists and ankles. It was a familiar feeling. He'd been tied down again. He would sigh if both his mouth and throat were capable of doing so. They were not.
Kakashi suddenly found that he had to blink his squint a few times before the glare of light around him became just a little less blurry. Wait… Light? And this wasn't torchlight. This was light from a bright lamp. In fact, in the back of his mind, the Jounin recognized this kind of light from various operations and surgeries done to him back in Konoha before he went under.
He hoped with all of his soul that he really was back in Konoha, and just waiting to undergo surgery. But reality was cruel. The bindings reminded him of that. Wait… Where exactly was he? How did he get here?? Thoughts began to race unanswered in his head, leaving the Copy Ninja completely
Just as Kakashi was about to let himself drift back into unconsciousness, which sounded like the better deal opposed to trying to stay awake and think, he heard a murmur of voices that he only vaguely recognized. Then again, his head felt like it had gained ten or twenty pounds since he was last awake, so that made it considerably harder to discern whose voices he was hearing. When was he last awake anyway? He couldn't even remember…
"Are you sure you gave him enough?"
A rather sultry low voice… "Must be a woman", Kakashi mused.
"Yeah, yeah, I did, I did!"
Another voice. More high-pitched and impatient sounding. Kakashi knew he recognized this one…
"Now now… Try not to be so impatient with him. Hmm?"
A third voice. For some unexplained reason, this one made Kakashi's fists begin to clench and sent a shudder down his spine. There was a deep pool of hatred for that voice imbedded within him, he knew it… But who did it belong to?! It frustrated the man that he couldn't remember, but he barely had the energy to lash out at himself mentally. His head was swimming.
The woman scoffed, "He stirred just now. Care to explain that, Masaru?" She spat the name distastefully.
Masaru… That rang a bell…
"Hey now, don't get mad at me, Yuuka!" Masaru said, almost with a laugh in his voice, "He was as limp as a freakin' washcloth when I injected the stuff."
"I'm sure," Yuuka didn't sound convinced.
Masaru laughed, "I was a little disappointed, really… Was hopin' he'd lash out and I'd get to play," He gave excited chuckles throughout his sentence, sounding incredibly anxious.
"You know you're not allowed," Yuuka said sharply, an obvious edge to her voice, "And knowing you, you'd go all-out and kill him before we even had the chance to start the tests."
Tests? What tests?
"Well, he's here, now isn't he?" Masaru said matter-of-factly, "No trouble at all," He laughed shortly, "Said I couldn't handle it, didn't ya?"
"Shut it," Yuuka hissed.
Kakashi was utterly confused by all of this information. He still didn't know where he was, or who these people were… Though his head felt like it was beginning to lighten. Things were slowly becoming clearer, even though it still felt like his head was swimming underwater. No longer in the deep end, though. He unclenched his fists, attempting to stretch his sore and cramping fingers.
Someone made a semi-alarmed sound. Masaru's laugh, which was beginning to sound very recognizable, rang through the air: "Well, whaddya know! Guy's still got some fight left in him! That was a big dosage too…" He sounded incredibly anxious again, like he wanted something very badly.
"I'm afraid Yuuka's right, Masaru…" The third voice that once again sent a chill down Kakashi's voice cooed, "You can't play with him right now. I'm afraid then our plans might not pull through."
Kakashi was baffled when he heard nothing in response from Masaru. He'd been silenced somehow. Who WAS that third voice? The man racked his ever-clearing brain for answers, his head slowly coming up out of the water for air. However, by the time he started to receive air back in his lungs again, the third voice spoke up:
"Yuuka, administer another- larger –dosage of the sedative."
"Yes, Lord Orochimaru."
Kakashi's eyes shot open and a half-croaked gasp escaped his throat as realization hit him like an anvil. And just as that realization hit him, he felt another prick at his neck like the one he had just remembered he'd experienced earlier. Once again, and so fast that he could barely even utter a word of protest, Kakashi's head was shoved underwater again.
And darkness consumed him.
………………………………………………..
"Anything yet, Fang?" Raven asked, for the third time in the past hour or two. Even though ANBU were supposed to conceal all emotion, even Gai and Hiroto could tell that Raven was getting nervous of losing Kakashi's scent.
"Nothing major, no," Fang answered accordingly, like the first time. Kuraru still held his nose high in the air, searching every which direction for the missing ninja in question.
They had just passed the border from Fire into Sound Country, and Gai had the sinking feeling that they would find a lead here somewhere. Of course, he wanted to find Kakashi as fast as possible, but the idea of what that snake bastard might be putting him through was enough to make even the Green Beast gag. Or just run faster. He found that he'd been prone to doing both.
Suddenly, the ear bud in Raven's left ear began to buzz noisily, causing the man to hold his hand up as a signal to the rest of the group. They all stopped accordingly, gathering around Raven as he put a hand to the earpiece to get a clearer sound.
"Hey, Raven," Came a smooth but edgy voice from one of the other lines.
"Shiranui?" Raven answered with a mix of terseness and seriousness at hearing Genma's voice addressing him
………………………………………………………..
"What happened? Where's Fox?" Raven's voice continued guardedly from the other side of the line.
Genma held the ear piece close, cupping it over with a hand as to not let the sound carry. He kept his hidden position atop a tall tree's branch, gazing out with a scrutinizing eye at the clearing before him. He wished Raven wouldn't get so excited, but it was to be expected…
In the ANBU, it was customary for the leader of a squad to report in when making a status report or alerting other teams. Fox was the leader of the eastbound team, so hearing Genma reporting in must have instantly made Raven tense up.
"He, Owl, and Phoenix are doing some investigation work," Genma responded.
"You found something?" Raven asked.
Genma's eyes narrowed, "We think so… At least, it certainly seems possible that what we've found has ties to Kakashi."
"And what is that?"
Genma's almost glare fell over the entirety of the clearing as he continued his assigned job of making sure no one was watching or following their movements. Fox, Owl, and Phoenix were each positioned in different areas down on ground, scouting out the area thoroughly.
"We've found a clearing," Genma continued, "One that clearly shows signs of a battle. We don't know how recent it is yet, but…"
"Alright. I understand," Raven said seriously, "Contact the other squad as well as us when you find out more."
"Got it."
The line went dead. Genma hopped down from the tree he was on, taking another look at the battle zone from a ground view. There were various holes in the ground, some bigger than others, and splotches of blood every here and there. Definitely a battle.
Fox swiped up a line of one of the blood splotches with a finger, bringing it close to his masked face and sniffing it. Part of Genma wondered how he could smell the blood clearly if he had a mask on, but tracking was Fox's specialty. If anyone could tell who fought here, it was him.
Owl and Phoenix proceeded to examine the other areas of battle for other things, stopping when Fox made a disgruntled sound. Phoenix turned his head up, tied orange hair flipping over his shoulder:
"What's the verdict?" He asked.
"Konoha blood…" The leader muttered, glancing down at the blood on his finger again.
"Do you know who?" Genma asked.
"... I've only been around him once, but it smells to me like this is the blood of the Nine-Tails brat…" Fox muttered.
Genma's gaze narrowed. They were definitely on to something here. If Naruto's blood was splattered across the ground here, then that meant Kakashi would not have been far behind. Everyone knew how much he cared for the kids.
Owl stood up from one of the holes in the ground he had been examining, "… This hole," He said in a deep voice, "Whoever created it must've been trained well with precise chakra control."
"Chakra still in the hole?" Phoenix asked, glancing over to look at his usually non-speaking partner. Owl nodded. Phoenix looked back to Fox and Genma, "You both know that Lady Tsunade had taken on a student, right?"
Genma and Fox looked at each other unknowingly, wondering briefly why that was important right now. But it was no surprise that Phoenix knew, being as he was a top Medical Ninja. He would know much about Lady Tsunade and the Hospital.
"Well," Phoenix continued, "Her student is Sakura Haruno. One of Kakashi's other students, right?"
"So you're saying Sakura made those holes?" Genma asked, not quite believing what had just been implied.
"Quite possibly," Phoenix said, "Lady Tsunade isn't just teaching her Medical Ninjutsu. She's teaching Sakura how to use the monster strength that she's famous for. That strength relies on precise chakra control. So much that there may be still some left over in the impact point even days after the original battle took place."
"It hasn't been that long," Fox crossed his arms, "By the potency of the Kyuubi brat's blood, I'd say this fight took place late morning. Perhaps around eleven hundred hours."
Genma took note of the ever-lowering sun, trying to factor in everything from the mission that Squad Seven had been sent on earlier. It took two hours at top speed to get to the border between the Fire and Sound Country. If they left semi-early in the morning, there was a high possibility that the group had been intercepted by the enemy shortly after crossing the border.
"Who was their enemy, exactly?" Genma asked.
"According to the status report from Lady Hokage," Fox said, "their opponent was a seemingly samurai opponent who called himself Kenshin. Apparently he had quite a lot of power."
"I'll say," Genma grunted, "If he was able to apprehend Kakashi…"
"Did the Hokage specify what kind of power the man held?" Owl asked, kneeling down next to the largest hole and having to step over misplaced pieces of earth on his way down.
"His abilities seemed to go hand in hand with his appearance," Fox said, continuing the briefing of more exclusive information that Tsunade had given only to the team leaders, "He wields a sword, but didn't use any jutsu, as you all heard. However, there was this ability that the Hokage did mention… The swings of his sword, apparently, were much stronger than the strength a normal sword would have. It's fair to believe that he had chakra imbedded in his weapon."
"That would definitely explain the larger holes," Genma noted.
Phoenix knew Owl the best of the three of them, so he also knew that the man wouldn't ask a question like that so receive an answer concerning chakra. The man was an expert on chakra, so he didn't need to ask questions about it. And there was always a more specific reason behind his questions when he asked them, "There's chakra in those holes too, eh?" Phoenix guessed.
Owl hesitated before shaking his head slowly, "... No, this… Is not chakra."
The others in the group all took on looks of surprise, "Not chakra?" Fox questioned, "I thought it would be similar to what had been in the other holes."
"They are quite similar," Owl acknowledged, standing up, "But this substance… Whatever it is, it's not chakra. They share most of the same properties, but there are a few key differences between chakra and whatever this is. Though a normal ninja probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference."
Nobody doubted Owl's word as they all sat in silence for a moment. He was the expert after all… He could see and understand things about chakra that most expert ninja couldn't even hope to comprehend. But expert or not, this news didn't sit well with anyone…
Suddenly, Fox spoke up, "… That certainly would explain something…" The rest of the squad looked over at him. Taking that as an invitation, the man went ahead, "In the briefing, another strange ability of his was mentioned. One of the squad had gotten a hit on the samurai, during their fight but he placed his hand over the wound and healed it extremely quickly, without any mark or scar being left behind."
"Medical Ninjutsu?" Genma suggested, though he knew it couldn't be that easy.
Phoenix shook his head, "No, wait… This sounds fishy… Who attacked him, and with what?"
"Sasuke Uchiha, with the learned Chidori from Kakashi," Fox said, almost with a sour tone.
Phoenix grunted, "I knew it. Then it wasn't Medical Ninjutsu. If an attack like that hit you, even if it was just a knick, there would be-at the very least –a burn mark or a gash. Even if the samurai were to know healing jutsu, he wouldn't be able to wipe all traces of the contact point off that quickly."
Genma bit down on his lip, suddenly wishing there was a senbon there. This definitely complicated things. If the enemy was using some sort of strange never-before-seen ability, it would be considerably harder for the retrieval team to get Kakashi away from Orochimaru while sustaining the least amount of casualties possible. They would definitely have to stay on their toes.
"… So he could even heal himself completely with this strange ability of his…" Fox mumbled in distaste, the gears in his mind working overtime to try and figure out a semi-painless solution to all of this new information. First he turned to Genma, "Genma, contact the other squads and tell them what we've found."
"Right away," Genma nodded seriously, tapping his ear bud and beginning to make contact with the north and west bound squads. Fox turned back around to Phoenix and Owl, who had both moved so that they were standing loyally in front of him.
"Don't tell them anything extensive," Fox added in a louder voice, referring to Genma without turning to him, "Just give them the basics, and tell them we need to meet up. Soon."
"Roger."
Fox looked up at the sun that was progressively getting lower and lower in the sky. Suddenly it seemed to be lowering fast. He was reminded once again of their reason for coming out here, and his fists tightened just slightly. They were running out of time…
Time their Captain didn't have.
Author's Note:
Hello again everyone! Once again, it has been a while! (Not as long as last time, mind you, but still a while!) As payment for making you wait long again, I typed up the longest chapter – so far –of my story! Yaaaay! XP
Thank you all again for keeping up with my story and leaving such awesome reviews! I find all of your input valuable, and appreciate even the smallest comment! Keep on goin'!
Hope you enjoy!