Hisa just stared, it was all she could do. Oki was gone, and if they tried to complete the mission Oki would die. If they went after Oki, there was a good chance they would all die. By the time they caught up to her, the children they were supposed to rescue would be moved to a more secure base.
When Hisa panicked, her brain worked in a way that was both useful, and a hindrance. It would block out all emotion, letting logic and strategy take control. Right now, her brain was remembering the lessons in the Academy about situations like these. The basic rule was to complete the mission and let your comrade fend for themselves. Normally, Hisa would have calmly followed the rules, but this was Oki. Oki was her only (She didn't count Nawaki, Obito was her brother and Kawa was… complicated) friend. That was why Hisa remained frozen, not quite sure what to do. Her logical, emotion-less state wasn't working properly.
She felt something rush past her in the direction that the missing-nin had disappeared in. Vaguely, she realised that Nawaki was the one running. Her arm reached out of her own accord, and she stopped him. He looked at her, impatient.
"Let's go Hisa! We have to rescue Oki!"
Hisa nodded slightly, but then caught herself. A cold feeling was worming its way into her stomach.
"Wait for a minute Nawaki." she said "We need to decide what to do."
His eyes flashed angrily.
"What to do? We rescue Oki! We can find their other base later, and complete the mission then."
Hisa shook her head, not quite sure if he was right but not ready to ignore him either.
"Just think about it for a minute. If we go after Oki, they'll take the hostages away and we'll fail the mission. The kids they kidnapped aren't like Oki, they have no shinobi skills. If we try and rescue Oki there's a good chance that they'll reverse the situation and threaten to kill the kids. We need to think of a strategy, not just rush in."
Even as she spoke, the words felt cold to her, like she was betraying Oki by not immediately running to save her. But she was a shinobi with a mission, and she couldn't afford to fail. She looked at Nawaki, hoping that he'd understand, but he was completely stubborn.
"They said that they'd kill Oki if we tried to rescue the kids, so let's just rescue Oki first."
Hisa sighed angrily, annoyed at his lack of sense.
"Do you think that they will just let us rescue her? They obviously thought this through. We don't know enough. We need to regroup with Konohamaru."
Nawaki shook his head firmly.
"They could be torturing her for information right this second! We don't have time to 'regroup'. Forget the mission for a minute, let's go!"
Anger swept through Hisa, mostly directed at Nawaki. She was trying to be rational, but he was making it seem like she was a terrible person for not immediately running off like an idiot. The worst part was that it was working. She pictured Oki screaming in a dark cave, and guilt swept over her. She pushed it aside for the moment, to focus on convincing Nawaki.
"We can't just 'forget the mission'. The shinobi rule book states that we should let Oki die and rescue the kids. I'm trying to find a way around that."
Nawaki stared at her in confusion.
"Why do you need a way around it? Just ignore it completely, it's not like Naruto will be disappointed if you chose to save your comrade. In fact, he'd probably be happier."
He was really not helping. The guilt and desire to throw caution to the wind was building up inside her. But she could hear the whispers in her mind, telling her that she wasn't allowed to fail the mission. She had to rescue the children.
"Look, you can't just go running off on your own. I can teleport and bring Konohamaru here. He can tell us the best strategy. Other than that, the only option I can think of is to rescue the kids and let Oki take her chances."
She didn't know why she had added the last part, but she needed Nawaki to see that he couldn't just abandon everything to rescue a comrade. Technically speaking, the hostages were more important than Oki. Hisa didn't agree, but it wasn't like she could debate the matter with the council right now. She sent Nawaki her coldest look.
"Wait here." she said firmly. "I'll go and get Konohamaru."
She reached into her pocket for a kunai, and froze.
Her hand felt damp and sticky. Slowly, she drew her hand out and stared down in horror at her ink covered fingers. No no no this can't be happening. How could I have used the non-waterproof ink?
Her mind flashed back to before the start of the mission, when she had been drawing the seals. She usually used waterproof ink, but obviously she had made a mistake. The ink on her hands and on the blotched kunai was clearly not waterproof.
Nawaki stared at her calmly, but didn't say a word. She dipped her hand back into her pocket and brought out her entire collection of special kunai. The ink on the seals was smudged, not one kunai was dry. Konohamaru had one of her kunai, so she could teleport to him. But there would be no way for them to get back other than on foot, and that would take too long. Plus, she doubted Nawaki would be willing to wait for them. Hisa sighed and closed her eyes, trying to remember everything Konohamaru had told her.
"These missing-nin don't rob or kill. They make money by kidnapping and holding people hostage, then threating their families and friends into giving them a ransom. Our mission is to save a group of children that they took hostage, but they've managed to kidnap Oki, a shinobi of Konoha. To them, Oki is more valuable than the children because she can be used to blackmail other shinobi and she means something to us. As well as that, there's only one of her, and there's at least three children. That means that if we go after Oki, they can kill a child and still be able to threaten us. On the other hand, if we go after the children, not only would we be following the mission, but there's a good chance that they won't kill Oki even if we manage to rescue them."
She glanced at Nawaki to see if he understood where she was going. He seemed confused, and was staring at her slightly sadly.
"You're willing to risk Oki's life just to complete a mission? They didn't even threaten to kill the kids if we tried to rescue Oki. Let's face it, we're outnumbered and we don't have enough information. Let's just rescue Oki and leave the mission for a bigger or more experienced team."
Why couldn't he just agree with her for once? The situation was complicated enough as it was, Nawaki didn't need to argue with every point she made.
"Look, I'm in charge until we meet up with Konohamaru. So let's get the kids to safety first, then rescue Oki. Once the mission is secure we can afford to go back and save her, if she hasn't saved herself."
Nawaki looked at her, and Hisa knew that he wasn't going to go along with her plan.
"I know that Oki's a good shinobi, but they had a kunai at her throat. As long as they keep it there, she has no chance at saving herself. I think you're analysing them too much. They want us to stay away from the kids and their using Oki to do that. We rescue Oki then-"
"By that time the kids could be halfway across this forest!" Hisa yelled, frustrated that she was once again arguing with him. "The mission has to come first! Every shinobi knows that, it's one of the things we accepted once we became shinobi. People don't come back from missions. You need to deal with that."
"Not if there's a chance we can rescue her. Whether you like it or not, I'm going after Oki. I understand where you're coming from Hisa, you don't want to fail the mission because you think the villagers will look down on you, and if it goes wrong you want to be able to say that you followed the rules. But this is Oki, your best friend. Is what the villagers think of you really that important?"
Hisa was surprised, Nawaki had burst out of nowhere with that, but he had hit a nerve. Hisa knew that she cared about what the villagers thought of her. She didn't want everyone thinking of her as a fraud. But just because Nawaki had talked to Konohamaru didn't mean he had the right to preach about her life. She told him as much.
"Just because you and Konohamaru bitched about me last night doesn't meant that you understand me Nawaki. Konohamaru was right about a lot of things. I've had this identity handed to me, and there's nothing I can do about it. It's-"
"If you say fate I swear I'll slap you. Look, I'm not going to pretend like I understand everything about you, but I can understand why you don't want Konoha to scorn you. But if you fail one mission, do you really think any of them will truly care? The people who really care about you, Naruto, Oki, Konahamaru, even me, we're not going to think any less of you if you choose your friend over the mission. We understand. If the civilians think any less of you, it's their problem."
If Nawaki was surprised that Hisa had heard his talk with Konohamaru, he didn't show it. Instead he stood there calmly and let Hisa think.
Hisa did just that. Nawaki was sincere, that much she was sure of. Most of what he had said was true, even if she didn't like to admit it. Konohamaru's words last night drifted into her head. She never likes to fail a mission, she thinks that if she fails people will start to think of her as a fraud. Nawaki was right, she was too concerned about what other people thought of her.
Then she remembered the end of Konohamaru's speech: The sad thing is, she's probably right.
Her resolve hardened and her face became stony.
"I'm not discussing my personal life right now." she said icily "This isn't really the time. Let's go and complete the mission, then we can rescue Oki. I'm not arguing about it anymore."
"Neither am I." Nawaki said "I'm going to rescue Oki, you can come if you want, or you can complete the mission. I'm not going to try and convince you anymore."
He turned and began to walk away. Hisa calmly reached out her hand.
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that." she said "Neither of us are strong enough to beat all the missing-nin on our own, which is why we need to stick together. If you go off on your own you could mess up any chance we have of surprising them."
Nawaki stopped walking. For a minute, he stood there with his back to her. Eventually, he turned back around. Hisa was startled by how desperate he looked.
"Please Hisa," he said pleadingly "Just come with me and rescue Oki. I don't want to fight you."
She snorted.
"I don't want to fight you either, but unlike you I'm fairly confident that I can beat you. If you won't agree to come then I'll just force you along, or knock you out. Either one will suit me at this point."
"Please," Nawaki said again, and there was a hint of hysteria in his voice. Hisa started to feel slightly worried. She could deal with a stubborn Nawaki, but a desperately begging Nawaki made her uncomfortable. Nawaki had this annoying way of making you think that he knew more that you, that he knew best. If he kept this up, there was a chance that he would convince her.
"Look, I'm not going to come with you, so let's just get this fight over with." she suddenly wished with all her heart that Oki was there with them. Judging by Nawaki's expression, this fight was going to get out of hand, and Oki was the only one who could calm both of them down if they got too aggressive. Her head felt numb, and one part of her brain was screaming at her to rescue Oki. But the cold logical part of her brain was in control, and it was putting the mission first.
"This is the last time I'll say it: Please." Nawaki said quietly. "Trust me, I really don't want to do this."
"Neither do I, but I'm going to do it anyway." she said as she stuck out her hand. "Almighty Push!"
Nawaki was sent flying towards a tree, but after being caught in this jutsu so many times, he was able to right himself in midair and landed on the tree in a crouch. Hisa kept her hand extended, waiting for him to retaliate.
To her surprise, he simply jumped down and began to walk slowly towards her. She kept her hand ready, in case it was a ruse. He walked slowly towards her, pain in his eyes although she didn't know why.
He came to a stop a few metres away from her. For a minute, they just stared at each other. Nawaki's eyes were sad and regretful, yet also determined. Hisa wasn't sure what her eyes looked like, but if she had a guess she would say cold. The Rinnegan often made her look cold or angry, even when she was neither. She had been avoiding her eyes in mirrors for a long time now.
Nawaki was the first one to break eye contact. He tilted his head downwards and closed his eyes, almost like he was falling asleep. Hisa waited tensely, not quite sure what trick he had up his sleeve.
Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw. Nawaki tilted his head back up, before slowly opening up his eyes. Hisa was so shocked she stumbled backwards.
"That's impossible." she whispered, unable to take her eyes off Nawaki's.
Nawaki's blood red eyes, each with three tomoe in them, stared straight back at her.
Hisa pinched herself, just to make sure that it wasn't a dream. It could be a genjutsu, but Nawaki had never shown any interest in genjutsu. Then again, he had never developed the Sharingan either.
"How…" was all she managed to say.
Nawaki stared back at her sadly.
"I'm sorry." he said "I'm sorry that I kept this a secret, but I couldn't show you without revealing my other identity. I didn't want anyone to know about this, can you understand why?"
Hisa's brain was busy flashbacking. She remembered that mission they had gone on when she was eight. Nawaki's hair had turned pink. Come to think of it, Sasuke Uchiha had been on that mission.
Uchiha. Pink hair.
"You're parents aren't dead are they?" she said, keeping her voice as calm as possible.
He shook his head.
"I can see that you've figured it out. Sakura knows, obviously, she raised me until I came to Konoha. As for Sasuke… I thought that he knew but he hasn't said anything about it. I didn't want to tell him myself. It's all just really complicated."
Hisa's confusion was gone now, replaced by anger.
"You bastard! Who the hell do you think you are? Last night you were telling Konahamaru that you needed to know more about me to 'trust' me. You've been lying straight to our faces you hypocrite!"
Nawaki's face remained calm, which angered Hisa even more.
"Konohamaru knows, at least, I think he does. I couldn't tell you or Oki because I didn't know how you'd react. Believe me, if there was another way, I would have told you in a heartbeat. When I first came to Konoha, I spent every day feeling guiltier and guiltier about lying. But for the last few years, it hasn't felt like I was lying. Konoha is my home now. My previous life is in the past."
"Spare me the sob story." she sneered. "I really don't want to waste more time. Let's just fight and get this over with, so we can rescue the kids and then rescue Oki."
Nawaki sighed, but looked resigned. Slowly, the two of them moved into fighting stances.
Then Hisa thrust out her hand and the battle begun.