Kakashi's POV

Konoha looked gray and dull today, the sun hid behind the clouds on this frigid January morning, the gloomy weather gave the village a melancholic vibe even though it's still early in the day.

The somber atmosphere only added up to the grief I felt in my heart as I touched the cold stone of the Kill-in-Action monument, tracing the names of the people I mourn for while I talked to them as if they could hear my ramblings.

I always hoped that the wind would carry the quiet words I whisper in the air to wherever they may be in the afterlife. Conversing with the dead people who became a part of my life had been my coping mechanism, the heaviness of the sorrow I feel within me lightens up whenever I talk to them, imagining that they can hear me as I apologize for everything that I failed to do when they're still alive and for all the things I could have done differently that might have changed their tragic fate.

I needed to leave the village for another mission assignment though, so I had to say my farewells to them for now. "Obito, I'd be going to another S-rank mission soon. I know your Sharingan would help me succeed in it as it did multiple times already, sometimes I wished I was able to master this dojutsu as soon as you gave it to me like how I am able to use it now. Maybe I could've saved Rin from dying if I was strong enough back then."

Suddenly, I felt another presence in the area, but it disappeared as soon as I was about to reach out to it and figure out who it belonged to. My senses told me I was being watched, and it was very strange and alarming that the intruder was able to easily conceal themselves in an instant, vanishing from the area as soon as it came.

Perhaps the unwelcome guest used a teleportation technique?

I pretended not to be aware and just carried on with what I was doing, but I'm more alert with my surroundings now that I've sensed somebody's presence a while ago. "If I wasn't too hard-headed back then and just went along with your plans sooner, maybe you could still be alive today too and we'd still be on a team doing mission assignments together."

"Minato-sensei would have liked that. Imagine his delight if his insufferable students finally got along together and became a real team unlike how we acted back when we were still genins and chunins." I took a few deep breaths as I said the next words, "But those would never happen now, because I've failed all of you one way or another."

I recalled the statement he told me on our last mission together, I'm truly grateful to Obito because his words made a lasting impact on me and changed me for the better. "Don't worry Obito, I still follow your words up to this day. I never abandoned a comrade after you said those words to me. I followed your ninja way to honor your memory along with Rin, Minato-sensei and my father. They all gave importance to camaraderie and friendship as much as you did."

It's time for my departure, but I traced each of their names again before I said my farewell "I'll be going on my mission now, maybe in a few days I'll be back with something different to talk about."

As I headed to the village gates, my mind was filled with the sudden presence I sensed a while ago- was it a spy or just another shinobi of Konoha who happened to encounter me unintentionally in the area? This was the first time it happened, so I could just easily brush it off, but my instincts told me not to. I could also just be imagining things since it all happened within a blink of an eye.

I could worry about it another time though.

The rest of Team Ro was already waiting for me at the gates when I arrived there, so I pushed my concerns at the back of my mind as soon as our group departed from the village. My undivided attention should be focused on the new S-rank mission I needed to complete with my team.


It had been a while since Orochimaru of the Sannin defected from the village, his atrocious crimes were unforgivable not just to Konoha's shinobi standards, but it's also against the fundamental moral and ethical principles that the human society is built upon. His fascination for the discovery of immortality was the reason why he did all those terrible experiments on human beings. Numerous innocent people became his victims and were taken against their will, meeting terrible fate just because of his selfish ambition.

Reports said that he had been traveling all over the countries, joining an unknown group that consists entirely of missing nins, and building several bases for his laboratories across the elemental nations.

This made the whereabouts of the Snake Sannin hard to pinpoint. He may be an elusive foe to catch, but the people who work for him weren't as good as him. One of the spies that Orochimaru employed was captured by a jonin team and brought back to Konoha for interrogation. With the help of the Yamanaka mind jutsu, the Torture and Investigation Unit managed to confirm that the missing nin was recently around the Land of Tea and had been in one of the islands in the southern sea.

The hokage had assigned my ANBU team to pursue the missing nin and eliminate him upon contact and everyone under his command, and as a seventeen-year old captain of the team, I admit that I am a bit nervous about the possibility of facing a shinobi of his caliber. I was relieved to be informed that the hokage added a formidable shinobi for this mission to accompany Team Ro, the sandaime's only student remaining in service to Konoha, Jiraiya of the Sannin.

The Toad Sage will rendezvous with my team to ensure higher success of the mission because Orochimaru is a very slippery and powerful opponent. It would be difficult to subdue the missing nin even for a team of highly skilled ANBU operatives, he was one of Konoha's best shinobi before he defected so that's not surprising at all.

My team proceeded to go south towards our destination. Our first stop was the Land of Tea, arriving there with barely any rest after the whole day we traveled. However, as part of the Black Ops of the Leaf Village, my team is trained for such difficult situations and could withstand even worse than that.

We observed the place for a few hours and scouted around the area for possible leads. I knew Jiraiya-sama was already in the area since I felt his chakra signature when I used my sensing ability to look for him. The village was bustling and full of people since it is a harbor town, so several boats containing cargoes and passengers come and go every once in a while. It is the perfect place for spies and the likes to hang around or do meet ups since they would be very unnoticeable with the very busy environment.

There was an individual who looked very suspicious, he was a male judging from the broad shoulders, towering height and the way he walked about the place.

I can sense a bad vibe coming off from him, all thanks to Sumire's sensing ability that I managed to develop from being bonded with her, it made it easier for me to identify who among the crowd would most likely be a spy or opponent since there's a noticeable negative energy from him.

The man was wearing a hooded cloak so his face is barely visible from my vantage point. He proceeded to go inside a ramen stand and sat beside a woman with short blonde hair.

I discreetly changed my position so I could hear what they were talking about. I didn't need to go too close since my five senses have always been sharp and my hearing range is better than most, so I was truly the best fit for ANBU assignments like this.

The blonde woman started talking casually but in a hushed tone, "Do you have anything worth paying for? My boss would compensate you well for your services."

"I do have excellent news, but my payment needs to be doubled for my services." The man chuckled and sounded very excited, "It turned out others were also after what you were seeking for."

The woman replied, "And what news is that?"

"Hand me the payment first, woman." The amusement from the man's voice vanished as he said that.

The woman reached for a small bag of coins from her pocket and slid it next to the man. "This is the agreed amount, I would add more if I find your information valuable enough. Spill it and don't waste my time."

"There are sightings of the girl along the southern seas." The man then took the bag of coins and held it as if he was weighing it before he spoke again, "The girl is very elusive and rarely seen outside. I noticed others were lurking near her location though, so it seems your group is not the only one looking for her. I would tell you more about it of course, but these coins are too light for that information."

A loud bang was heard when the woman slammed her hand suddenly on the table, leaning closer to the man, trying to intimidate him to take the situation seriously and stop playing around. "Do not play games with me. I would bring you to my master if you keep continuing this nonsense, he would gut you out like a fish and be done with all your bullshit."

"I don't even know who you work for, why should I be scared of you or your boss?" The man said as an annoying smile appeared on his face, not caring about the threat that just had been offered unkindly to him.

"You fool! I wouldn't dream of meeting him if I were in your place." The blonde woman gave the spy an unkind smirk as she revealed the name of her employer, "My master is Orochimaru of the Sannin, would you like an introduction?"

The man's smile vanished in an instant, indicating that he recognized the infamous name, and finally taking the woman's threat seriously.

However, a small smile appeared on my face since a lead to my team's mission just revealed itself in front of me. Thank goodness that the man was an insufferable and greedy idiot, and the woman a short-tempered and blabbering kind since we might finally find the snake sannin's location.

I was right to follow my instincts about this man being a spy, and the sensing capability that I got from Sumire was a bonded ability that I truly appreciate. The skill to sense chakra signatures and presences as well as get the feel and vibe of an individual had been very useful in missions like these.

I further observed the interaction and listened to know more about the person Orochimaru had been looking for while I summoned a clone to give a message to my team and Jiraiya-sama, telling them about the lead and to meet me in the area as soon as possible.

The two of them stared at each other for a minute, sizing each other up, before the woman spoke again, "I told you that I would add more to the payment if your information is valuable enough. Now speak up and let's be done with this." She took another bag of coins and held it in front of the man, but she kept her firm grasp on it as she waited for the rest of the information.

"I only managed to accidentally discover her when I was at the Hidden Moon Village, one of the shops I stumbled upon sells the best tea blends I had ever tried. The owner told me of a budding apothecary business in one of the island towns in Umi no Kuni that creates herbal products and tea blends. Apparently, they supply to other villages and towns as well that weren't a part of the five great nations, but if one wanted to check out all the product variants they sell, you have to go to their little shop." The man narrated with delight in his eyes as he told this information to the woman. He continued, "Naturally, I went to the islands in the Land of Sea and looked for the town that housed the famed shop. As a spy who went all over the elemental countries, it interested me very much since such craftsmanship could only be found in the greater nations and shinobi villages. After that, I visited the shop whenever I was in the area to buy all sorts of products they sell."

The blonde woman exclaimed impatiently, " Just give me the important details and quit wasting more of my time!"

"Alright! Calm down, woman! I am getting to the important part!" The man exclaimed a bit annoyed by the interruption, but he continued telling his recent encounter at Umi no Kuni. "When you reached out to me previously to look for the woman, it had been a very tedious few months since all you gave was information from a decade ago and a rough sketch of what she's supposed to look like. I didn't even know where to start, but I pulled through and stumbled upon the gem." The man explained excitedly, "I was already about to give up with the search and thought about revoking my agreement with you since I couldn't fulfill the assignment. However, I decided to head to Umi no Kuni to restock my tea supplies and herbal medicines a few weeks before our supposed meet up."

"Just get to the point!", blurted the very impatient blonde woman.

"It was a good decision to go there. I saw her there, coming out of the apothecary shop. All the physical description of what she was supposed to look like ticked the boxes, seems about the right age as well. The girl looked exactly like the sketch you gave me, and her appearance certainly does not belong to a shabby town on some island." The man smiled as he retold his encounter with the mysterious girl, "I did not know at first if she was only a visitor to the famed shop like I was or a resident of the town so I decided to follow her. She went to a bookshop and seemed close to the store attendant, they looked like they knew each other well so I think she was living there. I tried following her around town to know where she lives, but I saw other individuals asking about her and lurking around the town." The man paused for a bit but added, "The villagers were tight-lipped about her, it seemed somebody protected the girl and warned the people about revealing anything about her. The town is small and has a close-knit community, so it was expected that they would look out for each other."

The woman tossed the remaining bag of coins to the man as she said with a frown on her face, "You just wasted minutes of my life, you could've just mentioned the apothecary shop and the freaking bookstore at Umi no Kuni."

"Well, you're welcome! What a grumpy woman." The man commented as he put the coins in his pockets, and further complained about his interaction with the woman, "Very rude, not even a thank you. She was lucky I was able to find that elusive girl."

The woman immediately left afterwards. I thought the man would leave the place as well but he continued his amusement by talking to himself, looking very content by the results of his recent findings about the mysterious girl.

I heard the spy add another comment with a devious tone as he said his thoughts out loud to no one in particular, "I landed a jackpot with that girl. I just gave the people from the black market a sketch of the girl and spread the word that I know her whereabouts, then they all came running to me, very eager to drop big amounts of money for any information about her." The man laughed evilly at his own words as he continued his monologue, "That blonde woman was so obnoxious, I was glad I decided to meet her last among all the clients that wanted her girl's information. She would probably arrive there last and end up with nothing."

My team arrived in my area shortly with Jiraiya the Toad sage in tow. We discreetly followed the woman as she boarded an overcrowded passenger boat heading towards the southern seas.

It was in the middle of January so the cold winter winds were harshly blowing from time to time as we sailed across the uninviting sea. The sky was dark since the sun hadn't graced us with its warm presence even though it's still the afternoon, making our voyage across the waters bitterly cold.

I thought that this mode of transportation only had one destination, but it turned out it had multiple stops at several towns situated on the islands that were scattered around the southern sea. A lot of passengers still remained onboard even though the boat docked on several ports already.

We were slowly approaching one of three islands of Umi no Kuni, and the blonde woman prepared herself to alight from the vehicle. The place looked secluded, with only a couple of houses visible from the port, and those even looked uninhabited so the place seemed sketchy. We didn't immediately follow after she got off to avoid her getting suspicious of us, we still needed to find Orochimaru's base and she might not lead us there if she realizes she's being pursued.

As the blonde's silhouette receded from our view, we began to disembark from the boat without anyone noticing and followed the direction where the woman went.

Jiraiya-sama had been very quiet since we rendezvoused with him a while back, it was very unusual for the man since he had such a vibrant personality. I could understand this though since the mission was to eliminate the man who had been his teammate, and maybe he even treated Orochimaru as a friend or a brother. I know from experience that it is never easy to lose someone you consider as a comrade, no matter what their circumstance is now.

I realized that this was not the village that the spy reported to the blonde woman since no bookstore or apothecary shop was in sight, we barely even noticed any people on the island, which meant that this place was probably one of Orochimaru's secret bases scattered all over the nations given its seclusion and remote location.

I was able to track the woman's position easily using my sensing ability, she was nowhere in sight but I knew she's in the area. There was an entryway somewhere here that's partially hidden, if we weren't trained to "look underneath the underneath", we would have missed the door since it was expertly concealed.

I could also feel several chakra presence lingering inside the hidden location, so I signaled to Team Ro and the Toad Sage to be prepared for a fight before we blasted the door open.

A loud explosion echoed in the island as we destroyed the passageway, and I could feel the people inside getting tensed with the sudden commotion. We made our way inside and a couple of Orochimaru's men were guarding the place, they looked more like bandits than shinobi though that's why we were able to easily subdue them, but as we went further inside the Snake Sannin's base, more unusual beings who looked less human started to appear and attack us.

"Jiraiya-sama, I couldn't feel Orochimaru's chakra presence in the area." I commented as we continue to incapacitate the beings under the Snake Sannin's command. The man just gave me a firm nod and attacked the opponents that charged at our team.

Orochimaru probably performed profane experiments on these pitiful beings since they all looked very appalling and hideous.

Despite their frightening looks, they aren't that skilled since their movements and attacks were all over the place. However, their lack of skill was compensated by their durability and endurance because they're able to withstand the fatal attacks that we continuously showered them with. I am confident that we can handle them though, it might take time but my team and Jiraiya-sama can surely eliminate these humanoid beings.

We were already able to defeat more than half of Orochimaru's experiments when I noticed Genma approaching, "Captain, I saw the woman escaping the base a while ago."

Jiraiya-sama spoke as he continued to strike the enemies, "Hound, you can leave the rest of these humanoids to us. Go ahead with Wolf and follow the woman." The Toad Sage was still battling the opponents without any difficulty as he continued to talk, "Besides, I think this base was only full of his failed experiments and a couple of his men. That slippery man probably left as soon as he knew one of his spies was missing already. I will sweep the base and eliminate his goons with the remaining members of your team."

I nodded at the Toad Sage, "Alright, Jiraiya-sama. I'll leave Crane and Cat with you. I heard the spy telling the woman that the mysterious girl Orochimaru was looking for was at one of the islands of Umi no Kuni, the blonde woman would probably go there. I suggest you all meet up with us once you're done here since the girl might lead us to Orochimaru's whereabouts."

Jiraiya summoned a small toad and handed it to me, "Take the toad with you, he could reverse-summon himself to me, and inform me of your location later on. Make sure he doesn't get soaked with the sea water though, they are freshwater toads and couldn't stand the briny water."

Genma took the toad and securely kept it on him so the toad wouldn't fall down to the sea unintentionally as we traveled through it later.

Afterwards, I gestured for Genma to follow me, "Let's go, Wolf. If Orochimaru spent much of his resources just to find one girl, then she might have something special about her that caught the snake's interest."

We proceeded our chase for the blonde woman and saw that she was onboard a small motor boat along with four men. Genma and I did not hesitate to follow them and run through the freezing waters just to keep up with them. They are already too far from us, but we still see them as they sail towards another island that is visible on the horizon.

We ran relentlessly on the raging sea for more than an hour trying to catch up to the blonde woman and her companions. It was already nightfall and I could feel the chill straight to my bones as I got soaked with the freezing seawater, but I ignored the biting cold and focused on getting to the destination. As we approached the shore, we noticed some sort of fight was happening already. The four men who were previously with the woman were in combat against two individuals wearing blank porcelain masks, one of the four were able to survive the onslaught as his teammates took the attacks head on, enabling him to defeat the masked men while they were distracted.

Genma took care of the remaining man alive as soon as we reached the shore where the fight had been while I surveyed the area.

The mysterious girl surely has a lot of pursuers; several groups are after her apart from Orochimaru since the spy earlier sold information not only to the blonde-haired woman but to others as well.

I hope we can locate the pitiful girl before any individuals or groups with sinister intentions do, so we could prevent her from falling into their hands.