Chapter 7: A Misadventure

TW: Implied torture and implied sexual assault of an adult

10 January 53, 9 a.m., Konoha training grounds

It happened on a Tuesday. Shisui had told Katya that he had a surprise for her on the training grounds for her eighth birthday. In retrospect, he thought that perhaps everything that followed was his fault. He knew that it wasn't. In a couple of months, they would be testing out of the Academy to become genin, anyway. The Konoha forces had been grossly depleted during the onslaught of the war, and they were now desperate for fresh bodies to fill their ranks. In turn, the Academy standards were lowered, and prodigies like Shisui and Katya simply could not be spared as a resource.

"Where are we going?" Katya asked him as they hiked through the dense forest.

"You'll see. It's somewhere cool! There's this huge waterfall that you can see from a cliff and trees everywhere. You'll love it! It's next to a really nice meadow too. It has flowers, in spring anyway. I figured, since you liked that kind of stuff, it would be nice."

"Really?" Her eyes glittered with excitement as she ran ahead to speed up.

Their run quickly devolved into a race that ended in giggles when Shisui tripped over an uplifted root. Katya extended a hand and pulled him up to his feet.

"And that's a win for me. Check one for the great KATYA SENJU!" she yelled dramatically into the forest. Shisui put his hands on her shoulders and jumped over her head in a perfect leapfrog.

"And that's a win for me! CHECK FIVE FOR THE GREATEST, SHISUI UCHIHA!" he yelled even louder than she had. Katya leapfrogged over him and yelled out again. They leapfrogged over and over again until they ended up in a fit of giggles onto the cold meadow floor.

Winter jasmine and snowdrops bloomed sporadically and popped up out of the thin layer of snow that covered the ground. Katya leaned back against her arms and sighed. Shisui closed his eyes and embraced the sting of the winter air on his cheeks.

"It really is a beautiful place. How'd you find it?" Katya asked quietly.

"I didn't. Ojii-san brought me here to pick flowers for my obaa-san a long time ago. Sometimes I like to sneak back here just to get out of my house." They lay in silence for a moment before it was broken.

"Shisui, what's going on there? You don't talk about it, but you always come to school with bruises. Are you… do you feel safe?" Katya rolled onto her stomach and watched him carefully.

The six-year-old boy inhaled and exhaled slowly before removing his wrist brace. He held it up for her inspection. It was a two week old burn mark that his father had given him after putting out a cigarette on his bare wrist. A punishment for not wearing armor there, he had said.

"Oh, Shisui-kun. Can't you live with your ojii-san?"

"My mother's a civilian, Kat. I'm afraid to leave her alone. Men are supposed to protect the women in their lives." His face contorted at the horrified look on Katya's face.

"You're six!"

"Wrong. I'm a shinobi in training. That makes me a man." Shisui closed his eyes as his lips trembled. He felt her small hand close around his and took comfort from its warmth.

"No, we're still kids, Shisui. Tou-chan said that it doesn't matter how old I get, he'll always see me as the baby whose diapers he changed and sung to sleep. That's how a good parent sees their kids. You'll never stop being a kid to them. No matter what rank you achieve or how old you get. And a good parent protects their kids. Kaa-chan won't even let Kakashi train alone with me anymore because I came home with a broken finger one time." The trees shuddered as an icy wind blew through the meadow. In a moment of silence, they could hear the frost crunch as drops slid off of far away icicles.

"He wasn't always this way… that's what my mom said. She said that he became… ill… right before I was born. His squad had been cut off and captured by some shinobi from Kirigakure. They made him torture his male teammate to death. She said that when he refused, their kunoichi teammate was repeatedly violated by their captors. His teammate loved her and begged him to just torture him to spare her. It drove my father mad. They were there for two weeks, Kat. Two weeks of torturing a man he called brother to death. But Konoha never talks about it, and my clan is too proud to admit he's broken so he keeps on serving."

"Why did they make him do it?"

Shisui gave her an odd look as if that were the dumbest question in the world. "If there's one thing Mizugakure excels in, it's mind-breaking. They don't have any kekkei genkai or Yamanaka there, anymore. To them, it's a necessity. It's in the textbook, 'never surrender to the bloody mist.' It's in there for a reason."

"Oh. I'm sorry, Shisui." Her grip tightened on his hand before she let go. She placed her head on his shoulder and held him closely. He moved his arms around her and never wanted to let go. "I...I kept a secret from you too...and it scares me so much sometimes. And I've wanted to tell you so badly but...I can control plants. Just small ones. It takes a lot out of me when I do it. Tou-chan is afraid of anyone finding out that I have the mokuton," she whispered.

"So, we've both kept secrets. I'll keep yours, Kat. You can count on it."

They rested in the silent grove before they felt too cold to stay on the ground anymore. Their chakra circulated quicker throughout their bodies as they warmed their limbs.

"Ah, you'll never get warm that way, let me help." Shisui put his hands on his friend's arms and focused on coating her in his chakra. His grandfather showed him this trick when his grandmother could no longer regulate her own temperature.

"It's so warm," Katya said, burrowing happily into her scarf.

"It's fire nature chakra," he shrugged. "You're probably water and earth? If I remember the Shodaime stuff?" They began to walk to the cliffside while Katya rambled.

"Yup! I can do some wind too, but it takes too much chakra to be practical for me. I think tou-chan was slightly disappointed. I have a hard time using any of the intermediate seals too. But I guess that's life, right? Orochimaru-oji might take me on as an assistant in R&D. He says I have a talent for science. And honestly, I like the idea of that better than using the mokuton like my great-grandfather did-"

"Katya." Katya stopped short at the dangerous tone in his voice. He whispered under his breath, "If you see glinting leaves…"

"It's a trap," she finished. Her eyes went wide as a bush at the end of the trail rustled suddenly. An Iwa-nin rushed at the academy students and grabbed Shisui. Katya screamed in horror and tried to pull him away. Shisui jabbed his elbow up and into the assailant's face and broke their nose. The Iwa-nin screamed and dropped the six-year-old.

The pair sprinted out and up into the trees. Two more enemies swiftly followed them. They bounced from branch to branch, zig-zagging in an effort to throw off their enemy. This was their home, and they'd be damned if someone tried to invade it. Katya concentrated her chakra before releasing it into the trees. The branches swung up and knocked the pursuers to the ground.

"This way!" Shisui yelled. He pulled her wrist and threw up a low-grade genjutsu behind them. The old Hatake compound was near. They could make it. Before they reached the clearing, a seal activated. The very seal that helped protect the village from harm was now preventing the children from running to its safety.

"Village gates!" Katya pulled on him to head east where she knew the barrier allowed entry.

"We'll never make it, Kat. We need to hide until help arrives."

"Shisui. Nobody knows we're out here. We snuck out of class." His eyes widened at this realization before they started running east. The village gate was ten miles from their position. Run as hard as they might, they would never have made it there. They lasted three more minutes before the trespassers caught up to them. The moment that the children looked over their shoulder, they found themselves falling fifty feet from the trees.

Katya desperately tried to get the mokuton to come to her fingertips. Thin branches sprung from the thick boughs and broke as they continued their fall. She screamed before a weightlessness came over and thick arms were around her waist. Her mind lapsed in its panic and thought, 'Tou-chan,' before it corrected itself. The Iwa-nin held her down before plunging a needle into her arm. Blackness overtook her, and she became powerless in its grasp.

Katya's head was ringing when she came to. Her wrists were bound behind her back, and her ankles were tied together. Shisui was unconscious on the other side of the dimly-lit room in a similar position. He had a thin trail of blood from his right temple and a horrible bruise on his shin. She was worried that it might have been broken.

Their captors were whispering furiously with their backs turned. The floor was cold and filthy, and she couldn't access her chakra. She wanted her mama. If she closed her eyes hard enough then she would wake up in her warm cocoon of blankets. If she could just wake up, she could crawl into her parents' bed and feel safe. If she could crawl into their bed, then mama could hold her and tell her everything was okay. No matter how many times she tried, when she opened her eyes she was still in this room.

"Nah man, I'm not comfortable with killing no kids," an Iwa-nin said.

"We could always take them back with us. They're not heavy. Besides, aren't the Uchiha and Senju supposed to be like these famous clans anyway? They're probably valuable."

A tear fell from Katya's eye. They should've stayed in class. Nobody would be looking for them until at least 3 p.m. It was only 11 a.m. By then, it would be too late. They would vanish behind the enemy frontline.

10 January 53, 11 a.m., Jounin Lounge, Hokage Tower

Something was wrong. Minato could feel it in his bones. He reviewed his mental list of things to do, but everything checked out. Something was wrong. Maybe Katya forgot her lunch again? Maybe that's what was on his mind? He quickly summoned a small toad and gave instructions to go down the hall to the academy to check. The toad came back to the jounin breakroom with bad news. Katya Senju and Shisui Uchiha were not in class and hadn't been all day.

They were not going to play hooky on his watch. Of all the foolish things to do. How many times had he told them that it was still important to bond with their classmates even if they were more advanced? Apparently not enough. He was going to track them down and make them sharpen and polish kunai for every jounin on call for the next three weeks. That'd teach those two to skip class.

After a quick conversation with the ANBU guard, he was allowed on top of the Hokage tower roof. He closed his eyes and expanded his senses. Concentrated. Felt every chakra signature in Konoha. When he reached that, he began to pick through and feel for the summer rain of Katya's chakra. He couldn't find it. Changing gears, he felt for Shisui's sharp spearmint. They weren't in Konoha. They weren't even in his sensing range.

Minato began to panic. He pushed down his anxiety as best he could and pulsed his chakra through the leather band that he wore on his right wrist. "Come on, Kit-Kat. Respond."

A barely perceptible burst of warm rain answered his own. In slow morse-code a message was soon typed out. "Taken. Iwa. Room. Forest."

"I'm coming," he tapped back.

Shisui moved his wrists as he groggily came too. His head felt like it had been used as a soccer ball. When he moved his face, he could feel the dry blood flake off onto the dirty floor. The rope they had used chafed against his ankles. He looked up through his black eye and saw Katya there with him. One of the glittery shoes that she was so proud of had fallen off at some point, and her lacy white sock was caked in mud.

When she noticed that he had woken up she mouthed, "Tou-chan is on the way."

He felt like he could almost cry in relief. The Yellow Flash would be here the moment he could pinpoint his seal. All they had to do was stay in range until then and wait for help.

Numbness overtook Kakashi as he summoned the pack. Katya had been kidnapped. Gods knew where she was. She could be hurt. Possibly dead by now. Sensei said he hadn't felt her return his pulse in over five minutes. He couldn't keep her safe. He couldn't uphold the contract his clan had made with the Senju. Just one more black mark against his clan's honor. The great Hatake clan was now so low as to be incapable of keeping a six-year-old academy student safe. Some shinobi he was.

If only he had been less indulgent, if only he had made her follow the rules too, this wouldn't have happened.

"Katya's been taken," he said to Pakkun. The pug gave him a strange look before nodding. He and Minato began to run after the trail as Pakkun led the way. They were over fifteen miles from the village gates before Pakkun stopped. A little girl's shoe glittered in the filtered sunlight underneath the canopy of trees.

"Can you figure out which way they went?" Minato asked the dog desperately.

"No. From here they used some sort of jutsu to cloak their scent. It'll take a few minutes to pick up the trail again."

"Everyone, quiet." He spread his senses, daring them to go further than he had ever tried before, searching for summer rain and sharp spearmint. There to the northwest, twenty miles outside of Konoha and five from their position, he found the strong pulse of spearmint beside a fading summer rain. He told Kakashi the direction before teleporting there himself.

"Shisui, I don't feel right… I can't feel my chakra," Katya whispered under her breath. The gash on the back of her head was throbbing again, and she could see stars behind her eyelids every time her left shoulder ground against the floor.

"It's called a chakra suppressant, you dumb brat," one of the Iwa-nin said nastily. "How do two clan kids just walk off into the woods without a second thought? You leaf-ninja really are a dumb bunch. You'll be lucky if we let you survive to see-" His words were cut off as he fell to the ground. Blood splattered against the dirty floor as his body sagged.

"You two will be alright," Minato said gently. He quickly set about untying them.

"Tou-chan?" Katya sobbed. She attached herself to his side like a barnacle while Shisui held onto the hem of his shirt.

"Come here, you two." Minato pulled them in for a group hug and held them tightly. He rocked them back and forth to calm them down and ran his hands through their hair. Even if Shisui wasn't his, he was still a child in need of comfort. "We need to head back to Konoha. Are you two able to walk?"

Katya sniffled and held on tighter. Shisui shook his head, 'no,' and held out his leg. Minato nodded and summoned a large toad. It was just as well; he didn't want to let go of the children, much less let them go only to carry a prisoner back. A prisoner, who moments before, had been plotting on taking away his daughter. He really hoped that Inoichi would turn their brain to mush after extracting every ounce of information possible.

Minato spent a few moments storing the Iwa-nin bodies in scrolls. He catalogued the various wounds that the children had and splinted Shisui's broken leg. They would be able to travel much faster once Kakashi arrived.

Kakashi shook his head when he finally walked in. He covered how short of breath he was with a haughty air. "Good to see you in one piece. This could've ended very differently. What were you two thinking? A shinobi-"

"Lectures can wait, Kakashi. We need to get behind Konoha's walls. And these two need to be taken to the hospital. Not to mention the prisoner," he gestured with distaste at the smallest Iwa-nin currently situated on his summons.

"Tch. Fine." Kakashi knelt down and motioned for Shisui to climb on his back. Shisui hesitated. "Get. On. Now," he said through gritted teeth. Shisui dutifully crawled to the chuunin and climbed on his back.

Minato swooped Katya onto his hip and held her tightly. He pretended to ignore how soaked his shirt was becoming from her tears. This would be punishment enough for skipping school. But damn if it didn't hurt him to see his baby cry. Kakashi was right-this could've ended very differently.

"I'm sorry, Kakashi-san," Shisui placated.

"Shut. Up." After all that had happened that day, Kakashi was not in the mood to talk to brats pretending to be shinobi. Especially brats who almost got his sister killed or sold into slavery by the enemy.

10 January 53, 5 p.m. Konoha General Hospital

The emergency room at Konoha General Hospital was filled to the brim with wounded shinobi. Beds were laid out in the hall, organized by degree of injury. Machines beeped and whirred as medics and civilian nurses cared for their patients as best they could. The nurse behind the reception desk saw Minato and gave him a respectful nod. They were then ushered to a curtained off section. He gave the nurse the rundown of injuries that he could see on the children before she nodded again and walked off.

The small group could hear harried footsteps just outside of the curtain. There was a shout about code green before an aged doctor quickly walked in. He was stooped with fogged glasses that were falling down his nose. The blue button-up shirt he wore was topped with a cheerful bow-tie. "I am Yakushi-sensei. I see here that you, young lady, have a suspected concussion at minimum, with an open wound at the base of the head...mmm... dislocated shoulder. Not to mention the rope burns?" Katya nodded numbly.

"And you, young man, have a possible orbital fracture and quite the black eye. Tsk. And a broken tibia. Lovely."

The curtain opened again before a young teenage girl walked in. "Sorry I'm late, sensei." She bowed slightly to the old man. "I'm medic Shizune Kato. I've come to check you two for poison contact."

Katya looked up quickly at the last name 'Kato.' This was possibly a family member from her father's side. Her whole life, she had only ever known the loose collection of 'blood family.' She didn't know that she had any biological family left in Konoha.

"Right then, I'll start with the boy. You can check the girl."

"Okay, Katya Senju?" Shizune looked up and quirked her eyebrow but otherwise said nothing. "I'm going to put my hand on your chest and check for poison using my chakra." Before Katya could even nod, Shizune had already finished. The older girl clucked her tongue and scribbled in her clipboard.

"They used a strong chakra suppressant on you. It should wear off in a couple of days. You're lucky that you're resistant to poisons. This was an unrefined strain."

"Wait, what?" Shizune ignored her as she and the doctor switched patients.

"Hold still," the doctor said gruffly as he placed a hand on the back of her head. His chakra stung as it entered her system and repaired the crack in her skull. Katya whimpered and almost jerked away before Minato forcibly stilled her.

"Okay, these bones are set, but it will still take six weeks for your body to send enough calcium to keep them that way. Don't bash your heads in again. And you, you need to stay off that bum leg for at least a week." The old man pointed an arthritic finger towards Shisui's leg. Shisui nodded mechanically.

"That's strange. They didn't poison this one," Shizune told the doctor.

"Ah, they probably saw the other one using chakra and not that one. Must've decided it wasn't worth the supplies." Shizune shrugged as they walked out of the makeshift room.

"Do we still need to go to the Hokage's office, Namikaze-san?" Shisui asked quietly.

"No. Kakashi and I will submit our field report. They'll get the rest of the information from your exams and the captive. You two have had a long enough day."

AN: Thank you so much for reading! Please leave a review. :) If you liked this fic be sure to hit follow/subscribe to have update alerts!

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Beta'ed by: The incredible, prodigious cherryberry12-sama herself. ; who might I just say is absolutely amazing to stick with this project! Her skills blow me out of the water and I am flabbergasted everyday she works on this with me. :)

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