11:45 a.m., 26 November 54; Main Gates of Konoha
Kakashi stretched his arms above his head as Team Seven entered the gates of Konoha. Compared to the Land of Frost, Konoha was almost a tropical paradise in the middle of November.
"Man, I'm beat," Obito said, carefully stretching his right side.
"How's your arm?" Rin asked. She grabbed his right hand and started poking various spots along his ulnar nerve.
Obito reflexively pulled back. "Hey, that hurts."
"Well, at least it's working. Kakashi, we have body scrolls from those bandits we took out," Rin reminded.
He waved her off and pulled the five scrolls from his bag while they walked into the Hokage Tower. He handed over the scrolls to the receptionist, requesting any available bounty to be paid to Team Seven's mission account.
"Hokage-sama wants to see you," the receptionist said. She passed over a receipt for the body scrolls along with the Hokage summons.
Kakashi nodded with Obito and Rin following behind him.
Genma met them at the door to the Hokage office. "He's in a mood," he whispered, before opening the large door.
"Sensei," the three greeted, bowing slightly.
Minato stood in front of his desk and closed his eyes briefly. A clock on the wall chimed the hour. Sunflowers abruptly sprouted on top of a bookshelf at the far end of the office.
"Report," he said tiredly.
"We delivered the announcement to the Daimyo of the Land of Frost without incident. Upon our return to the Land of Fire, approximately fifty miles northwest of the capital, we encountered a group of bandits robbing a merchant caravan. We dispatched the bandits without casualty and accompanied the caravan to the capital. Pro-bono."
"That's why you are three days late?"
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
"You can still call me 'Sensei.'" Minato sighed and sat down. His eyes drifted to the sunflowers. "Team Eight is five days overdue from the Land of Tea."
"Team Eight?" Obito asked. "That's Shisui's team."
"Yes. Rin, in your medical opinion, is Obito still mission capable?"
"He is, Sensei."
"Good. It's probably nothing, but if Team Eight does not return before nightfall, your mission is to find them and bring them home."
They bowed their heads in unison and left Hokage Tower.
"I'm not getting a good feeling about this," Obito said quietly as they walked to their apartments.
Rin slipped her hand into Obito's and intertwined their fingers.
"Me neither," Kakashi added. "Let's leave sooner rather than later. Take time to restock our supplies and head out."
The couple nodded at him before they parted ways.
"I'll walk you home," Obito said, kissing Rin's cheek.
Moments passed as they walked hand-in-hand down the cobblestone streets of Konoha. When they reached her apartment building, Rin turned to face Obito. She could feel his pulse beneath her hand on his jaw. His hands were warm against her lower back when he pulled her in.
"I love you," she said softly, looking into his eye. She brushed her thumb along his cheek, and he leaned into her touch. Their hearts pounded together at the first brush of her lips on his. Her mind went blank when he cupped the back of her head. He smelled like warmth and coming home, and she could taste the sweetened oolong tea he kept in his canteen on her lips. He moved against her slowly; gentle and firm. All too soon it was over.
He released her, holding her chin and sweeping his thumb over her lips. Butterflies flitted about in her stomach until his touch was the only thing holding her together.
"I love you too. I'll come by after I pack and walk with you to the gate?"
"Yeah, I'd like that," she replied shyly, turning to her door. Before she turned the handle, she looked back to find him staring at her.
"I want to make sure you get in okay," he said, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head. She could feel a blush creep up her face as she opened the door.
2 a.m., 27 November 54; Nagi Island
The sleeping bags crinkled when Katya moved closer to Shisui, seeking out his warmth. It had been over a week since they became stuck in this cave. Outside, Kiri ANBU massed on the island's east coast. Katya had estimated fifty now.
During the first two days of hiding, they were optimistic, hoping for rescue. They slept in their own sleeping bags, leaving Isamu's carefully packed at the bottom of Shisui's bag. By the third day, their hope began to diminish. The cave was below freezing at night, the chill of the volcanic rock stealing away the meager heat that their bodies were able to produce. On the fourth day, they unpacked Isamu's sleeping bag.
Katya cried then, surrounded by Isamu's smell and the remnants of his chakra. Shisui's tears had long dried up. They unzipped the bag and placed it underneath them as a barrier between the cold stone and their bodies. Then they zipped the remaining two bags together. It was a tight fit between Kuromaru, Katya, and Shisui, but it was warmer than they had been.
Every hour for the last eight days, they dribbled small amounts of water into Kuromaru's mouth, careful not to choke him. Five days ago, they thought he would wake up. Every time he twitched, they waited with bated breath, hoping he would wake up and tell them what to do. Tell them how to get off of the island without bringing down fifty Kiri ANBU onto their heads.
Their food supplies were dwindling. The mission was only supposed to last five days. Ten days later, they were down to a few packs of rice crackers between them, even with careful rationing.
"I'm going to get more water," Shisui whispered, moving his arm away from Katya. She squeezed his hand and kissed his cheek before letting him go.
When she tried to outrun the Kiri-nin four days ago while getting water, her ankle had broken against a tree root. Her healing abilities worked all too well, healing the bone in the wrong location before Shisui could attempt to set the break. She still could not bear weight on it; much less help him carry Kuromaru out of the forest.
She was shutting down on him. It had been three days since she last said a word. Her movements were mechanical. Her prayers were silent in a far corner of the cave. Three days ago, they had discussed leaving the cave and making a break for the seaside village and a ship that could carry them back to the safety of the Land of Fire, but Kuromaru never woke up as they had hoped. Neither of them thought they would be able to carry a dog the size of a grown man through the mangrove forest without getting caught. Both of them refused to leave him behind.
Shisui bent down at the stream, filling both canteens.
"If there is a god, please help us," he whispered in the wind.
When he returned to the cave, Katya was still lying in the sleeping bag. Her hand was on Kuromaru's chest, counting each breath that he took.
"I'm back," he said quietly, touching her shoulder. "Kat?"
Katya didn't look at him. Her lips moved silently, counting.
"Talk to me, please?"
She placed her hand on his, pulling him back toward the sleeping bag.
"Okay, you want me to cuddle. That's fine. But you need to say something. Don't leave me alone out here."
"I don't want this to be real," she whispered, so softly he almost didn't hear it. "If I speak, then it's real."
Her eyes were light in the dark of the cave, her blonde hair seemed to reflect the moonlight.
"Okay. Okay. But it is. It is and we can't change that. We have to figure a way out."
"The Kiri ANBU will be here soon. Do you think they'll be quick when they kill us?"
"Don't say that. We're not going to die," Shisui said, grabbing her roughly by the shoulders.
"I never wanted to be a shinobi."
"I know. But we need to make it back home. If we can do that, you can do all the research you want. I promise, I'll figure out a way so you never have to leave the village again. You just have to make it back home."
"I'm so tired, 'Sui."
"Then sleep."
Katya rolled back over toward Kuromaru, placing her hand back on his chest. Shisui snuggled back into the warmth of the sleeping bags. After a moment, he put his arm around Katya's waist and pulled her closer.
10 a.m., 27 November 54; Nagi Island
Obito blew out the breath he was holding when the ship docked on Nagi Island. Chakra was thick in the air here. Far too thick for it to be uninhabited by shinobi. Kakashi felt it too, quietly summoning his pack in a nearby alley.
"You sure they're here?" Rin asked, stretching slightly before putting on her backpack.
"Trail ended at the docks in The Land of Fire. The ticket master said a kid matching Isamu's description bought a ticket to Dagarashi Port over a week ago. Only set of tickets they had included a stop here," Obito said.
Kakashi bent over, offering Katya's favorite shirt to Pakkun and the rest of the pack.
"Be subtle about it. If you get in trouble, unsummon yourselves. I don't want anyone taking risks. Two dogs, one human, does that work for everyone?"
Obito looked back at him uneasily and shook his head.
"I don't think it's a good idea for us to separate. Team Eight may be young, but they're also competent. If this is the last place they were seen, I'm not exactly getting warm-fuzzy feelings about them being lost here. Not to mention all the shinobi we can feel on the island."
"Sorry, Kakashi, I'm with Obito. It's a bad call. It'll be slower, but it's already been ten days. I'd rather go with the lower risk of sticking together."
Kakashi stopped for a moment before nodding. "Alright, we'll stick together. Pack, I just need Pakkun. Thanks for coming out."
With a series of woofs, the dogs disappeared, leaving the small pug in Kakashi's arms.
Heavy footprints crossed the sandy banks the closer they got to the small shrine at the top of a foothill. A large paw print crossed out of the sand and into the forest undergrowth five miles from the port.
"Why would they go so far inland when the port is right there?" Rin asked while Pakkun got down and sniffed the print.
"That's Kuromaru-sama's, no doubt about it," the pug confirmed.
"I think they had to walk to the port on the other side of the island. They probably got here after dark and camped out. Hopefully, they just got lost," Kakashi said quietly.
"For eight days?" Rin asked, feeling the smooth bark of the mangroves.
"Lost? Team Eight never gets lost. They are all individually capable of sensory jutsu in one capacity or another. And if not that, Katya can talk to the trees here, ask them for directions. You think I'm crazy? I've seen that kid do it before," Obito reasoned.
Kakashi grunted in response while Rin slapped the back of Obito's head.
"Let him hope," she whispered to Obito when Kakashi walked out of earshot.
Obito rubbed the back of his head and straightened his eye patch. "Well, it's true," he murmured to himself. "They're not lost. They're hiding from something."
They walked for several miles, tripping over the twisted roots of mangrove and coastal oak trees, before Kakashi crouched down with his fist in the air. Obito and Rin followed suit, crouching low and looking behind them for potential enemies.
"Five shinobi incoming," Pakkun said quietly from the crook of Kakashi's arm. "Smells like seawater."
"Kiri," Obito said under his breath.
"Make that ten," Pakkun barked.
"Hell. Retreat back to the dock," Kakashi ordered.
"Too late," Rin said, looking to the left of the group. "They're here."
"Manji formation! Get out of here, Pakkun!" Kakashi yelled, tugging Rin by the arm in between himself and Obito. Pakkun disappeared in a small puff of smoke. Kakashi flipped up his hitai-ate, revealing Obito's gifted sharingan.
A kunai flew between them that Kakashi quickly countered with his own. Shuriken flew from Rin past his ear, shaving off bits of hair, and landing in a Kiri-nin. Kakashi could feel the heat of Obito's fireball on his back. There was another thud behind him.
'That's two,' Kakashi thought, looking up in the trees for the other eight.
A man walked out of the trees with his hands held up. Kakashi let the chidori in his hand fizzle out. He could feel Rin's back against his. Obito's elbow brushed against Kakashi's arm as he kept his hand on Rin's hip.
"No need for you kids to die today," the man said. Seven other Kiri-nin melted out of the tree line. "Just tell us where your little friends are and hand over the girl."
"Obito," Kakashi said quietly. "We need to pull a Tonika."
"Tonika?" Obito asked under his breath. He looked up into the trees and scuffed the ground with his foot. "Yeah, that could work."
"I really don't want to do a Tonika, Kakashi," Rin protested, reaching behind her.
"What friends?" Obito loudly asked the Kiri-nin to distract them from Kakashi's building chakra. "We're just here to see the shrine. Got turned around." He chuckled lightly and rubbed the back of his head.
"No Tonika," Rin whispered with a death grip on Obito's wrist.
"I don't think so," the leader said.
"Why do you want the girl?" Kakashi said. He subtly moved his arm behind himself and caught Rin's waist.
"Orders," the leader said with a shrug. The Kiri shinobi moved in closer with every word, ready to pounce.
All of a sudden, Kakashi disappeared with Rin, leaving Obito in the center of the enemy shinobi. A massive fireball erupted from his lips as he jumped up from the center and blew, forcing as much chakra as possible until he was twenty feet in the air. The shinobi below jumped away from the white-hot flames, forced to close their eyes. By the time they looked up, he was gone.
3 p.m., 27 November 54; Nagi Island
Rin hacked up clods of dirt and sand onto the forest floor an hour after they were sure the Kiri-nin had left. She grabbed a fistful of wet sand and threw it at Kakashi's face. Every pat of Obito's hand on her back increased her irritation. She glared at him with as much rage as she could muster until he backed away with his hands raised.
"I absolutely hate that plan. I don't want to ever use it again. I would rather break every medic rule than use it."
"Well, it's a good backup plan for escape," Obito said, rubbing the back of his head.
Kakashi crossed his arms and looked off into the woods.
"Team Eight is still here. What I want to know is which girl they were talking about. The mission parameters just changed; we need to do some reconnaissance. There's no reason for this many ANBU-level Kiri-nin to be here."
"We're not a team built for reconnaissance," Rin said, wiping the back of her mouth with her hand. "We're a melee and sabotage team."
"Yeah, well our reconnaissance team is currently hiding out somewhere in these mountains," Kakashi retorted. He ran a rough hand over his face. "Sorry, Rin. I'm worried."
Obito sighed and sat down on an exposed mangrove root. "We need to find Team Eight first. That was our original mission. Personally, I'd feel better seeing those four alive."
"And if they're injured, I can heal them. Then we'd have two teams. We could use their expertise in reconnaissance and tracking, anyway."
"If they're in decent shape," Kakashi argued. "Alright. Team Eight first. Isamu's a good chuunin, he would want somewhere easily defensible where he could set up traps. We'll need to be careful not to run into any of them by accident."
"Shisui would want an open space where he could run. His jutsu is more effective that way. And Katya would want to head deeper into the forest where she'd be at an advantage. " Obito added.
"So a meadow," Rin surmised. "A meadow in the forest but with a place to hide. This island was made by volcanic activity. There's bound to be lava caves somewhere in the root of the mountain. For them to be in hiding for more than a week, it would have to be near a water source."
"Agreed," Kakashi and Obito said together.
Kakashi pulled a map out of his pocket that he got out of a tourist booth at the seaport. He laid it on the ground and carefully smoothed it out.
"I vote we start here," Rin said, pointing to a small clearing in the center of the island. "It meets most of our parameters, but there aren't any caves marked."
"Alright, let's check it out. We need to be alert and quiet. Those Kiri-nin could come back at any moment," Kakashi said, tightening his hitai-ate over his face.
The other two nodded before they silently leaped into the trees.
12 a.m., 28 November 54; The Hokage's Office
A puff of smoke erupted from Minato's bookshelf, revealing cape jasmine that wound around the top and down between the books. His heart was sore. He could feel that something was wrong. Team Eight was supposed to have returned a week ago. The range of his bracelet trackers had improved during the war, but Katya was too far away to make a connection. He put his hands behind his back and looked out of the tower to the sparkling lights of Konoha below.
The office door opened quietly and he exhaled when Kushina's presence filled the room.
"Any word?" she asked softly, putting her arms around him.
"None. Kakashi gave a coded report yesterday. Nothing since. Pakkun had tracked them to the coast."
He could feel Kushina's shaky breath on his back. Taking her hand in his, he raised it up to his lips, leaving a gentle kiss before setting it back down on his chest.
"We'll find them, love. I promise," he said while looking toward the village gate.
"I know." He wanted to believe in hope too much to call out the lie in her voice.
There was a loud knock on his door, and he broke apart from Kushina. Turning around, he kissed her softly and led her to the couch on the side of his office.
"Hokage-sama," Genma greeted with a bow. "An ANBU outpost in the south of the Land of Fire came across a group of Kiri-nin while on one of their patrols. They claim to be fishermen. They keep murmuring about a red-eyed devil child."
"Shisui," Kushina gasped with her hand over her mouth.
Minato nodded at Genma to continue.
"They're in Torture and Interrogation at the moment awaiting Inoichi Yamanaka's pleasure."
"Rouse Fugaku Uchiha and have him meet me at TI. I'll lead the interrogation myself."
"By your word, Hokage-sama," Genma said, bowing low and leaving the room.
"Minato?" Kushina asked quietly, walking over to him. Minato pulled her into his arms with a kiss on her forehead.
"Go home, love. It doesn't look like I'll be in tonight."
"I want to be there," she argued.
"Kushina—"
Kushina held up a hand. "No, that's my baby that's lost, dattebane."
"I'm aware." Minato sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. "That's why I can't have you in the interrogation. I don't want you to see me like that. Please."
Kushina hesitated for a moment before putting her hands on his arms. "I love you, Minato Namikaze. No matter what you have to do for the sake of this village. I love you for who you are as a person. I'll head home for your peace of mind. But if they don't talk for you, I'll finish the job."
"I have no doubt," he said tiredly, forcing a smile. The door clicked quietly behind her as she walked out. In an instant, he was at his seal marker in front of TI.
AN: Thank you so much for reading! If you have the time, please leave a comment. :)
I'm curious what you guys think Minato's going to do.
Honestly, I really love writing this Obito. He's such a different vibe than another project I have going on.
Beta'ed by: CherryBerry12