Chapter Twenty-Nine: Sasori the Scorpion Kage
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Sasori
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It was the fifthd day — the fift day of no sleep, the only food whatever rations were tucked away in their travel kits, and the bare minimum of water. In the Land of Wind, water was a most precious commodity. Though, there were times when the lack of water resulted in creative options on the field of battle— such as drinking the blood of the fallen. He'd done it before, but it was distasteful. So far, he'd not needed to resort to that.
Five days prior, Sasori had been busy in his shop, creating puppets, perfecting his tools. He was only fifteen, but for the past two years had been the Commander of the Puppet squad. The squad was the pride and joy of Sunagakure. The Third Kazekage had promoted Sasori to Jonin after the great battle where so many of their shinobi had succumbed to their wounds, mortally impaired beyond the abilities of the few and far between medics.
Though, Sasori had been trained under his Granny Chiyo. He knew the basics of medical ninjutsu and his chakra control was flawless. Sand would not leave their fallen shinobi to bake under the relentless desert sun.
They needed soldiers and they needed to bring their fallen shinobi home. So, Sasori did both. It was how he earned his name, Sasori of the Red Sand. There was so much blood. He'd used his puppet abilities to revitalize the fallen shinobi, allow their gifts to once more protect the Sand.
That was when the Third Kazekage truly took notice of Sasori and they began their mentor-protege relationship.
So when the Kazekage's personal guard summoned Sasori from his workshop to join Lord Third's investigation of a disturbance far to the East, he hadn't hesitated. He stored his puppets into scrolls — his collection now numbered twenty-five. Each was different and unique and precious. Fifteen of them were created from wood — shaved and shaped and welded with steel. Ten were from that terrible day two years ago. The family of those that had fallen in battle were awed to see their loved ones still able to contribute to the defense of the Sand and had gifted Sasori with the bodies of their loved ones to live on in memory as his puppets.
"I don't understand what this enemy is," Lord Third growled. He was nearing his limit. His bloodline ability with the iron sand was unmatched, but a mortal had his limits. Chakra had to recharge. He was still a man of flesh and blood.
They'd arrived too late to protect more than a small percentage of the nomadic tribe. Sasori had spent time with them in the past — their expertise in poisons was unmatched. They specialized in the venom of the desert scorpions, arachnids, and snakes. Sasori had learned much under their tutelage. It was a waste that they'd been virtually decimated by the strange white creature that continuously multiplied. You cut one down, three more would appear in its place.
"I do not believe it is either alive or dead," Sasori reasoned, his voice cracked in his thirst. "It does not cry out in pain. It proliferates. It seems to travel through the earth." He intended to capture one of the creatures to study it further, but that would have to wait until later.
"The rogue ninja aren't even sullying their hands," the Kazekage sneered in disgust. "They just watch from afar while this tireless monster slays our people."
"Shall we retreat and regroup?" Sasori asked.
"No. If we don't end this here and now, this creature could decimate our entire village," Lord Third warned. His heavy hand landed on Sasori's frail shoulder. "If I fall, you must use me."
"Impossible," Sasori protested. Lord Third was the strongest shinobi Sand had ever produced. It wasn't just his physical strength, but his intelligence and his devotion to his people. Sasori didn't remember much about his parents — they'd been taken from him when he'd been a young child. Their puppets offered little of the warmth he remembered from them and Granny Chiyo had taken them away from him once she'd found him, alone, starving in his childhood home.
The White Fang of Konoha had murdered his parents. They were assassinated by the Leaf, now supposedly Suna's ally.
"We all die, Sasori. But you have the ability to lend a sense of immortality with your puppets," Lord Third explained. "And as a puppet, I would never tire. I'd have no limited reserves to my chakra."
He also would no longer have any thought, only base instinct and the orders that Sasori commanded. Maybe one day he'd figure out how to infuse the personality and spirit of the person into the puppet. "Let us hope it doesn't come that," Sasori murmured. He shrugged off Lord Third's hands and focused on his chakra strings. He had a puppet on the field for each of his fingers — his concentration was divided evenly into ten separate directions.
He would not lose the leader of Sand to these vile monsters.
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Kakashi…in the present
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His head was pounding and his mind was a mess of mixed-matched memories. He scanned the office — the Anbu Commander's office— Shisui Uchiha's office.
"I think you should lay down on the couch," Shisui said, gently guiding Kakashi by the elbow to the couch. "Sasori won't care."
Kakashi let himself be led to the couch, still feeling unsteady on his feet. "When did you unlock my memories — of my time with Sakura?"
"Hm, when you we no longer her team leader. Right before she got promoted to Jonin. She was I dunno sixteen or seventeen. It was after she got kidnapped by Obito— again. I didn't want you to feel too weird," Shisui explained.
Kidnapped by Obito? "You kept the memories locked away for nearly ten years. And what did I do then? How did I act?" Kakashi asked. He still had his original memories. He didn't know what sort of changes occurred. He was still the Hokage, except instead of falling for Sakura quietly, they'd already married — and she had a kid. He was a step-dad.
"Not a whole lot different," Shisui answered. "You'd started to fall for her and were keeping your distance. But you'd always rush in if there was even a hint of her being in danger." He grabbed the throw blanket from the back of the couch and tossed it over Kakashi's legs. "It gets cold in here," he explained. "Uchiha run at higher temperatures. So I keep it really chilly in my office."
A moment later, there was a brisk coded knock at the door and Sasori, the Kazekage, strolled in with Itachi — long black hair pulled back in a low ponytail, the creases on his face not nearly as prominent as Kakashi remembered them being. There were two Anbu guards on the other side and behind of the duo. Sasori's triangular hat was tucked under his arm and he wore his Kage robes, his amber eyes swept the office until they landed on Kakashi. "We must talk."
"You can go," Shisui said, dismissing his guards.
Itachi closed the door and put up a silencing barrier. He moved to stand next to Shisui, and perfectly in sync with one another, they both leaned against the wall, arms folded over their chests. Unspoken that they were Kakashi's guard if needed.
Sasori glanced briefly at Shisui and then sat on the edge of the commander's desk, peering down at Kakashi. "Good to see that eye of yours is still holding up," he said gesturing towards Kakashi's left eye.
The eye that was not a Sharingan and had not been grown anew by Naruto's Sun Seal powers. "My eye," Kakashi repeated.
"Yes, the eye Sakura and I cloned for you." Sasori's eyes narrowed in irritation and he stared at Kakashi as if he were an idiot. "It wasn't easy sifting through all the non-sense about immortality that psychotic Snake Sannin rambled about in his journals to find the useful bits about cloning."
"You and Sakura cloned me a new eye," Kakashi repeated.
Sasori nodded. "Yes. And I have come to realize that it was your wife that saved my life back when I was a boy, after the Third Kazekage died."
Kakashi's memory had that Sakura had taken Sasori's life, or at least been involved in the battle that ended him. "Oh?"
"I didn't understand for many years," Sasori continued. "I had tried to find what happened to that pink-haired kunoichi. I had feared the leader of the Akatsuki had indeed killed her. Kisame didn't really know what became of her either."
"Kisame?" Kakashi asked. Itachi's partner in the Akatsuki.
"Well, I don't speak with him much now. He's been busy preparing to take over at Mizukage. I'm sure once he's sworn in, we'll interact more, all three of us," Sasori explained, tilting his head to the side, staring down at Kakashi as if he were an art project. He shook his head and cleared his throat.
"Were you just imagining the Rokudaime as one of your puppets?" Shisui accused, his voice dripping in warning.
"It was a momentary distraction. I have an artist's eye. Kakashi Hatake has always been an impressive specimen." Sasori smiled eerily and Kakashi felt a chill race down his spine. "As I was saying. I had hoped that she'd survived. And then there was that misfortunate Chunin Exams where the Fourth Kazekage was foolish enough to form an alliance with the Snake Sannin."
"The exam where you and I killed the Snake Sannin," Shisui said, casting Kakashi a sympathetic look, seeing he needed clarification — a lot of clarification. 'I'll fill you in later,' he mouthed silently to the confused Hokage.
"At least one of his many incarnations," Sasori ground out in disgust. "Slippery eel." He leaned back to stare at the ceiling as he gathered his thoughts. "I noticed a pink-haired kunoichi. Perfect scores on the written exam. I'd only ever seen a pink-haired shinobi once before — back when i was a teen after the death of the Third Kazekage." He looked back down at Kakashi. "She was pregnant, so I thought maybe that girl was her child. It would explain the intelligence. But the numbers didn't add up. The girl was at least seven years too old."
Kakashi could say nothing. Sakura was stuck in the past and she was pregnant — with his child — from his past self. If he knew this information, that would definitely explain whey Shisui kept his memories locked up for so long. It would have driven him insane!
"So, you think Sakura traveled back into the past and saved you from a life of international terrorism?" Shisui asked mockingly. His dark gaze caught Kakashi's. They both knew that she'd gone back and saved him from certain death.
"I know she did," Sasori answered. "I suspected she would be involved in some sort of metaphysical event back when we worked together on cloning Kakashi's new eye, but it hadn't happened for her yet, so there was no point in interrogation." He pushed off the desk and began to pace, his robes fluttering behind him in his agitation. "Where is she now?"
"She's still stuck there in the past thirteen years ago," Kakashi answered. "I am still trying to catch up on the changes to the timeline."
Sasori reached up and pulled at his shaggy red hair. "I wish I could remember what became of her after the forest and the escort back to Sand." He looked between Shisui and Kakashi. "His memories will return?"
"Some of his companions that went back with him, they've already had both sets of memories set in," Shisui answered. "We just have to wait patiently."
"Don't you remember?" Kakashi asked. "You were there."
Shisui smiled. "Oh, I remember. It's going to be fine. Just give it a week or two and she and Naruto will both be back." His smile faded. "Unless they go to an alternate timeline or something." He ran his fingers through his dark curls. "Shit." He turned towards Itachi. "What do you think? You're the only one that even remotely understands the Physics."
"There's no way to know. It's about algorithms and probabilities. Regardless, there is nothing we can do on our end, except wait," Itachi explained.
"So, Kisame is the Mizukage?" Kakashi asked, drawing back Sasori's attention.
"Not yet, but he will be. Mei Terumi is the Mizukage. But she's tired of doing all the work and wanted her husband to replace her," Sasori explained.
"Their children will be monsters," Kakashi groaned, just thinking about that combination. He laid back on the couch again and closed his eyes. Two of the most devious members of Akatsuki were now Kages and the former double agent was his Right Hand man. Did Pain never destroy Konoha in this timeline? Did Obito fail to resurrect Madara? Did the rabbit goddess become unsealed? Did half the shinobi population die in the Fourth War?
Sasori responded to his comment. "They are indeed more destructive than any jinchuriki. Their twins are especially terrifying."
"I think you should sleep, Kakashi," Itachi suggested. "I'll take care of things like I did during your absence. And I'll keep Lady Tsunade off your case until Sakura and Naruto return."
Kakashi waved his hand absently. "Very well. I'll leave everything in your capable hands."
Itachi snorted. "You normally do."
"Eh, it could be worse. He could be having that Shikamaru Nara managing things," Shisui murmured.
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Sakura
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It wasn't a team. These men were not her friends. Technically, she was a kidnapped prisoner. Though, twenty-year old Obito wasn't quite the force to recon against compared to thirty-two year old Obito that she was more familiar with. He was certainly a massive improvement compared to the twelve year old she met a few days ago.
This was the same man that was responsible for the majority of the deaths in the Fourth War, the dead jinchuriki, the attack on Konoha that lead to Minato and Kushina's deaths and many others, and would have been responsible for killing the children of the Uchiha clan if she hadn't interfered.
If they were on their way to Sand, to collect Sasori, he must be a teen right now, just barely defected. And this would also be the time the Third Kazekage disappeared — though Sakura knew he was Sasori's most precious puppet. Maybe she'd find out how Suna's strongest Kage wound up part of the Akatsuki member's collection.
Her battle alongside Lady Chiyo against Sasori had been her defining moment as a shinobi. It had been Sasori whom had first acknowledged her as a true warrior. He gave her the scar on her belly and he'd forfeited in the end. He could have dodged the final attack, but somehow, like when Naruto was able to reach his enemies and turn their hearts, she'd managed to do the same to him.
After the war, she spent a few months in Suna helping fortify their medical program. As she didn't care much for the weather of that dessert country, she'd spent a lot of time in the archives. She'd had tea once a week with Chiyo's younger brother and he'd told her stories about her and Sasori and Sasori's parents. It had been Sakumo Hatake that had killed Sasori's parents. The Third Kazekage considered Sasori his protege. Given the reverence Sasori had for the Third Kazekage, Sakura suspected that the older man had died in battle and Sasori had preserved his body.
Given that Chiyo had used the preserved bodies of her son and daughter-in-law as puppets, Sakura suspected it was a form of respect. If she'd have fallen to Sasori, there was no doubt he'd have transformed her into one of his puppets. Seeing as he transformed himself, he wouldn't have understood anything was wrong with that.
His first partner had been Orochimaru. The Snake Sannin would have been a member of Akatsuki at this point. Was Orochimaru going to be rearing his ugly head?
"So, what are you plotting?" Kisame asked, leaning on his sword casually. They were sitting around a fire, the man in the orange mask had gone off, and Kisame stood guard watching as she ate the stew she'd made for them. Obito had brought her a pair of rabbits just like the other night and Kisame had given her a basket and she'd foraged for roots in the wild. She'd thought about poisonous mushrooms, but they made her eat first.
Preparing the stew had helped calm her mind, focus on mundane tasks so her mind could wander and think over her situation.
"Just wondering when we're crossing paths with Orochimaru," Sakura admitted.
"Why aren't you terrified of being alone with me?" Kisame asked. "I can usually smell fear rolling off people in waves."
"While I never want to face you in battle," Sakura admitted. "I have nothing but respect for you. Mist seems to pride itself on hardening and traumatizing its shinobi. I would have left such a village too."
"Killing your comrades is such a waste," Kisame agreed. "All the assassinations and battles — what for? To get some spoiled, pasty, obese Daimyo richer?" He gestured towards Sakura. "And kunoichi? What's the age in Konoha that they start sending you out on seduction missions? Treating their loyal soldiers like prostitutes."
Sakura sighed and began to scoop the stew into the wooden bowls Kisame had given her. "It's not just the kunoichi. The training starts at fifteen and the missions at sixteen if needed. Those in important clans are exempted. I was lucky, I was apprenticed by someone in one of the noble clans." She thought of Kakashi and his volunteering with Anbu. Lady Tsunade had worked hard to eradicate those types of missions, but scum like Danzo tried to circumvent.
"My older sister died on one of those missions," Kisame admitted quietly. "You're safe from that at least as long as I'm around."
Sakura looked up and met his navy gaze. "Thank you." She smiled faintly at him. She realized that he wasn't quite as blue as she remembered. His hair was a dark navy blue, but the shark gills on his cheeks were faint and his skin only had a faint pale blue hue. His sword hadn't transformed him into a shark-like man just yet. "I understand why you're so popular with the ladies now."
Kisame smiled back, his teeth prominently displayed. "Never had a problem with it." He lifted his bowl and drained the contents. He gestured towards his sword. "Even using Sameheda, it gives the user shark-like properties, hasn't really been a deterrent. It makes the ladies curious."
"I think it's your confidence and charisma," Sakura said, sipping on her own stew. Was she flirting with Kisame?
"So, your hair is naturally pink? That's a bit unusual," Kisame observed.
"It's a strawberry blond," Sakura explained. That was better than saying it was pink.
Kisame grinned. "Nah. It's definitely pink." He whistled. "I can't believe the Copy Ninja finally fell for someone," Kisame said, shaking his head. "I mean, I don't know him well — just by reputation. That's about as unexpected as Mei Terumi falling for someone."
"We're all human. We all deserve a chance at a family," Sakura reasoned quietly. "Shinobi may be treated like disposable tools, but we are worthy of friendship, acceptance, and love."
Kisame snorted. "That sounds exactly like the type of non-sense I'd expect to hear from a shinobi out of Konoha." He sat on a large stone near the fire. "Try not to get too excited. You run the risk of losing the baby."
Sakura shrugged. "I'm not letting myself get too excited about it. It's too early into gestation." She looked across the fire and caught Kisame's navy eyes staring at her closely. "I lost my first baby halfway through the pregnancy."
"Oh. That's not normal," Kisame mused. "What was the issue?"
Sakura smiled at him, her lips twisted in cruel memory. "I was poisoned by my own mother—a civilian. So you see, it doesn't matter — civilian or shinobi. Humans inflict terror upon one another."
"So, it's all pointless," Kisame declared. "We should just live, fuck, slaughter, sleep, eat, repeat."
"On the contrary, Kisame." Sakura poked at the fire with a long, sharp stick. "While humans are capable of terrible things, they are also capable of good, loving, wonderful things." She thought about her friends — Naruto, Ino, Sasuke, Sai, Shisui, Itachi, Izumi and of course — Kakashi. "Though, it is human nature to dwell on the negative. It is the hope for something positive that leads to beautiful things like music, art, dance, and moments of pure joy."
"Do you always talk this much when camping?" Kisame asked.
Sakura shook her head and laughed. "My primary mission partner is obsessed with ramen. It's hard to get him on topic of something else. Though sometimes, he'll be excited about a new jutsu." She would have loved if she could learn something from Naruto when he discussed his new jutsus, but he was terrible at explaining things and she often felt more confused after he tried to explain. It was better to watch him and then deconstruct what she saw- much like she would do when creating an antidote for a poison.
"Why don't you go ahead and get some sleep. We're leaving in a few hours," Kisame suggested. "Ain't nothing going to happen to you on my watch, Pinkie."
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Obito had used his Kamui to dimension hop Sakura and Kisame to a desert wasteland near the eastern border of Wind. White Zetsu corpses scattered throughout the sands as well as several Sand shinobi. There was only one human left standing and he looked like he'd be falling over at any moment.
Sakura recognized the youthful visage the puppet master that used to haunt her dreams before a psychotic, murderous Sasuke and later a rabbit goddess took center stage. The Third Kazekage was dead, his corpse had been utilized as a puppet on chakra strings.
She tugged the ends of her cloak closer. She refused the black/red cloud design of the Akatsuki that her captures offered her. Her own cloak had been ruined, so she'd taken a plain brown one from a corpse on the battlefield. They wouldn't need it anymore anyway.
Sasori was still fighting. He'd decimated several rogue shinobi wearing Orochimaru's colors as well as the hundreds if not thoughts and of white zetsus scattered throughout.
"Wow, the kid is resilient," Kisame whispered, awed at the sight.
"Orochimaru has requested this one," Obito said.
Watching Sasori from afar, Sakura realized that he didn't kill the Kazekage. The latter must have sacrificed himself to save Sasori. He was only a kid, maybe fifteen years old and was facing such a force alone.
One of the zetsus materialized next to their party and exchanged quiet words with Obito — who was still in his orange mask and pretending to be Madara.
"All we have to do is wait," Obito murmured. He waved his hand dramatically, as if he were a maestro directing an orchestra. And within a few minutes, Sasori literally collapsed. "Dehydration, severe chakra exhaustion." He turned towards Sakura. "You'll be making yourself useful, kunoichi. Don't let him die."
Before she could say anything, Obito looped his arm around Sakura's waist, tugged her against him and transported them right next to Sasori's collapsed form. Obito shoved her towards the boy's unconscious form and Sakura caught herself on hands and knees. She felt for his carotid artery and was rewarded by his faint pulse. She sighed in relief and with her limited chakra, did a cursory inspection.
Dehydration, chakra exhaustion, fatigue, muscles inflamed from overuse, and his nerves with on fire from his chakra strings. She infused him with a soothing wave of chakra to lessen the worse of it. "He needs water and sleep."
The sound of a snake slithering upon the sand in the distance drew Sakura's attention. She glanced to her right and saw Aoda with Orochimaru on his back. She remembered the massive snake summons from Sasuke back in the last battle of the Fourth War. She also remembered the several times in that battle that Sasuke would have left her to die and she would have had it not been for Kakashi.
Reliable, stubborn, brilliant, big-hearted Kakashi Hatake.
She felt a flutter in her belly and focused back on the task at hand.
The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as Orochimaru stepped off Aoda and stood alongside Obito. "That was fun," the Snake Sannin hissed. "Aoda is annoyed that you killed his little brother back near the caves, Madara."
"It was too close to our camp," Obito murmured. "Well, here he is. Sasori the puppet master, last prodigy of the famed medic Chiyo."
"I'm still disappointed about Itachi," Orochimaru murmured.
"You would have failed. Itachi would have owned you," Sakura muttered.
"Oh? Would he?" Orochimaru asked, crouching alongside her, studying her work on Sasori's unconscious body. "Aren't you interesting." He glanced over towards Obito. "This isn't the one that Danzo was interested in is she?"
Obito shrugged. "Not my concern. I have other plans for her. He was lucky I didn't leave him to die."
"Hm," Orochimaru hummed. "He's creative. And if it wasn't for him you wouldn't have your stars."
"She's not one of us. Do not speak so freely," Obito hissed.
"Oh? Talking about Pain and Konan?" Sakura chirped. She felt a minor satisfaction at the sound of Orochimaru's chuckles and Obito's angry curse.
"Enough." Obito grabbed hold of Sakura's arm and Sasori's and then they vanished again. This time, they were in a different forest than the previous one. "Keep working on him. I'll be back." Obito shoved a canteen of water at her and then he vanished.
Sakura breathed a sigh of relief. And then she jumped when a pair of amber eyes opened to glare up at her. It was probably in her head, but she though she could feel a painful twinge on her left lower belly where Sasori's sword stabbed her years ago.
"Care to explain?" Sasori rasped.
Sakura shoved the canteen against his parched lips. "It's water."
"It is wasn't, you've gone through a lot of trouble to watch me die," Sasori muttered before sipping at the water. He struggled to sit up, his wary gaze sweeping over the forested area. "What is this place?"
"Alternate dimension," Sakura explained. She stood and wandered towards the edge of the clearing and crouched close to the ground towards a set of animal prints — it looked like dog prints.
"Pakkun? Shiba? Bull?" She tried to think of other ninken. "Akino? Uhei? Guruko? Urushi?" She was rewarded by the sound a sharp yip. The small tan-sized dog with the leaf forehead protector and vest scurried towards her. "Guruko!" Sakura cried, holding her hand palm out for the ninja hound to sniff. "Please, let Kakashi know I'm okay. I'm going to try to get to the Shikkotsu Forest." She stuck her thumb in her mouth and summoned Katsuyu.
"Sakura? What are you doing here?" Katsuyu asked.
"I don't know how much time we have. Can we get to the Shikkotsu Forest from here? I have a friend with me and we need to get out of here," Sakura explained.
Katsuyu's antennae twitched in thought. "You can get there from here," she said. "We share this dimension with the ninken."
Guruko barked and two more ninken showed up— these were nearly the same size as Bull.
"What's going on?" Sasori demanded, limping towards her and the ninja hounds.
"You're coming with me," Sakura explained. She gestured towards one of the massive dogs. "Our friends are going to give us a ride."
Sasori's eyes narrowed. "Is my other option to be left to die in the clearing?"
"No, I'm sure that man will return. He's going to want you to partner up with the Snake Sannin. He needs your chakra and your talents," Sakura explained.
"And what do you want?" Sasori demanded. He shifted the weight of the various scrolls strapped to his body. One contained the Third Kazekage.
"You have my sympathies about your loss," Sakura said, gesturing towards the scrolls.
"We are all puppets dancing on the strings of a few greedy bastards that cling to power," Sasori murmured.
"I can take you back home," Sakura offered. She scratched the large dogs behind their ears. "All you have to do is hop onto the back of his dog and let him lead the way."
"Why should I trust you?" Sasori scoffed.
"Why shouldn't you?" Sakura countered. "It would be a waste to let the Akatsuki corrupt you. Orochimaru is obsessed with immortality. He'll just make you feel bad about yourself — want to encourage you to shuck off your humanity. Even if you were to make your body into the immortal casing of a puppet, you would still keep your heart and your memories and the sadness." She reached for Sasori's hand, but he stepped back and collapsed to his knees in exhaustion.
Sakura kneeled next to him and scooped him into her arms, they were nearly the same size right now. She felt his chakra strings encircled around her throat. "There's still time to make new memories. We don't have to be tools."
Sasori released his chakra strangle-hold. "Very well. But be aware, I may decide to kill you if you annoy me."
"It's a risk I'm willing to take," Sakura said, carrying him to the back of the large nin-kin.
"Foolish girl," Sasori muttered.
"I'd rather be a fool than have no hope," Sakura whispered. "Do you have enough strength to mask your chakra?" Sakura asked. It didn't take much to do that and she knew his control was as good as hers.
"That's simple enough," Sasori scoffed. "I'm not quite dead."
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Kakashi
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The muscles in his arms and legs burned and he finished his series of pushups. He alternated between one armed ones and both hands. Pakkun laid in front of him, counting the number he'd completed. He should be sleeping, but his mind was too busy running through way too many scenarios. He would meet Shisui and Tenzo in the morning at the village gates. The Hokage had approved their mission to meet with Jiraiya at Mount Myobaki.
And then one of his ninken summoned himself. "Guruko?" Pakkun greeted the tan dog gruffly. "What's going on?"
The tan dog and pug shared a series of yips.
Kakashi sat up and stared between his ninken. "What's he saying?"
Guruko shuffled towards Kakashi and rubbed his head against Kakashi's knee. He pet the ninja hound absently.
"He met Sakura. She was in our ninken dimension. It's connected to the Shikkotsu Forest and she's making her way there now to get back to this world," Pakkun explained.
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