CHAPTER 11

Years. It had been years since they had left the Land of Fire's borders. They had gone through so many countries, countless villages, not getting close to anyone anywhere. They didn't have a home but themselves. And Mebuki was slowly growing tired of that.

She collapsed onto the forest path, shifting from her side to her back, chest heaving in sheer exhaustion. Her knees had given up, trembling, begging her to take a break. A long, long break.

Kizashi stopped in his tracks to rush back towards her, brows furrowing in worry. The look on his wife's face compelled him to sit next to her, wary of his surroundings in the scarce density of the forest. The trees were not close enough to his liking.

They couldn't stay here long; Kizashi knew that a couple of Leaf shinobi had recognised them in Sound a month ago, turning their situation into an even more precarious one. They most likely had been tailed, but the pink-haired man hoped Konoha had more pressing matters to take care of. After all, even though the couple were rogue ninjas, they hadn't used their abilities to hurt or threaten anyone.

Kizashi was still pondering on what to do with his panting wife when she spoke up.

"Let's stop."

The husband absentmindedly gave her a smile, not picking up the hint of melancholy in her voice. "That's what we're doing, darling."

"No, let's stop."

All thoughts left Kizashi's mind as his head whipped towards Mebuki's stern expression. His heartbeat quickened, eyes widening as confusion and understanding both began pooling back in his whirling brain. He didn't reply, apprehensively waiting for her to continue.

She didn't.

"Mebuki…" What did she want to stop? Travelling? Running away? Them? Kizashi couldn't articulate any of those possibilities.

Eyeing her husband's distressed features, Mebuki sighed, exasperated once again. She turned away from him, glaring at the trees in the distance, willing the tears to disappear. They were not hers. They were the tears of a dead child.

"A child whose sadness is still discarded…" She murmured blankly.

She couldn't go on like this, and it seemed Kizashi didn't care. He never cared, did he? The tears welled up again, bitter and remorseful. She shouldn't have married. Mebuki had been used all her life, first by her mother, then by her teachers, then by her daughter, and finally by her husband. Couldn't she have the peaceful existence she deserved?

Kizashi was completely oblivious to the turmoil raging inside his wife's heart as he lightly pressed her shoulder, nervousness getting worse every minute that went by. "Honey, we need to hurry, it's not safe here." He pulled on her arm a little more forcefully than planned, riling Mebuki's already sensible temper up.

She snapped, newfound energy and exhaustion fuelling her anger. "Why do we always have to do things your way? Why is it that I always comply to you and everybody?"

Kizashi was used to Mebuki's tantrums, but his own tiredness and the need to get out of here roughed his usual taciturn demeanour.

"We don't have time for this- let's go." He tried pulling her again, but this time Mebuki fought back. "Ah, so when I suggest something we don't have time for it, but when you do, we take action immediately?"

She was still trembling, but with fury, bloodshot eyes rooted in her husband's anxious ones, challenging him. "Come on, take advantage of me. What, did you grow a conscience now? Mother forced me to be a ninja so I could become her pride, what about you? What will you make out of me?"

Kizashi took a deep breath to control his own feelings, knowing Mebuki was having an attack again. He had to take care of her before they moved to a safer area, otherwise things would get too complicated. He brought his entire focus solely on her, softening his gaze and posture. He slowly lifted his hands in show of peace. "Mebuki," he took his time with each syllabe, cautious not to make it sound like he was considering her an idiot.

"I won't harm you. All I want is your wellbeing. I promise. It's your choice whether you believe me or not, but I want you to know this one thing: I'll never use you. I love you for who you are, nothing more and nothing less."

Kizashi saw Mebuki's bottom lip quivering as her resolution wavered, her tone flat as she halfheartedly whispered "Liar." before raising her fist, aiming for her husband's appeasing face.

Kizashi stood still, ready to take the hit.

But the punch never landed as Mebuki froze, arm midair, eyes narrowing rapidly and her expression regaining its natural sharpness. Her hard gaze fluttered towards Kizashi's, a silent message passing between them. His senses now in alert, the pink-haired man found what had snapped Mebuki back to reality.

An ominous presence was looming right behind his wife.

Suddenly everything went black, a high-pitched ringing lacerating Kizashi's brain as he felt his consciousness slip away, catching sight of a dark cloak walking towards Mebuki's limp body before passing out.

"You look terribly suspicious."

"No I don't, 'ttebayo."

Kakashi smacked his teammate's spine to straighten it. "Don't slouch like you're missing half a leg."

Naruto yelped. "I blend in perfectly, you're the one who looks weird here!"

The Copy-ninja raised an amused eyebrow. The oddly patched cloaks that they had managed to steal covered Hizoshi, Naruto and Kakashi well enough for them to match with the rogue town's residents. If only the blond would stop wobbling and shaking his butt in what Kakashi could only imagine to be a pitiful mercenary impression.

Infiltrating the town proved to be fairly easy. The locals were too busy to notice them, and more importantly they were too nervous to keep quiet. Something was going on, the town was bustling with a strange energy. Even Naruto had ceased his funny business to eye a pair of whispering men.

"Kakashi." He warned.

"Aa. I know."

The Leaf ninjas grabbed Hizoshi and leaned on the nearest wall, listening in on the hushed whispers.

"-said she'd come back a few days later-"

"-told you she couldn't be trusted!"

"-there's no proof-"

"Of course not you idiot!"

The bigger man grabbed a fistful of the other's collar, looking down on him with unguarded disdain. He didn't bother lowering his voice this time. "You get her and you bring her here before Chief notices or you'll face the consequences. Heavy consequences. Got it, Giichi?!"

Giichi nodded vigorously, his thin body trembling with what seemed to be habitual fear. The other man abruptly let go and stalked away, preoccupied with whatever their discussion had been about. Giichi gulped and released a shaky breath. Raking a hand through his unruly hair and turning around, he squeaked surprisingly high when he found himself face to face with a piercing one-eyed stare.

"Yo."

"H-hi…"

Giichi's eyes darted nervously around him, silently asking for help. Nobody paid attention.

"Giichi-san, is it?" Kakashi smiled warmly, intending to ease the tension a little.

"Uh, and you are…?"

"But it's me, of course!" The Copy-ninja declared matter-of-factly, feigning a casual expression. Naruto blanched, wondering how his former sensei knew that scrawny-looking stranger.

"A-… Aaaaah…" Giichi was growing more unsure by the minute, panicking wildly. As for Naruto, the blond felt like he was swimming in confusion. Without a swimsuit, to add to the horror.

"Does Takeshi still treat you badly? Poor guy, you could try buffing up a bit," Kakashi offered sympathetically. Normally, he would have patted the boy's shoulder, but he refrained from doing so to make sure he didn't frighten him with unexpected movements.

Giichi laughed anxiously.

"What did you do to annoy him this time?"

The skinny man looked away. "Well, about the plan… The lady went off somewhere, and she cut off all communication…" He trailed off, contracting his muscles in anticipation of disapproval.

"That's a shame. What was she supposed to report again?" Giichi relaxed in surprise, now more comfortable with Kakashi's calm and confident posture.

"You know, the results." His voice took on a shy assurance.

"The results." A lone eyebrow shot up.

"Of the poison."

Hizoshi's hand grabbed a hold of Naruto's arm just in time to stop him from pushing off the wall in shock. They exchanged a wary glance, lost as to what was happening and what that last statement meant.

Kakashi's focus seemed to have shifted, too. "Could you clarify that? I was out of town for a while. Secret mission and all," he quickly added when Giichi became suspicious.

"Right. You haven't heard of the new plan yet, then. Well, good news. We found a target. And we've started the operation. But, well, I lost contact with our external agent…" He started fidgeting, twisting his hands and staring at the floor.

"It's alright, buddy. We've got this covered." Kakashi squeezed his shoulder fraternally before strolling away, dragging his teammates with him and leaving Giichi rooted in place, wondering if he really knew that masked guy.

"How'd you do that? Do you know him? Are they after Sakura? Is it the same poison? Shouldn't we get that guy? What's the target? Who's the agent? What-"

Naruto was tearing Kakashi's ear off as soon as they were at a reasonable distance from the rogue town.

Kakashi kicked him in the shin to shut him up.

"I'll explain everything, so calm down."

They set up camp in the middle of the woods. Naruto sat heavily on the ground, intently staring at his former teacher lounging on a tree, arms crossed and eye closed. Hizoshi stood impassively further away, making himself scarce.

"So?" The blond urged on.

"You heard him." Kakashi stated coolly, frowning behind his shut eyelid.

"Kakashi! What was that just now?" Naruto was getting angry, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the rogue town.

"Takeshi's a pretty common name." The silver-haired man replied evenly.

Naruto let out a low, growl-like sound from the back of his throat, gripping his knees and baring his teeth at the object of his annoyance. "You said you'd expl-"

"Naruto-san, I suppose you should let Kakashi-san think for a bit." Hizoshi's quiet voice cut through the Jinchuriki's loud one, making both Leaf ninjas turn their heads toward him, Kakashi finally opening his eye.

He rooted his gaze steadily in the Sound nin's, unwavering and uncrossing his arms for what felt like long, long minutes. Hizoshi peered back shyly but did not look away.

The silence was deafening.

Kakashi ultimately let out a painful sigh before settling more comfortably against the tree. "For your information, I do not know that man."

He had closed his eye again.

Naruto opened his mouth to release a torrent of questions again before remembering Hizoshi's words and clamping it shut. He tightened his jaw and leaned forward on his joint hands, unconsciously copying a certain raven-haired prodigy.

"He was obviously a pushover, so I took advantage of his weakness to get intel."

Kakashi sounded distant.

"Now we know that this rogue village in Sound is targeting someone," he raised a finger. "That the woman collaborating with them has gone AWOL," a second one, "and that they're doing research on a poison, missing the results that are probably in the woman's hands." The third finger shot up just as his focused eye reopened.

"A woman not accounted for and a new poison just recently tested…" Hizoshi began muttering at the ground, voicing Naruto's disorganised trail of thoughts. "Could it be…?"

"Nothing conclusive yet. But there's clearly something off about this town. We'll gather more information the next two days and decide whether to take action then." Kakashi pushed off the tree, stuffing his hands in his pockets while walking towards his pack. "Naruto, start a fire. Hizoshi-san, get some sleep while you can, you'll have the next shift. Naruto takes last. The villagers won't try anything tonight, but stay alert." With that, he jumped off to begin watch duty, leaving the other two without sparing them a glance.

Naruto was quick to bounce back, still sitting on the floor. "Say, Hizoshi-san, do you think it's linked to Sakura-chan? Are they the bastards we're looking for?"

Hizoshi didn't answer for a while, staring at the spot Kakashi occupied right before taking off. He spoke eventually, without tearing his eyes away. "I don't know. We'll have to see."

The two days at camp passed slowly. Kakashi was out most of the time, spending the whole day in the rogue town and coming back for his watch shift, sleeping two hours afterwards before proceeding with his spying. Hizoshi mainly guarded the camp, accompanying Naruto for a couple of hours when he'd infiltrate the town, but usually not staying long. The blond spent the first day in the village but rapidly noticed boundaries being placed by Kakashi when his acting skills almost got him into trouble (more than once). He spent the second day in and out, leaving the camp for a short while and coming back more quickly every time, then going sighting again.

Neither Naruto nor Hizoshi managed to get further intel.

Kakashi didn't communicate much, only waking Hizoshi for his shift. The other two had no idea what the Copy ninja had found - or hadn't. Because of the resolute silence, Naruto and Hizoshi were extremely puzzled when the silver-haired man declared on the morning of the third day that they would leave as soon as he sent a parchment to the Hogake.

After summoning Pakkun and writing a suspicious looking message, all Kakashi deigned to do was, to Naruto's exasperation, nod briefly in the direction of the Leaf and disappear in the trees, a raging nine-tail chakra fuelled shinobi hot on his heels.

Over the years of working with Kakashi, Tsunade had gotten used to his various methods of reporting back to her. He would, basically, do anything other than show up. This is why when a dog barged into her office in the middle of the night and began talking to her, all Tsunade did was listen.

Pakkun was, like his owner, rather calm and collected. The only difference between the two? The dog was never late.

He'd arrived a day and a half after departing from the rogue town, faster than Kakashi's team who were scheduled to arrive in a day or two. The Copy ninja wanted to inform Tsunade of the situation so she'd start taking measures without wasting time.

Pakkun handed her the scroll Kakashi had trusted him with. While she curiously read it, the Hokage's eyebrows were slowly shifting higher and higher. As she reached the end and set the scroll aside, relief relaxed her features and she folded her hands, fixing a professional gaze on the dog awaiting orders.

"Well done," she announced. "You may go back to Kakashi. Tell him everything will be ready for when they arrive."

Pakkun gave her a curt nod before disappearing into thin air.