Burazāzu

Hatake

        A year had passed, and hopelessness had sprouted with its gnarled and deep roots in Kakashi's heart. He had left the village with Naruto and Sasuke in Jiraiya's care, and six months after he had left, Sasuke left for Orochimaru, believing him to be the superior master. He couldn't keep them together for her, he couldn't even keep them together for her...
        Kakashi adjusted his mask before continuing through another forest, to another village, to another forest, following each and every Akatsuki rumor. Every moment he could, any time the trail went cold, he trained till he could barely stand. Once in awhile Guy would accompany him, worried about his friend.
        "Kakashi, you've been my greatest rival since we were kids, and you know me, I'm all for training hard. But I'm worried about you." His words seemed to fall on deaf ears.
"She's all I have left. I've lost everyone else." It felt like fire yet was cold like ice. His arms felt so empty each night, each morning.

        Mihoko herself was kept deep within an old fortress, and to preserve her body, they used Itachi's genjutsu to torture her. What the Akatsuki didn't know, was that the torture was designed by Itachi to teach her and make her stronger. Since Itachi had her under his watch most days, they had plenty of time alone. Most of it could indeed be described as torture, leaving her exhausted and shaking, but it left her stronger than before.
        One night, when it was winter, and the chains on her hands and feet burned her joints with cold, he put her to sleep with her memories of their time before the fall of the Uchiha, back when she was his big sister, and his friend. Memories of little Naruto taking his first steps, his little chubby legs wobbling in an attempt to support him. And little Sasuke seemingly fighting to stay on his feet longer than Naruto. Tears fell from her eyes as a faint smile turned the corners of her chapped lips.
        "Naruto.... Sasuke...." Her words, like the wisps of a breeze, echoed in Itachi's heart. He had tried to protect her, but as a pure blooded Uzumaki, he couldn't convince them to let her go. Constantly draining her immense chakra through the heavy chains designed for a tailed beast that bound her, she still refused to break.
        "Itachi, surely you can do better than this! It's been a year, and yet she still prevails?!"
        "Hidan, you were not alive during the years of the Uzumaki Clan. Neither do their stories persist, as their enemies would rather erase their existence. This woman is a fully realized pure blooded Uzumaki. The last to hold the Uzumaki Clans secrets, as well as their incredible chakra. And with her personal fortitude, she may never break. But she is still worth even an attempt at breaking." Itachi turned back to the woman bound in chains.
"Perhaps you should wake her, and I can teach her a lesson myself."
"Touch her, and you must answer to him." Hidan quickly backed off and left without another word, but with quite a disgruntled face.

"Kakashi, I received word from Naruto that you have been searching for Naruto's mother?" A young boy with red hair and dark hooded eyes appeared before Kakashi as he sat to rest.
        "You're the young lord Gaara, right?" The young boy that shared Naruto's pain and loneliness. While Naruto had had himself, Mihoko, Sakura, Shikamaru, and Sasuke. The entire rest of the village looked down on him and harassed him since he was very small. Something the two of them, Gaara and Naruto, had found common ground upon. Mihoko herself had wrapped her arms around the two boys seen as monsters, and whispered gentle words to them. Kakashi's heart pained at the remembrance of her open heart and gentle soul.
        "Naruto has asked me to aid you in your search, as you have come to the land of the sand."
        "I appreciate your heroism, but this may prove too much for such a young shinobi. This organization has been on our radar for years, but this is the first they've made such a move. I have no idea why they would want Mihoko, except perhaps for the secrets of the Uzumaki and her chakra. As she is the only one, she's irreplaceable. Which makes finding and rescuing her that much harder." Kakashi knew all too well the pain and fear of losing someone in his heart. And this truly illuminated a fear he'd suppressed years before.
        "I may not be as powerful, but I want to help you and lady Mihoko in any way that I can." His eyes seemed so bright despite his stoic face.
        "Can you gather information on the Akatsuki?" Kakashi's monotone voice served to conceal his overflowing rage at the very name.
        "I can see what I can do." Gaara bowed his head respectfully before vanishing once again.
        "Mihoko..."