Shadows of the Past (sequel to: I'm Kakashi's Daughter?!)

A lot of bad news

Ayame's pov

When we arrived at the place where Sasuke and Itachi had fought, we saw that almost the entire place was destroyed. We were also too late. Itachi's and Sasuke's body were already gone. "They surely made a lot of damage..." I muttered.

"There's almost no scent left." Kiba said.

"Dammit. We were too late again..." Naruto muttered angrily.

"Don't blame yourself, Naruto." I told him. "It isn't your fault. It's all Madara's fault. If he wouldn't have kept you in the forest, we might have been on time."

"Ayame is right, Naruto." Sakura said.

"As long as his scent isn't completely gone, we'll look for him." dad said.

"I've got a theory of where to find him." I said. "The hideout which is the furthest away is the one in the east. The only problem is that if we get there, Madara would've already tried to recruit Sasuke. He might even succeed if he has a good story."

"We'll look for him anyway! We can't give up now that we've come so far!" Naruto exlaimed.

"You truly got spirit, boy." Tomoko said. "I like that."

After a while, none of us could find Sasuke. The last bit of his scent was completely washed away by the rain. "We'll have to go back to the village." dad said.

Tenzou-sensei nodded. "Right, senpai." he said. We all left and headed back to the village. Dammit, we were so close! I thought.

* * * * *

Back in the village, we went to see the Hokage and report the mission.

I suddenly heard a knock on the door. Kazuki and Hitoshi entered with an unconscious Kazuo. They seemed injured. "What happened?" I asked. "Didn't you went back to the village earlier? And what happened to Kazuo?"

I realized Kazuku was crying. "Kazuo... he's... dead." he said.

My eyes widened in shock and I felt tears welling up. "He can't be..." I muttered.

"I was too late. When I arrived, it already happened." Hitoshi said.

I felt horrible. I felt sad, angry and frustatedall at the same time. I would love to release my anger and frustation by kicking something, so I quickly left to one of the training grounds. Arriving there, I accidently destoyed some rocks and a few trees. "Ayame, are you all right?" I heard a voice behind me. I turned around and saw my dad standing there.

"No. Obviously, I'm not all right. First Sasori and Asuma-sensei, then Hidan and Deidara. Then Itachi, and now Kazuo?!" I told him with anger and sadness in my voice. "And on top of that, we stil haven't succeeded in bringing Sasuke back!"

Dad signed me to sit down next to him. "You know I know how it feels to lose your teammate. I know how you feel, but I don't think destroying nature will solve anything."

"I know..." I muttered. "I'm just so... frustated, sad and angry at the same time!"

Dad hugged me, and I hugged him back. After a while, I broke the hug. "I'll make sure he didn't die in vain." I told him.

"He won't. The funeral is tomorrow." Dad replied. "Let's go back home, it's getting late." He gave me a closed eye smile.

I nodded. "Thanks, dad."

"If there's anything you want to talk about, you know I'll always be there to listen to you." Dad said before standing up. He carried me on his back all the way home.

"You'll be fine, kiddo." Hiroshi told me. "You'll get over his death some day."

"I know." I replied. "I'll have to, don't I?"

Hiroshi nodded and smiled at me. I could see that it was a genuine smile. "I've got the feeling you will be able to stop that Hikaru guy you told me about. With or without yoir teammates help."

"Thank you, Hiroshi." I said before closing my eyes and falling asleep.

* * * * *

The next morning, I was woken up by my dad. I put on a black shirt, black pants and my boots, which had metal plates on them. We went to the place the funeral would take place. It was raining the entire time. "Ayame." Kazuki said. "I need to tell you something."

I nodded. "Is it about Kazuo? I wasn't even there to hear his last words..."

Kazuki nodded. "He had a wish for both of us. He wants us both to become happy with the ones we love... It's going to be hard, but we'll get through it together."

"Kazuki..." I muttered. "I'm not letting an other one of my teammates die if I can prevent it. That's a promise."

Tenzou-sensei stood behind us. "We'll all get through it. We still have each other."

I nodded. "No way we're letting his death be in vain. I'll accept all the help I can get with stopping Hikaru and Kabuto."

Kazuki nodded. "We will. And don't forget you still have your father."

I gave him a light smile. "Thank you, Kazuki. Kazuki had tears in his eyes, but I couldn't blame him. He was just as devestated - even more - as I was about Kazuo's death. I felt tears on my face too.

* * * * *

Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, I was called to see the Hokage. Sakura and Sai were there too when my dad and I had arrived. I also saw a lot of frogs outside, two of them being huge. Lady Tsunade seemed to be really sad. She told us that Jiraya had died on an infiltration mission and that he had faced Pein.

Dad went to pick up Naruto, who probably was still asleep. When he was there, the old frog told him Jiraya had died. Naruto's first reaction was anger, and he shouted sonething at the frog. "Pervy Sage is a good nickname for Jiraya-chan." he said.

"Granny Tsunade, did you assign this mission to him?!" Naruto asked Lady Tsunade. Lady Tsunade nodded. "If Pervy Sage was Hokage, he would never send you on a dangerous mission like this." he said before leaving.

"Naruto!" Sakura exlaimed.

"Let him be." Lady Tsunade said.

"He has left behind a message, but before he could tell me, his throat was chrushed. He turned around and showed some sort of code. We also heard Jiraya had taken a hostage and one of Pein's bodies who he had killed.

"Let's hope the interrogation and autopsy show us something useful. Something we can use to be able to fight Pein." I muttered. "Even after living with him, I still don't know a thing about him."

...I hate it that awesome people in Naruto die... How about you?

Dedicated to GravityLines for being my awesome best friend!

-x Crartistic