Fear and Love Part III (Kakashi X OC)

The Search

"Well we finally reached the Land of Wind." Naruto stood at the demarcation that signified the border of the desert country.

"What if they're not even here?" Mitsue yawned.

"Way to be positive, Mitsue!" Kai playfully punched him in the arm.

"They've gotta be." Naruto's eyes transformed into that of a toad's while his eyelids formed an orange hue to it, "I feel a stronger concentration of chakra in this area. We just have pinpoint it's exact location."

Sasuke scanned the desert with his sharingan, "I'll keep an eye out for any chakra tracings. Maybe we should split up to widen our search."

Kanari hopped over and grabbed Sakura's arm, "Well I wanna be on a team with big-sis!"

Sakura giggled and patted the top of her head, "I'd love to have you along Kana!"

Naruto wrapped his arms around Kai and Mitsue, unintentionally choking them with a tight hug, "Ill take the boys!"

Sasuke nodded, "It's settled then, I'll go with Sakura and Kanari and we head further southwest. You three can head more northwest and we'll signal each other if we find anything."

"Right! Let's go boys!" Naruto waved his arm in the direction and they started running.

Kai turned back to yell at Kanari, "Sis! You summon Pakkun! I'll summon Biscuit!"

"Since when have you been able to summon Biscuit?!" Kanari put her hands on her hips, her eyebrows turning downward in mild anger.

"Since dad taught me!!!" Kai stuck his tongue out and ran off before his sister could ask him anymore questions.

Kanari growled and summoned her ninja hound, "Any progress on the search, Kana?" Pakkun scratched his ear.

"We finally made it to the Land of Wind and we're splitting up into two teams. Any scent you can pick up on would be much appreciated." Kanari patted his head.

"Let's go you two." Sasuke took off running in the opposite direction. The girls followed him.

Sakura could see the pained look in Kanari's eyes as she ran, and she became concerned for someone she considered a dear little sister, "We'll find them, Kana, don't worry. There's plenty of times Kakashi-sensei had to come to my rescue on missions. So now it's our turn to payback the favor."

Kanari took those words to heart, trusting the reassurance of one of his father's beloved students who had ironically known him longer than she had been alive, "Right, I trust you."
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"Biscuit!" Kai gestured for the pup to start running, "Come on! I need you try and sniff out mom and dad! They're missing and we're on a search and rescue mission."

"Oh yeah." The dog's paws pressed into the shifting sand as he quickly followed behind the ninja trio, "Pakkun told me. Who kidnapped them?"

"The Shioki have been bugging us for months now! So we think they're behind it. They found two sand ninja in crystal chambers that my mom captured but they can't interrogate them until my mom undoes the seal on the crystal chambers. So whatever you can find will be helpful!"

"Right!" Biscuit said with an affirming bark.

"Okay, keep your eyes peeled for anything suspicious." Naruto explained to his two students, "Orochimaru's hideouts were very well hidden throughout the world so I would imagine the Shioki have an even greater network with their resources."

Mitsue sighed, "You've got it, Naruto-sensei."

"Can you seem excited for something for once in your life, Mitsue?!" Kai seemingly had a knack for picking fights with his teammate. They definitely had a love/hate relationship.