Once Shinobi, Now Hero

Chapter 18: Fateful Meetings

Minato's emotional state was everywhere. Weeks, literal weeks he had spent looking for Kakashi in enemy territory, well formerly enemy territory. He pretty much cleared out every enemy with the exception of the very front lines where thousands of enemy Shinobi bunkered down, holding the defense line.

He was good. The strongest Jounin in the village, but not even that would make him fight thousands of ninjas at once. Hundreds were a stretch, even for him. Besides, Kakashi didn't disappear over in that direction, and he doubted any of those Shinobi would've brought him back to their base and slipped past defenses.

That only brought him to the question of where the hell his student went. In one mission, he was down two students, only one death confirmed, and the other was mentally broken. Not that he blamed Rin. In seconds, she'd gone from having both of her teammates to none at all. Both of his old teammates had survived, so he couldn't relate.

He flashed upon a tree branch, thoughts of his students plaguing him. He made mistakes. Mistakes that costed two of his students lives. He wasn't fast enough. Why was it he was never fast enough when he needed to be? He wished someone would answer the question, but only the silence of the wilderness greeted him.

Then he felt a pull on him. Not physically though, from his chakra. He frowned, wondering what was going on, and reached into his pouch to draw one of his special three-pronged kunai. That pull could only mean one thing, though the reason for this was confusing him. Was someone messing with his Kunai? No, that wasn't it. If someone were close enough to it, and touched it, he'd be able to feel their chakra signature. But now, for some reason, he hadn't been picking up a thing. He couldn't even locate where the pull was coming from, now that he thought about it.

Was it perhaps from the Kunai he'd given Kakashi?

That was certainly a possibility that brightened how he felt. Though he couldn't be completely happy, it seemed that things were finally turning around. His trail was no longer cold, and though he didn't have a solid lead, it was better than nothing—to him at least.

Something else landed on the branch beside him—he didn't react because he felt their chakra—and he tucked away the Kunai.

"Wait," Rin calls out, and when he turns to her he sees a look of shock on her face as she reaches out towards him. "Sensei, I feel Kakashi."

His brows squint and he stares as her. It takes him a second to realize what she may be referring to. He goes back into his pouch and takes out his kunai once more.

"There," she says breathlessly, coming closer and reaching out for the kunai. She's a sensor type like he is, but he doesn't feel a thing. It's the reason why he's so confused. She grabs it, inspects it, before her own chakra flares.

She's searching for the signal by spreading her own chakra signature out. It tells him that she doesn't know exactly where the signal is coming from.

"His chakra is coming from there?"

"Yea," she nods. "I'm sure of it. I remember you marking him, Sensei. Could that be the reason?"

He doesn't know. "Perhaps, but I feel no connection to the seal placed upon him. That means that he's nowhere near the Land of Fire. He's out of my range, the Flying Thunder God has a range limit."

"But it doesn't make sense," she stressed, her chakra flared a bit more at her heightening emotions. "There's no way the enemy would capture him. They should know a newly promoted Jounin would have only surface level knowledge of intel. They wouldn't learn anything they don't already know or speculate about! I don't—"

Before he can calm his student down, quite loudly, another presence quickly rushed through the dense trees and settled on the same branch, right beside Rin.