My other half! Sasukex oc. [Slow updates] (under editing)

The journal 🔵

Kakashi's pov

I walked back to the office as I briefly knocked before entering, as I took my spot back in the center of the Hokage's office, the weight of Haruto's confession sitting like a cold stone in my gut. I looked at the faces of my team—Naruto's eyes were still a jagged, dangerous orange, and Sakura looked as though she'd been hollowed out.

"They're gone," Tsunade said, her voice tight with suppressed violence. "Ibiki has them in the subterranean levels. I want a full transcript of those training logs by morning."

I adjusted my headband, my lone eye narrowing. "Tsunade-sama," I said, "I'm taking the team to Misaki's old apartment." Tsunade'd brows furrowed as if she knew a serious conversation happened between me and Haruto.

Tsunade didn't question me. We all knew that place had become a shrine. It was common knowledge that Haruto had bought the unit the moment the fake body was cold, preserving it as a frozen capsule of the life he thought he'd lost.

"The apartment?" Naruto muttered, his gaze shifting to the floor. "It's right next door to where Sasuke used to stay."

"I remember," I said quietly. "They were two ghosts living side-by-side."

The walk to the residential district felt like a trip through a graveyard. As we reached the top floor, I pulled the master key from my vest and opened the door.

The apartment was small, spartan, and meticulously clean. It didn't feel like a home; it felt like a staging area. A blue clock hung on the wall, its hands stilled at two o'clock.

"Look at this," Sakura whispered.

I watched her walk toward a small desk. There were no photos, no trinkets—nothing that indicated a child had lived here. Instead, the desk was covered in meticulously organized scrolls on chakra theory and sealing. Beside them sat a single, half-eaten bowl of ramen, now just a dry, preserved shell.

"She was living like a soldier in a foxhole," Yamato observed, his hand brushing the wall. "Everything is positioned for a quick exit."

I moved toward the window, looking at the balcony of the neighboring apartment—Sasuke's old home. Naruto walked over to the nightstand, his eyes landing on a plain, leather-bound book. It looked like a journal.

The atmosphere in the room shifted instantly. The air grew heavy with apprehension. We all knew Misaki—she was the girl who kept her secrets behind a wall of cold logic. Seeing something as intimate as a journal felt like we were treading on sacred, dangerous ground.

Sai stepped closer, his ink-stained fingers hovering near the cover. "If we want to understand her mental state or the nature of her disappearance," he said, his voice characteristically detached but curious, "this would be the most logical place to start."

Yamato nodded slowly, his gaze wary. "He's right. If there are names or locations tied to those secret lessons, they might be in there."

Naruto reached out, his hand trembling, but before he could touch the leather, Sakura stepped in front of him, her face set in a mask of fierce protection.

"No," she said, her voice sharp and final.

"Sakura-chan, if it helps us find her—" Naruto started.

"I said no," Sakura snapped, her eyes flashing with a mix of grief and fury. "She was forced to give up everything. Her family, her safety, her own body... her privacy was the only thing she had left that was actually hers. We are not going to strip her of that too, just because she isn't here to stop us. We find another way."