Reverberations (Kakashi x OC, Gaara x OC) -- Book 3

Chapter 6: Sealing the Spread

"Kakashi," Tsunade said, "I really think Jiraiya may be able to help us on this one. He is rather skilled with seals. Perhaps he can do one that may contain this so she doesn't have to be locked up."

"That's not a bad idea," Kakashi said. "The only problem is that he's off on recon at the moment for another mission."

"Actually, I just saw him earlier today Kakashi-sensei," said Naruto. "The pervy sage was off near a bathhouse doing 'research,'" said Naruto with a disgusted face.

"Naruto, could you go look for him and bring him here? We need him sooner rather than later," Kakashi said.

"I'm on it!" Naruto grinned holding a thumbs up. He disappeared through the open window.

It wasn't long before Naruto returned with Jiraiya who was mumbling about Naruto butting in and ruining his research. "What did you need to see me about Kakashi?"

"It's Keiko," he said. Jiraiya only needed to look around the faces in the room to read the rest. "I'll fill you in on the way," said Kakashi.

The group went down to the room where Keiko was resting and Jiraiya looked her over intently. "This is Orochimaru's doing?" he asked.

"Or Kabuto," said Sakura.

"Hmm. I can't say I've seen anything exactly like this before, but we may be able to stop the spread with a seal, at least temporarily. It's not going to keep it at bay forever."

"Please Jiraiya-sama , anything you can do to help her," Gaara said.

"Well, ok. Here goes." Jiraiya gathered green chakra in his hand. Characters appeared made out of chakra on the tips of his fingers. " Five point seal," he called as he pressed them to her neck. Keiko's body spasmed, but she otherwise didn't wake. They saw a black border appear around the site of the bite. Sakura stepped up and began using her chakra to try and make the spread recede to within the borders of the seal. Slowly, the veining disappeared.

"We should still keep an eye on her and see what her temperament is like when she wakes. I don't think we should remove the restraints just yet," said Tsunade .

The rest left the room leaving Gaara and Kakashi alone with her. Gaara touched her face and peered down at her sadly. Catching his cue, Kakashi left the room as well. "Please let us know if there are any developments," he said before sliding the door shut behind him.

He was more adept at hiding his feelings than Keiko as he had more practice at it, but inside this was tearing Kakashi apart. It was hard for him to watch another man hold and comfort her. But Gaara had every right; she was his wife after all.

Not knowing what else to do, Kakashi made for the archives to search for anything that may have been mentioned about any type of research Kabuto or Orochimaru had been involved in during their time in the Hidden Leaf. "I think I'll join you," Tsunade said falling in step next to him from an adjoining hall. "All hands on deck as usual," she muttered sardonically.

Jiraiya had just finished calming an upset Naruto down and sending him home when he bumped into Tsunade and Kakashi. "I'm going to see if I can track down any leads on anything Kabuto might have been up to recently," Jiraiya said. "I've been keeping my ear to the ground and have heard a few rumors, but nothing that has turned into any significant leads. Mostly I've been looking for leads on the Akatsuki ."

"I think it stands to reason that they are likely somewhere between the Sand and the Leaf. I've not heard anything about disappearances from any of the allied villages. It's almost like Orochimaru is toying with us and targeting us specifically," Tsunade said.

"That does seem most likely based on the rumors I've been hearing as well. There's been reports of more snake attacks, ghosts, and demons in the last two weeks than in the last year combined it seems. Maybe we should use radios as this situation develops just in case...just in case anything happens," said Kakashi darkly.

Jiraiya and Tsunade nodded.