Father Figure

Chapter 1: The Missing Hokage

Naruto, Sasuke knew, would never leave the village unattended without notice.

However much of an idiot he often was—an "usuratonkachi," Sasuke would often mutter—Sasuke knew better than anyone that Naruto cared deeply for the Hidden Leaf Village and disappearing one ordinary evening, completely unnoticed and completely unbeknownst to anyone as to why, was not in his character. Something was not lining up.

He called an emergency summon immediately, sending his hawks out to summon the few he could trust with this fragile information. He could not let the village people know that their Hokage had gone missing—that would cause more panic than necessary. The Uchiha did not consider himself worthy of making decisions in place of the Hokage, but even Sasuke knew telling the village would simply cause unnecessary, irrational fear to be invoked. Sasuke may have preferred to stay in the shadows but right now, he knew something had to be done immediately.

So he stuck by his decision to summon the meeting.

First to arrive to the Hokage's office was Shikamaru, appearing as he would to any other day-time summon even though it was nearly three in the morning. His hair was pulled tightly into its usual pony and he wore a plain grey jumpsuit with a long, tan overcoat. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, taking notice of his fresh appearance at such hour of the night.

Neither were one for small talk so Sasuke cut straight to the chase, deciding those who arrived later would have to be debriefed. Time was of the essence, after all.

"Naruto is missing," he said in his usual monotonous tone. He was more nervous than he let on but hid it well. He had years of practice in hiding his emotions. This was no different. "Hinata informed me using one of my emergency messenger birds just a few minutes ago. He never returned home in the evening like he'd told her he would and when she came to the office to bring him a change of clothes, he was gone. There were no notes or messages left and the ANBU guards were dismissed early in the evening."

At this, the silver-haired Rokudaime appeared in a poof of smoke. "I apologize for my tardiness, I broke a mirror getting dressed and had to take the long way to avoid any black cats, lest I be double unlucky," he said, stifling a yawn. Upon reading the stiff situation, he straightened up and furrowed his thin brows. "What's the meaning of this?"

Shikamaru sighed, which he did quite often, but tonight's was heavier than usual. "Nanadaime is missing," he said bluntly. "Dismissed his ANBU early and never returned home this evening."

"Hinata is on her way too, but had to drop the kids off with Sakura," Sasuke added, leaning against the desk covered in stacks upon stacks of paper, books, and file-folders. Almost as if on que, Hinata came quickly and quietly into the room. Her brows looked permanently furrowed and eyes were filled with wary concern. "Naruto would never leave unannounced like this, so I summoned you all here to discuss what's next."

"Hm," Kakashi hummed thoughtfully, rubbing his chin in the process. "You're right, it's quite strange, though I don't think we should automatically assume he was captured. It would take a damn strong shinobi or three to capture Naruto unnoticed."

People nodded and hummed in agreement, filling the otherwise silent office.

"Protocol says Kakashi takes office temporarily while Shikamaru gathers search parties," Sasuke uttered robotically, though his single visible eye loomed with uncertainty.

Kakashi took immediate notice and, with a heavy sigh of regret, decided to do the dutiful thing and step up. Retirement was wonderful, but he was needed right now—and comrades always come first.

"This information will be highly confidential. Only ANBU and those heading up searches will know the details. The public will not know of the Nanadaime's disappearance and will simply be informed that he is out of office," Kakashi spoke with confidence and purpose, a grave contrast to his usually uncaring tone nowadays. Retirement's been treating him well, but Kakashi knew the severity of the situation. And as the Rokudaime, it was his responsiblility to step up in times such as this. "Shikamaru will head the within-village search, so he's nearby if we need him. Sasuke will travel to villages on our red-list, using his visual prowess to seek Naruto out. I will dispatch various ANBU teams to search the Land of Fire and neighboring lands. All information is to be relayed using Sasuke's birds back to myself. Let's find our Nanadaime and ensure he returns safely." Kakashi obviously wanted Naruto to return. Despite the uncaring attitude he often presented, he really did care for his student. And, if Naruto were to disappear, Kakashi would inevitably be taking office again until the eighth Hokage could be instated, and that was about the last thing Kakashi wanted.