Once More by ItsHardToFindAPenName

Chapter 28: Despair

Then he walked out of the room. Being left alone in the room, Konan painfully looked at the back of the retreated man whom she had thought to be her best friend.

Nagato... what have you become...?

Hiruzen received the mission report from Shikaku with the frown going deeper and deeper on his face.

"Are you sure this is everything? That there was nothing else you could have done?"

Shikaku lowered his head. "Yes, Hokage-sama. I'm sorry for the failure of the mission. I really didn't expect the plan to go awry like that... And Naruto was captured; if the Akatsuki managed to..."

The Hokage looked at the face of Shikaku with sympathy. The Nara strategist was the one who had formulated the plan for this mission, and he could understand why he was so upset; a complete, utter failure of the mission, plus the loss of an important asset of the village.

"It was not your fault, Shikaku. If there's someone who is responsible for this the most, that would be me; I was the one who miscalculated the power of Orochimaru too much. I should have expected that... if Orochimaru wants to run away, stopping him is nigh impossible. Don't blame yourself for the failure; no one could ever expect those sudden circumstances anyway."

Shikaku bit his lips. "Even if you say so..."

Suddenly the entrance to the room burst open, and Jiraiya stomped into the room.

"Kakashi and Gai have already told me about the failed mission," he growled. "What's the big idea, sensei? Surely you know how dangerous such a mission was, am I right? Why did you assign Naruto to such a mission?"

"Now see here, Jiraiya..."

Suddenly the Hokage felt himself being lifted up by the collar.

"GODDAMNIT, SENSEI!" Jiraiya snarled angrily at Hiruzen's face. "NARUTO HAS BEEN CAPTURED BY THE AKATSUKI! HOW CAN YOU BE SO FUCKING CALM ABOUT IT? HE COULD HAVE BEEN EXTRACTED ALREADY!"

"Jiraiya, calm down."

Those words were said with a normal, if not gentle, tone, but Jiraiya felt like he had just been hit with a ton of pressure. He released the Hokage's collar and stepped back, but his eyes were still both drilling at the man's face with a deadly glare.

"I know that Naruto is in danger right now," Hiruzen calmly said. "But that doesn't mean I don't have any plan. Read this, Jiraiya."

He pulled out a scroll from his drawer. Jiraiya took it from his hand, and his eyes widened when he saw the content.

"This is...!"

"That's right," Hiruzen nodded. "ANBU, go to the hospital and call Tsunade to my office immediately. Jiraiya, go and prepare everything for a rescue mission. Tonight, the two of us will go rescue Naruto."

"Ugh... I didn't know being hit by Tsukuyomi could hurt so much..."

Kakashi groaned when he pushed himself up from the hospital bed he was lying on. Tsunade had been able to fix the damage in a blink of an eye, but right after he was carried back to Konoha, he was immediately put into intensive care by the legendary medic-nin, for "further checking". And she had had a good reason to do that; after all, his body was still feeling sore.

"Sensei, you shouldn't force yourself..." Sakura said worriedly. "You should rest in bed for a few days before you can get back into action..."

"I'm really the most useless sensei in the world..." Kakashi lamented; his right hand curled up into fist. "If only I had been able to do something..."