Warning: swearing, blood, violence, severe hypothermia, and feels
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"Kushina, go report to the Hokage what's happened here," Minato ordered, he checked the Red-Hot-Habanero for any more hidden seals, before doing the same with Obito and Rin.
"I care about Kakashi just as much as you do, so I'm coming with you!" Kushina countered angerly, as she stood up feeling all the injuries, she got from the fight melt away, thanks to the Kyūbi's chakra.
"No, not this time they have a person on their team that knows how seals work. We can't take that chance, not if it would put you and the village in danger, I can't that chance. Besides I want you to go make sure the Hokage understands what's happening, so he doesn't have any doubts about what Kakashi's going through." Minato explains in a sympathetic voice, while he stared into the redhead jinūriki's violet eyes.
Kushina groaned in frustration but understood the logic and reasoning in Minato's words. Then gave an irritated reply of, "fine, but where do I meet you after you get Kakashi back?" Paused then shortly, but firmly added, "alive!"
"We'll meet here. If you can fix the place up, so if Kakashi comes back in critical condition then we'll be able to work here," Tsunade joined in on the conversation in a sharp tone leaving no room for the debates.
"Tsunade are you sure?" The Namikaze asked with a hint of shock that the slug princess didn't want to take Kakashi to the hospital straight away.
"Yes, you said it yourself, someone the hospital told Kakashi to hurt himself. I don't want to put a child back in that situation again, especially an injured one." Tsunade spoke with a dark tone that was not meant for Minato, but he felt a shiver go down his spine anyway as Kushina left for the Hokage's tower.
"Alright. Obito, Rin, go home!" Minato nodded before turning to his two students and spoke with high authority.
"What!" Both ten-year-olds shouted at the same time, then Obito yelled, "no way Sensei, that's not happening!"
"It's too dangerous, I'm not putting my other students in danger, as well!" Minato countered in a no-nonsense tone.
Obito and Rin looked at their blonde Sensei in hurt and betrayed puppy eyes. Then Rin started, "but Minato-sensei-"
"Hold on a second Minato, sending them back home, might be a bad idea. If, these people are still following or watching your team, then sending them home could put them in more danger, especially, their families. Yes, Obito has the whole Uchiha clan to watch him, but Rin, she doesn't have anyone aside from a civilian mother." Jiraiya explained as the two ten-year-olds stared up at the toad sage as if he was their saving grace.
"Then what would you want me to do? Take him with me?" Minato asked with a hint of sarcasm.
"Exactly, you have your seals placed on them, right? So, you can get them out of danger by using your body flicker jutsu. Besides, these two have involved in helping Kakashi a lot, and we need all the help we can get, don't you agree?" Jiraiya spoke calmly secretly giving a smirk to the two kids that were beaming up at him. But the main reason he wants the two ten-year-olds to come with them is that he's worried that if they didn't the two kids would go looking for Kakashi on their own.
Minato but a sigh of defeat before turning to his students, "fine, but you two will stay right on our heels, understand."
"Yes, Minato-sensei!" The young Nohara and Uchiha yelled in the sink.
That was when Tsunade opened the front door causing her light blonde hair swayed violently in the strong bitter wind. As she called out, "all right, now that's all done, let's go!"
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"Minato do you have any idea where we're going?" Jiraiya asked on the left side of his former student, as he continues jumping from branch to branch as the cloudy sky begins to darken from the approaching night.
"Kakashi said, he usually loses them in the east side of the forest, so I assume he's going to make his way there, and we'll be there to meet him," the Namikaze answered as they continued on the same path for about ten minutes at top speed.
"Sounds like a good place to start let's go!" Tsunade adds on the Namikaze's right side just a branch or two behind the young jonin.
The three adults continued talking and forming a strategy of what to do when they find Kakashi. Obito tried to get the adults' attention by calling their names only to be ignored. The last time, Obito try to get their attention Tsunade glared back and told the boy to shut up, before joining the conversation with Jiraiya and Minato again. The young Uchiha was now fed up with being ignored by his Sensei and the two sannin, then slowed his pace to where he was matching his pace with Rin.
"What is it, Obito?" The young medic questioned as Obito moved next to her matching her pace.
"I feel like we're going the wrong way," Obito admitted, as a sinking feeling in his gut grew.
"Why?" Rin asked curiously, in the back of her mind was thinking the same thing, but just assumed that it due to her nerves.
"It's just a gut feeling," Obito answered honestly, sense he all was never good at hiding his emotions.
"Are you sure it's not just nerves?" Rin questioned, eyes darting around them still hoping to find some indication of where the four men took Kakashi.
"Yeah, I'm sure," Obito assured, his teammate strongly. Then fell silent for a moment, before a large smile spread across his face. "Hey, I got an idea of how we can find Kakashi faster!"
"How?" Rin asked, watching Obito's smile turn into a confident smirk.
"While they're searching on the East side of the forest, we'll head to the west side of back hills. That way if Kakashi doesn't go their way, he will come our way, and we can help him first," Obito explained with pride of his genius plan, but kept his voice low so the three adults couldn't hear him.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Rin muttered, remembering that the west side of the back hills has less vegetation, meaning fewer places for someone to hide.
"No, but it's better than nothing. This way, we cover more ground and find Kakashi sooner. Besides if we're going this way, and Kakashi is the opposite way then we might not be able to save Kakashi, in time! He could be hurt, or d-" Obito paused, trying not to think about what could happen. Then quietly but sternly added, "and we're not even there to help him!"
After weighing the pros and cons, Rin replied with a determined nod. Decision decided Rin and Obito stopped on the branch, Rin made two projection clones that look just like them, that continued following their Sensei and the two sannin. Then the two genin watched as the three adults in front of them continued on their path too distracted by their conversation to notice the clones. After a few tense seconds, Rin and Obito turned and went the other way to the West side of the back hills.
"Sensei is going mad at us Obito," Rin commented after a few silent tense minutes of jumping through the trees.
"Yep, but he will forgive us if you find Kakashi," Obito stated confidently ignoring the growing fear raging inside him, at the thought of a very angry Minato-sensei.
"We don't even know if he's going this way! What if these people are still after him, we could be put in danger too!" The worried medic added as she was starting to have doubts about their decision.
"Rin, you saw Kakashi's face, right? He only went with those jerks because we were in danger!" For the first time, Obito raised his voice at Rin, but he can't have Rin back out now not when they're so close to finding Kakashi.
"You're right, so what's the plan?" Rin started sadly remembering Kakashi's face after they were captured, and how the last Hatake agreed to go with the four masked men, as long as they didn't hurt Kushina and his teammates.
"Well, just as Kakashi usually puts it, we're going to keep the plan, stupid simple," Obito grinned again, but Rin could tell it was more forced, probably thinking back of everything that has happened today.
"And how are we going to do that?" Rin was now starting to think that this was a stupid idea since the hyperactive Uchiha has just been improvising the whole time.
"Simple! We're going to find Kakashi, and you're going to heal him or start, while I distract to others can we make a beeline back village!" Obito clarified cheerfully looking back at Rin with a hopeful, determined expression.
"You know, that might just work!" Rin replied, what's the same optimistic enthusiasm.
"I know right, and Bakashi says I can't plan anything right!" Obito exclaimed with pride of how good his plan is.
"That's because you usually just rush head in, without thinking what might happen," Rin added honestly, knocking the Uchiha's ego down a few notches.
"Details, details, doesn't matter as long as it gets done in the end," Obito half-joked as he jumped on to another branch.
"Obito! Seriously!" Rin exclaimed, but couldn't help the way her lips curled up a little.
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"Minato, over here! There are more signs of a fight here, too!" Jiraiya called out to the others, as he examines a tree with a missing patch of bark with several kunai tops sticking out of the snow around the base of the tree.
"This attack looks like it happens within the last twenty-four hours but doesn't look a recent enough to be Kakashi's trail," Minato replied as he examined the area. Noticing that there are no footprints visible, as snow has drifted over them due to the wind. While the top layer on the snow started to ice over from the freezing rain.
"Are you sure about that, because I just found this over by some broken branches," Tsunade appears next to the two toad summoners.
The slug princess was holding a charcoal gray jacket that has been ripped in half right through the white diamond that was sewn into the jacket. Minato frowned when he saw the jacket but then looked angrier, he saw a rip in the jacket's material which was surrounded by a large crimson stain in the upper right half the jacket. The group had made it to the east so the forest next to the back hills about ten minutes ago. So far, they found signs of a struggle, and Kakashi's jacket that Minato and Kushina gave him, but no Kakashi or the shinobi that took him. With no signs of Kakashi or anyone else, the group went back into the treetops again, to search the area more thoroughly.
"You kids have been quiet, are you two all right?" Jiraiya asked the two kids that have been strangely quiet for the last ten minutes, especially after finding the jacket. When receiving no response, he looked back to see the two clones fade away. "Oh, shit... Minato, Tsunade, stop!"
"What is it what's wrong?" Minato questioned after he and Tsunade stopped on the next branch. But looked back to notice his students weren't with the toad sage, then asked in a concerned tone, "Jiraiya where is Rin and Obito?"
"My guess is they want the other way," Jiraiya answered, looking at the trees from where they came from seeing no signs of the two students.
"Other way? Do you mean the other side back hills, or towards the village?" Tsunade questioned looking at her teammate what's an irritated expression.
"Well, seeing that they were is so adamant about coming with us, I assume they went to the other side of the forest," Jiraiya suspected, but was more like thinking out loud.
"Damnit! I should have known this would happen!" Minato spoke out while facepalming criticizing himself for not thinking his two genin students wouldn't pull a stunt like this.
"So where are we going to do now? Do we split up or do we all go the other way?" Tsunade asked has she had the jacket to Jiraiya, who put in one of his sealing scrolls.
"No. Obito and Rin have my seals on them we can body flicker right to them," Minato answered knowing that's safer to move as a group. Even though he is with the two sannin, this group was able to kidnap Kakashi as well as have the ability to restrain Kushina, one of the elite jonin of the hidden leaf village.
"Alright, let's go!" Jiraiya urged impatiently, knowing the more time they waste, the more chances Kakashi can be killed.
Minato started making the hand signs necessary for the jutsu. 'Dammit... first Kakashi, and now Obito and Rin,' Minato thought bitterly. Before inwardly begging, 'please just stay alive.'
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While racing through the trees, Obito stopped when he thought he saw movement. Then Rin stopped right next to him looking the direction the young Uchiha was focusing on. To her surprise and relief, they spotted a silver-haired boy running or more like stumbling through the knee-length snow in their direction.
"Kakashi!" Obito and Rin yelled out as they dashed through the remaining trees to their injured teammate.
"You both need to leave," Kakashi breathlessly whispered through purple shivering lips, after recovering from the shock of his two teammates landing right in front of him.
"You're crazy if you think we're just going to leave you here," Obito yelled as he and Rin put one of Kakashi's arms over their shoulders, trying to help Kakashi move faster while ignoring how beaten and bloody the little Hatake looks.
"You don't understand...run away... they're here!" Kakashi's hoarse voice rang out before pushing the two ten-year-olds away as a kunai with a wire trap attached to it, landed behind Kakashi before activating, pinning Kakashi into the snowy tundra.
Then another kunai with a paper bomb attached landed a foot away from Kakashi's head hissing away. The frozen boy frantically struggles while screaming at his teammates to run away while the paper bomb was now past halfway to detonation. When a massive flash of long white hair rush past two students grabbing the paper bomb kunai hurling it where it came from as Minato jumped away holding Obito and Tsunade doing same with Rin.
"Kakashi!" The two older kids screamed as Jiraiya covered the pinned Kakashi with his body but careful not to crush the boy before using his needle-like hair to grow and cover them.
Within a matter of seconds, a massive explosion erupted from the paper bomb. Jiraiya was shocked at how high powered the bomb was, he could feel the heat from the blast on his back. 'If that paper bomb detonated that close to Kakashi, the poor kid would've been blown to bits,' the very thought of it, made Jiraiya's stomach turned. The toad sage gently cut the limp boy free and cradled him in his arms as he examined the son of his late friend. The boy's fingers and toes were black, his arms and legs were a sickening white, the boy's torso was a purplish-blue, but some parts of his chest and back had patches of angry red, his face was a grayish blue with purple lips, and frost and ice covered the boy's silver locks. As a small stream of blood from a wound on his hairline above his temple hardened onto his skin. If it wasn't for the severe hypothermia, Jiraiya was nervous about the injuries that covered Kakashi's body. Kakashi's body was covered in cuts of various sizes, large bruises, and several broken bones. The only clothing covering the boy's body was a pair of soaked loose-fitting black shorts that barely clung around Kakashi's boney hips. Jiraiya frowned in disgust at the tight red dog collar with a bell and a tracking seal attached to it, as the collar dug into Kakashi's throat. The toad sage could see blood oozing from around the collar and slide down until freezing to the boy's skin. Jiraiya carefully unclipped the collar and tenderly peeled it off Kakashi's damaged neck, revealing a strip of jagged metal attached to the collar with small spikes that left shallow holes in Kakashi's neck. Jiraiya swallows the bile that threatened to come out, as he put the blood coated object into one of his sealing scrolls.
Then Jiraiya gently placed Kakashi in his lap as he rapidly summoned the blanket that he keeps in one of his sealing scrolls for any last-minute mission assignments, before carefully wrapping it around the frozen boy. Curling Kakashi into a ball in his lap, tightly wrapped in the large black blanket. Jiraiya tenderly wrapped his arms around Kakashi, holding him closer to his chest before having his white-haired slide around them, shielding them from the harsh winds and freezing rain.
The sage made three shadow clones to arrest the people who did this, then use his chakra to slowly raise his body's temperature hoping that his core temperature is enough to keep the boy alive. He thought he saw Kakashi blink but quickly played it off as his imagination until one of Kakashi's fingers twitch. Jiraiya was shocked in disbelief that Kakashi was conscious, let alone able to move his frozen fingers. After recovering the shock, Jiraiya gently cupped Kakashi's frozen hands letting the barely conscious Kakashi know he was there as well as trying help get the kid's blood circulating again. "It's okay Kakashi, I'm here, I'm here," Jiraiya comforted in a hushed tone and asked softly, "do you remember who I am?" Slowly rocking the little fang back and forth when he felt his core heat started dropping.
"Ji...ji..." Kakashi huffed softly through two small exhales barely audible.
Jiraiya gave the boy a sad smile at the old nickname Kakashi give him, but after Sakumo's death, it became Jiraiya or Master Jiraiya. His heart hurt for how long and how much Kakashi has been suffering at the hands of the village. But no more. Jiraiya will not abandon Kakashi as he did with Sakumo this time he will be looking for the signs instead of avoiding them.
"It's okay Pup, it's all over now."
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A/N: Hi everyone! Here's the next chapter, I hope you all like it! I know it's darker than usual, but we're coming towards the end now. Don't blame Obito and Rin too much, remember they're only ten years old. Sorry for any grammar errors. If you like this chapter, please leave a vote and a comment. Also, what do you think is going to happen when Minato sees Kakashi's condition? Is Kakashi going to be alright? Who are the people behind this, how many of them are there? Let me know what you think, I'm curious. Thank you for taking the time to read this chapter, and I hope you're looking forward to the next update. Thanks again!