"You've got a plan...right?" Sakura questioned her superior as they walked away from the village gates. She had packed backpacks for them and the boys when they eventually would meet up with them. In the meantime, it meant she and Kakashi had to carry their weight in supplies as well which slowed them considerably. 

Kakashi hummed as he kept his eyes ahead. He wasn't the type of man to make a decision without a clear plan ahead but this wasn't a case of taking time to think. It was a matter of action and urgency. One of Danzo's best assassination teams were dispatched to end his students. His family. He couldn't sit aside and let it happen. 

He wondered back to the Hokage position offered to him a while ago and almost regretted not taking it then. This wouldn't be happening if he were Hokage but he wasn't. He couldn't hang on to the past. Decisions were made and now he had to stick to them.

That being said, he had no plan.

Kakashi opted for staying silent though as the pinkette's eyes drilled into his temple. 

"I see..." She mumbled before shifting her eyes around them, trying to keep her guard up. She wasn't sure how things ended with Tsunade and him but she could tell he wasn't happy with her. She only hoped Tsunade would have mercy on them when, if, they decided to come back.

Kakashi glanced at her "You can turn back if you want, Sakura" He said quietly. It wasn't fair of him to drag her along. He was sure he could help the boys on his own. Hell, he was almost sure they could handle themselves but it wasn't so much that worry as it was the principle of the matter. He couldn't and wouldn't leave his comrades behind. Not even for his village.

"I would never, sensei" Sakura smiled softly at the Jounin before frowning at the ground "I just wonder why Tsunade would let this happen but then I wonder if anyone else had been assigned as Hokage, would we be dead by now?" Sakura pondered the thought out loud.

Kakashi couldn't help but chuckle at her comment which gained him a confused expression. 

"I can assure you, none of you would be outside the village right now if Tsunade hadn't become Hokage." He stated with confidence.

Sakura tilted her head with a frown "How could you know?" 

Kakashi said nothing as he felt he had said too much already but Sakura caught on a moment later. His silence only fueling her curiosity and intelligence. 

"You were meant to be the next Hokage?!" She squealed with wide eyes.

Kakashi sighed but nodded. He took a chance to glance at the pinkette only to find her glaring daggers at him.

"Why didn't you!?" She snapped with frustration so very clear in her emerald eyes.

Kakashi hesitated to answer "The village isn't ready for me yet" He chuckled while rubbing the back of his head.

He knew it was the wrong answer for the young female but it was the truth. The villagers and elders would never have accepted him as their superior. 

Sakura struggled to calm down. If he had just taken the position, none of this would be happening and instead, they would be treated like royalty. Not that she wanted that...

Before Sakura could continue berating the older Jounin of his decision, the ground in front of them shook before opening up. The two came to a halt with their guards up but sighed in relief when they noticed Jiraiya's, or rather now Naruto's, messenger toad hopping out of the hole.

Sakura tilted her head at the toad. Coming out of a hole was a strange way to travel for a toad. They were more comfortable with water but she figured it could mean the boys weren't anywhere near water so the toad had to make do.

"Kakashi-san" Kosuke greeted formally. He was lucky he had caught them as they were leaving the village.

"Yes?" Kakashi responded with a grim expression. He was expecting the worst. Jiraiya had engraved a secret message onto Fukasaku's back so what's to stop the young Jinchuriki from following in his master's footsteps.

"A message from Naruto" Kosuke reported before gagging up the scroll he had been entrusted with.

Sakura grimaced as the toad handed her superior the scroll covered with slime and saliva.

Kakashi took it without complaint and unraveled the item. 

Sensei, 

We won't be coming back to the village yet. There are larger enemies at work than what we realized. We couldn't defeat Pein but we will get stronger. Sasuke and I are in Mount Myoboku, training with the toads. 

For now, look into Orochimaru's hideouts. See what you can find, I have a suspicion he will lead us to what we want. 

We will meet again in the land of Iron on the first day of winter.

To

Kakashi hummed in thought. He wondered what Naruto's plan was but all he could do was trust in his student. The blonde had grown so much over the years. It both, pained and made him extremely proud to see how much Naruto resembled his father.

The older Jounin handed his student the scroll before taking out a new one and scribbling his own message on it. He handed Kosuke the response scroll and nodded in respect as he watched the toad disappear into a cloud of smoke. The toad wouldn't need to travel far if Naruto and Sasuke were already in his homeland.

Kakashi glanced at the pinkette next to him. She had a frown set on her face but he could tell she was more focused on the mission Naruto had given them than the actual men themselves. She knew they could handle themselves just fine.

As Sakura burned the scroll and the two continued on their journey, Kakashi couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement run through him for the first time in years.

Their common goal had finally come into place. The mission set for themselves to bring peace to their village had begun. They could help people in a way only the strongest shinobi had done in the past and that was by defecting from their village.

It took two days to find just one of Orochimaru's hideouts and a small one at that.

Kakashi had sent out his hounds all across the land before Pakkun picked up a faint trail of something unpleasant to the nose. 

As the duo came across the hideout, they could see what the smell had been coming from as bodies littered the area. No burial or other respectful memorialization had been given to the fallen as they simply fed the bloodthirsty animals of the forest.

Sakura placed her hand over her mouth to stop the stench from overwhelming her while Kakashi moved forward, wanting to search the place and get out as quickly as possible. He walked past beings that resembled humans but they had burnt wings and greyed skin with black markings all over them. These poor souls had been experiments gone wrong. 

He quickened his pace toward the entrance with Sakura close behind him.  Who knew what other kinds of creatures could be lurking. 

"What do you think happened?" Sakura whispered to her sensei as her eyes trailed across the many corpses.

"It looks like Orochimaru is still trying to perfect the curse mark." Kakashi stated as he kept his eyes forward.

They entered the hideout and with the help of Kakashi's hounds, made sure the area was clear before going any further. 

They entered a room filled with medical equipment and glass tubes big enough to contain human beings. Kakashi immediately set out towards the filing cabinets where important documents could hide whilst Sakura looked around the room.

"I don't think we'll find much here, sensei" Sakura remarked.

"Just keep looking" Kakashi sighed as he too, felt there would be little to gain from this journey.

Although, as Sakura's eyes fluttered around, desperately trying to find something that would support their cause, there was a quick glint that blinded her for a moment coming from the back of the room, away from the tubes and paperwork. 

As she stepped closer to examine, she noticed a well-placed door leading to another room. The door had been placed so that it hid from view as they entered the area and therefore wouldn't look in that direction with everything else being on the other side but luckily Sakura's eyes had been inconvenienced by the light from whatever was inside this room.

She felt no chakra presence but that could mean a seal had been placed on the room to contain its contents.

She glanced back at Kakashi, who was throwing files behind his back as he kept looking for something of importance before the pinkette tracked into the hidden room. She knew better than to enter somewhere unknown to her without backup but her curiosity got the best of her. 

As she rounded the corner, she could finally make out where the light was coming from and it seemed to be from a large tank filled with water.

Sakura gasped as she noticed the silhouette of a man within it. A man with bright whitish hair and deep purple eyes stared back at her with a smirk on his face.

"Sensei?" Sakura called out to Kakashi. She wasn't sure who this man was but she knew he was the only survivor left of this hideout and they couldn't afford to lose any lead on Orochimaru. 

This man was coming with them.

___

"Focus" Shima told Naruto as he balanced his weight on a piece of wood on top of many pointy rocks. He was starting to gain control and further bringing his mind into a peaceful state but it proved difficult, especially with Sasuke's remarks.

"What a waste of time" Sasuke sighed with crossed arms as he watched his teammate and feeling satisfied as Naruto grew an irk mark on his forehead before losing his balance once again.

"Oi!" Naruto yelled at Sasuke who simply stared at him with a blank look as if he'd done nothing wrong.

Sasuke quickly grew bored of watching the blonde and as he glanced around the many toad statues, he noticed a small field where he could work on his own training.

As he entered the area, the raven-haired male closed his eyes and cleared his mind. Meditation was another form of training chakra reserves and though his were near neverending, he needed as much control and reserves as he could contain in order to train his eyes further.

Over the years, the Uchiha had trained his Mangekyou Sharingan with Itachi but the youngest Uchiha could never hold his Susanoo for too long before he collapsed from chakra exhaustion. 

Another thing he hoped to take back from Danzo was the many Uchiha eyes Itachi had told him about. The man, apparently, harbored many Uchiha eyes in his arms and eye which was why he was always bandaged up. With just four of those eyes, Sasuke and Itachi wouldn't have to worry about going blind every time they use their Mangekyou Sharingan. Itachi, of course, was against the idea when Sasuke had mentioned it a long time ago but the youngest Uchiha would force those eyes into Itachi's head if he had to. 

He breathed in and out, feeling the peaceful atmosphere as if it were an extension of his spiritual being. He enjoyed the quiet.

"Sasuke!!" An annoyingly piercing voice called his name causing his eyes to snap open.

He glanced behind him to see Karin running over to him with a large smile. He'd forgotten about her. One of the toads must have gone back for her on Naruto's command because in no world would he willingly bring her here.

He said nothing as he turned back around and tried to focus on his training. 

"You didn't leave me behind, did you?" Karin questioned and as he opened his eyes again, he noticed how close she now stood in front of him. 

She had a playful smirk on her lips but Sasuke only felt more irritated the more she tried to get closer to him. 

"I knew you'd never leave me behind, Sasuke-kun" Karin stated as a deep blush overtook her cheeks. The Uchiha barely noticed it however as he sighed.

"Karin" He called her attention which he gained immediately.

She stared at him with wanderlust eyes, waiting for the moment he confessed his love for her.

"Leave" Was what he said instead.

Karin felt an invisible arrow shot through her heart as he ordered her dismissal without so much as a twitch in his features.

"O-Oh...Right, of course! You need to train!" Karin chuckled nervously as she practically jumped out of his sight.

He didn't care where she went, as long as he was left alone to train his eyes and his Susanoo. 

Karin watched him from the sidelines for a moment before sighing in dejection. No matter what she did, he never seemed to show any interest in her. She often wondered if he had another his heart belonged to but then that just broke her heart even more. She tried not to think about it.

"Oi, Karin!" Naruto yelled from the top of a pointy rock. 

As she looked up at him with surprise at why he was up there, she noticed the big grin that could be trademarked as an Uzumaki grin and his eyes which had a tint of orange around them. 

She smiled at her relative, happy for him. He was all the family she knew even though neither were sure exactly how closely they were related, Karin felt as though Naruto was a close cousin of hers. She would protect him and her Sasuke to the ends of the earth if it came to it. 

"Good job, Naruto-Kun!" Karin yelled back with an equally large grin.