~ To Pakkun ~

Pakkun had been running through the forest, following the trail of (Name)'s scent as far he could. He soon reached a small cliff and looked below to find a bar. The place itself looked suspicious, but Pakkun had caught your scent there.

"She must be in there. I gotta tell Kakashi, I'm already getting a bad feeling about this." With that, Pakkun had disappeared to find Kakashi. But what Pakkun didn't notice was the plant that had been following him. The plant rose from the ground to reveal Zetsu.

"Uh-oh, looks like Kakashi is planning on saving (Name)." White Zetsu said while looking back at the spot Pakkun was standing. Black Zetsu groaned.

"To make matters worse, I think I sense Itachi's presence in that hideout too. If Madara were to find out, it would mean trouble for Itachi."

"What should we do then? Should we tell him about Itachi?" White Zetsu said looking concerned. Black Zetsu only chuckled as a response.

"Let's just report in about Kakashi's attempt to rescue his 'lover'. If Madara finds Itachi here by the time he returns it could be dramatic, and I do love to see a good show."

"Alright then." With that being said, Zetsu had vanished into the ground.

~ To you ~

You were running side by side with Itachi down some halls, avoiding any of Satoru's men, to a large sealed door that said 'Tora' on it. That strange sensation you were feeling earlier was getting stronger as you placed your hand on the door. Itachi watches as the barrier on the door slowly vanished. You stared at the door, deciding whether entering to see what's inside was a good idea. Itachi put his hand on your shoulder causing you to look into his nearly cloudy Sharingan.

"Just go in. Whatever is inside was obviously what lead you here. It's now or never, (Name)-san. We don't have much time before Madara realizes I'm gone." You slowly nodded and entered the room with Itachi. You were shocked to see it was only a cave with torches on each side. You and Itachi walked to the end of the cave to find a sword on a table with a letter next to it that said 'To my beautiful daughter, (Name)'. You instantly thought about your parents and reached for the letter but as soon as you did, the sword sent a shock through you. You jumped back and checked yourself to see if you were injured but found no scratches.

"What was that... Itachi, are you okay?" You turned back to find Itachi completely still. He wouldn't move or blink. Then you looked at the burning torches and realized they were still as well.

"What's going on..."

"Not once did I think I would have this moment with you, (Name)..."

You quickly turned around and froze. Your eyes widened as tears went down your cheek.

"M-Mom..."

In front of the table, stood in front of you was your mother, smiling at you with her arms wide open and tears in her eyes.

(Just a picture of her appearance)

You ran straight into her arms and hugged her as tight as you could. Hikairi responds in the same way. You both dropped to the ground, still hugging each other while crying.

"My beautiful daughter... (Name), you've grown into such a beautiful women. You look just like your father too! He'll be so happy when I tell him how much you've grown..." Hikairi says as she smiles at you while wiping away your tears.

"I can't believe it's you mother.." you said while sniffing. Hikairi wipes away her own tears and sits up while smiling at you.

"I'm surprised you know I'm your mother, (Name). Now then, before we start this conversation, how old are you now darling?" You sit up straight and take your mother's hands into yours.

"I'm 24 years old now, mother. I only know you're my mother because of the Hidden Mist." Hikairi's face went serious.

"You're 24... it's been that long since I first held you as a new born baby... and the Hidden Mist Village, has it changed or are they still hunting you down?" You laughed a bit which left your mother confused.

"You seem so serious, mother. Things have changed since you passed away. The Hidden Mist has changed as well, the 5th Mizukage helped me learned whatever their files could tell me about you and dad." You gave her a wide grin. Hikairi was stunned but then relaxed.

"Your father said the same thing to me when we first met... I'm glad you took after him personality wise."

"Mother... I have so many things I wanna ask you..." you say while looking down at your hands. Hikairi let go of your hand to make you look up to her. She had a warm smile which soothed you.

"Ask away my child, time at the moment has been stopped and that is due to the seal on my sword. I made sure that if you ever came in search for it that we would have enough time to speak with each other." She says while smiling at you. You nodded and sighed.

"Mother... why did you willingly let the Hidden Mist conduct experiments on you.." you looked at her with concern written in your expression. Hikairi sighed and looked away.

"I was trained to be the deadliest assassin the Mist has ever created when I was your age. They took me away from my parents and raised me to be a heartless killer. I was part of the reason we had such a name like 'The Blood Mist Village'. I had no purpose but to serve those superior than me. I had no sense of self, no emotions, nothing in the world I could possibly do other than kill. I only accepted the experiments because it was expected of me to do so by my superiors. Had I known I would've fallen in love and had a child, I would've never accepted. Forgive me, (Name)... it was never my intention to make you suffer because of my actions..."

"I was treated like an outsider to the people of the Hidden Leaf Village.. I had no parents, no family... I was alone... Until I was adopted by my new family of course." You smiled at your mother. Hikairi looked at you with relief washing over her.

"Tell me about your new family? You must care deeply about them.."

"Actually, my adoptive parents turned out to be the fourth Hokage and his wife who happened to be the nine-tails jinchuriki at the time. They passed away during the attack against the village, but they left me with my younger brother Naruto... he means everything to me..." you smiled as you thought about Naruto.

"I assume that Naruto is going through the same thing as you... I'm glad you both have each other to lean on.."

"Yeah.. me too..."

"(Name), I've been watching and... from the moment you were brought into this hideout, my chakra is what lead you here to this cave. I managed to keep this place sealed so no one, even Satoru, could enter here but you." You looked at Hikairi with a confused expression.

"Why, mother? What's your relationship with Satoru? He says you were his until dad stole you from him." You rolled your eyes as you spoke. Hikairi sighed in frustration.

"Satoru was my teammate in the times of carrying out assassination missions for the Mist. Eventually he confessed his feelings for me but I had no feelings for him, literally. At the time, for all I cared if I was in a situation where I had to save myself or him? I would have saved myself and left him to die. He was such a pest in my opinion. As for why I kept the cave sealed, it was to protect the sword behind me and to keep it out of the wrong hands." Hikairi said as she frowned. You laughed as you heard your mother speak badly about Satoru.

"So if you never had any emotions... how did you fall for dad?" Hikairi turned red and waved her arms around in denial.

"Let's just say... he opened up my eyes to another world I never dreamt to be living in." Hikairi said while winking at you. You only smiled at her, though you wish she was more specific.

"Alright, this was created specifically for me in my time of battle. This Katana will never break, it is extremely sharp, and with one swing you can even cut the strongest of metal and stone. It was originally made for one of the seven ninja swordsmen, but they didn't see the potential this dangerous Katana possessed. It was once mine, now I'm passing it onto you. May this Katana only be passed down to family strictly belonging to our blood. Remember this promise well if you accept this Katana, (Name)." Hikairi says as she stands up and holds the sword in front of you. You kneel and look up to you mother with a determined expression.

"I promise, Mother. I'll use this sword to protect what I love." Hikairi smiles as she slowly hands the sword to you. Before you clench onto the sword you hear your mother's voice reach you like an echo.

"I love you. Do your best, (Name)."

You jolt your eyes open as you clench onto the sword. You look in front of you to see that your mother was gone.

"(Name), are you alright? You suddenly spaced out." You turned around to see Itachi looking at you questionably. You nodded and smiled as you placed the Katana beside you. You grabbed the letter and put it inside your bag of tools.

"You should get out of here, Itachi. If you don't then I have no doubt that Madara will find you here trying to help me."  You say as you and Itachi walk back to the door. Itachi looks at you with a concerned expression.

"Are you sure about this? You'd be by yourself against a large army of criminals." You grabbed Itachi's shoulders and smiled at him.

"You still have one last mission to carry out... I won't jeopardize your cover just so you can protect me. If you get caught, Sasuke will be targeted and you know he isn't strong enough yet." Itachi looked down to the ground frowning. He clenched his fists in frustration.

"I... understand, (Name)-san. Please don't let your guard down and stay safe." You smiled at him as he regained his composure and disappeared.

"Even if he is more secretive about his feelings, he is still the same kind-hearted Itachi I knew when he was just a kid." You thought as you chuckled to yourself. Then you stepped out of the cave into the open hallway and made your way towards the open area of men laughing. You see the exit not too far from you, but the problem was how to get by without getting noticed. You thought to yourself, then suddenly got a idea. You performed the transformation jutsu and turned into one of the men that was guarding Satoru.

"I hope this actually works.." you thought to yourself as you made your way towards the exit. You made it to the stairs and found yourself at the bar where you found even more men enjoying themselves.

"You're almost there, just a few more people to pass." You thought as you tried to act natural as you made your way towards the exit. You were about the push the door open until it opened by itself. Madara was at the other end of that door, he approached you and was staring down at you.

"My, where are you off to in such a hurry?" Madara grabbed your shoulder and squeezed it. You tried to not show any pain in your face, but in reality, it felt like he was going to pop your shoulder.

"I am going on an errand for the Boss." You said as you mimicked the man's voice perfectly. Madara only chuckled and pulled you outside towards the forest. Then as soon as you were far enough, he pinned you against the tree.

"Drop the disguise, (Name). I already know it's you, though your acting was exceptional." You frowned and undid the jutsu as Madara presses his body on you.

"You look as beautiful as ever, (Name). But I wonder if beauty alone can save you from the punishments you'll be getting from me." He chuckled darkly as he watched you. You were about to say something until you sniffed a familiar scent nearby and smirked.

"Oh Madara, I feel sorry for you." You said as you chuckled which only made him angry. He tightened his grip on you causing you to whimper but not drop the expression on your face.

"And why is that? You don't seem to realize what kind of situation you're in. I've caught you, my pet. And pets should obey their masters!" Madara was about to punch you when a hand popped out of the tree you were on and caught his fist. Madara was surprised and backed away. The tree started to transform into none other than Yamato, which made you smile.

"Sorry we were late, (Name)-sama." Yamato said as you stood next to you. You were confused until Yamato slammed his hands on the ground.

"Summoning no-jutsu!"

Boom!

As the smoke clears up, you see Kakashi standing with his hands in his pockets and Jiraiya making a weird pose on one foot on top of a medium sized toad in front of you.

"We came to save you my disciple!" Jiraiya laughed triumphly. Madara, obviously annoyed by Kakashi's interference, snapped his fingers. Not too long afterwards all the men from the hideout appear and surround you four. Kakashi frowned and got into a battle stance.

"You can't fight us yourself, you coward."

"Don't be mistaken, Kakashi. I simply just want to take what's mine without being interrupted." Madara said as he points at you. Kakashi stood in front of you as he faced Madara.

"(Name) doesn't belong to you. I won't let you anywhere near-" then you rest your hand on Kakashi's shoulder and stand beside him. Kakashi looked confused.

"Instead of protecting me, how about we fight together?" You said while smiling and taking out the Katana. You faced Madara and the men in front of you while holding your new weapon. Kakashi sighed but then chuckled as he looked at the enemies before him. Jiraiya smirked as Yamato got ready to perform a jutsu.

"Alright, we'll take you on together."

A/N: hey everyone! Sorry I've taken long to write this. I've had a stressful month but finally my anxiety has been lifted! I've been awarded a full scholarship to the college of my dreams!!! Everything has been starting to look up for me. Thank you for supporting me this far into the book! More chapters to come!!!