Caught in the Darkness

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE: The Perfect Hiding Spot

Kakashi lay in his bed, reading his book while casually letting out some soft chuckles at some funny passages he read. A sudden knock in his window made him immediately snap his book shut and look at the glass with tired eyes. "Who is it?" The Jounin stood up. The moment he saw Hayabusa knocking furiously on the window with his beak, he became concerned.

He opened the window, and Hayabusa flew inside, resting over the table. "Hayabusa? Something wrong?" Kakashi asked.

"Do you happen to know where Hanako is?" he demanded furiously. "She should've come back hours ago, but there's no trace of her."

"You're a falcon, didn't you look for her?" The Jounin raised an eyebrow. "You know, with your majestic predator eyes?"

"Would I have come to you if I hadn't?!" the bird snapped, flapping his wings furiously, causing a wind barrage to almost knock Kakashi off.

"Okay, you're angry, I get it. No more jokes." Kakashi lifted up his hands in defeat. "Calm down, before you make a mess."

"Tch...You Konoha Jounin are stressful, always taking everything so calmly..." commented the bird, looking at Kakashi with faint disgust.

"If you don't think with a cold mind, you are more likely to make mistakes." Kakashi sat down on his bed, his eyes never leaving Hayabusa's. "So, Hanako didn't come back, and you already checked the village. And she's not here," the Jounin sighed tiredly. "The problem is: outside the village she could be practically anywhere. It will be impossible to find her, she'll come back eventually."

The falcon tapped the table with one of his claws. "Not if I connect my sight to hers, then we get to know where she is and what she's doing." Kakashi looked at him with keen interest. "There are traces of Hanako's Sharingan powers been used on me somewhere deep inside my mind. If you use your Sharingan to reactivate those traces, I can see what she's seeing. It's a jutsu she placed on me in case she got captured and taken hostage, but only staring into someone else's Sharingan will activate it," explained Hayabusa.

"I see, let's give it a try then," Kakashi lifted up his headband to reveal his red Sharingan. The tomoes around its pupil started to spin around when he stared into Hayabusa's bird eyes.

* * *

"I think it was this way..." Hanako walked silently, the fire around her body had gathered into a single big sphere that guided the way, illuminating everything in its path. Zetsu tailed closely behind her, his black half wasn't with him, but the Uchiha knew that Kuro had to be close. The girl stopped in front of a dead end. Her Sharingan morphed into the Mangekyou and her lips tilted up into a smirk when she could make out the Uchiha stone at the other side. She walked through the illusory wall into the Uchiha's secret meeting room, Zetsu behind her.

"This is..." Zetsu looked around the numerous Uchiha symbols marked on every wall. Hanako concentrated her chakra and fire lit up on both torches beside the stone.

"It's been five years since I was last here," said the Uchiha, focusing her Mangekyou over the unreadable Kanji. "Funny how it hasn't changed even though no one is taking care of it."

"It's because no one comes down here," Zetsu muttered. "Hanako-neechan you should lower your chakra, they mind find us and--"

"You worry too much," Hanako looked sideways at the humanoid figure. "These grounds are off the village's territory, meaning the barrier isn't that focused in this point. When the Clan was still here, it was different since the ANBU observed us at all times, and they focused specifically on us. Now that the Uchiha is gone, they don't have a reason to watch out for this area anymore." Hanako turned to look at the back, a figure was there standing under the shadows coverage. Zetsu narrowed his eyes at the new presence. "Making it the perfect hiding place."