Another Perfect Wonder

 

Kakashi’s mission was relatively simple compared to some of the others he’d taken on recently– investigate rumors of an alliance between Snow and Lightning Country.  The only foreseeable problem was his mission was commissioned by Princess Yukie.  After returning to her rightful position on the throne there had been a few rebellions and threats from those loyal to her uncle but most of those had been resolved until rumors of an alliance between one of her cousins and Kumogakure began to surface.

 

Sneaking into Snow Country was easy for someone of Kakashi’s caliber.  It didn’t take long for him to realize the cause of Yukie’s concerns. For every 20 Snow ninja he noticed he noticed at least 3 Cloud ninja.  The last time he’d been to Snow there had been very few Snow ninjas and none from Lightning Country.  It was a well known fact that the Raikage didn’t believe in alliances or true peace treaties. Like most older and battle worn shinobi he believed that documents declaring peace were a formal time out so all the parties involved could plan and prepare for the next battle.   It would be interesting to find out if so many of his shinobi were in a neighboring country with his permission or if there was some a deeper plot to take over both countries.

 

In the three days Kakashi skulked about the area he was able to learn that there was a plot to overthrow Princess Yukie so the “true” leader could ascend to his “rightful” position and which city was being used as their headquarters.  However careless and inexperienced they were, the Snow Ninja were careful not to mention the name of the person behind the rebellion.

 

For the most part Kakashi avoided their well trained Cloud counterparts.  It was relatively easy to follow a group of the poorly trained Snow Ninja to the building being used as their fortress. He spent the better part of the next day searching for a way inside the heavily guarded fortress before finally summoning Pakkun and Bisuke to locate an entrance. It only took ten minutes for the kind hearted Snow ninja who knew nothing about animal summons to invite the poor abandoned strays into the building.  After two days of roaming the building they were able to report floor schematics, number of occupied beds, and weak spots in seals guarding the building.  

 

Years on the battlefield had created a bond between master and ninken so after verifying the initial reports from his dogs Kakashi didn’t bother to take the time to second guess each and every bit of information his summons had given him. If he did he would have noticed the secondary air elemental seal beneath the primary water seal had been changed since his ninken were last in the building. After breaking the initial seals and setting off the silent alarm Kakashi slipped seemingly unnoticed into the building.  He moved fast searching each of the rooms and finding evidence of several different shinobi but no real incriminating evidence.  He had almost finished the long hallway when ten Snow shinobi appeared.  After twenty years on the battlefield Kakashi was able to quickly assess his enemy.  They were low level chuunin at the highest; not to be taken lightly but nothing he couldn’t defeat easily.  He defeated two of them quickly carefully listening for any mention of reinforcements. He defeated another three more before succumbing to the enemy. 

 

Kakashi woke up an hour later from his feigned unconsciousness delighted to see that he had not overestimated his enemy. He was chained to a wall by his wrist without any chakra suppressors or finger restraints.  Their half-assed search had even left a small arsenal on his person. He immediately formed a clone and used a replacement jutsu to free himself.  He quickly searched the wing he was being held in and copied every document and piece of information he heard onto a scroll and sent it to his ninken’s dimension.  He wasn’t planning on staying long, but he had no where to hid anything while pretending to be the good captive.  He repeated the process several times and managed to search the entire facility underneath his guard’s noses within the first two days of his captivity.  

 

Kakashi was repeating process for the final time when he felt two strong chakra signatures approaching.  The Cloud ninja had returned. This time instead of freeing himself and trading places with his clone he made it teleport to a pre-selected part of the building. The Snow shinobi were not only clueless and but also very hospitable so he had plenty of energy to maintain it. They fed Kakashi two small meals a day and they didn’t notice their captive was extremely healthy or that extra food was missing from their well stocked kitchen. 

 

Unlike his current captors, the new additions were more experienced and less forgiving.  Moments after her arrival a smiling woman with clear purple eyes, whom was possibly her country’s equivalent to Morino Ibiki, ordered that Kakashi be stripped to his mask and underwear.  Only a master of torture would undress an enemy and leave just enough clothing to maintain their sense of self and dignity – a tactic that made their later removal more demoralizing and cruel. These ninja also had the good sense to use chakra restraints and throw him into an unheated, leaky underground cell. Kakashi listened intently as the Cloud Ninjas loudly berated the other shinobi for their carelessness and improperly securing a prisoner. He almost laughed in disbelief at the simple minded shinobi when they lied and said he was captured a few hours ago trying to sneak into the building under the cover of night.  They had just provided the perfect alibi and reason not to make new plans since their old ones had been discovered. 

 

Kakashi’s glee ended when the Cloud shinobi returned and began the first of what would become many torture sessions.  He held out a full day before the control on his clone began to weaken.  He knew the Cloud ninja had brought back important information, but so far the clone’s movements had been restricted by his own weakness. 

 

“Think, Kakashi, think.” The man groaned looking around the cold stone cell for something he could use.  He was no closer to formulating a plan several hours later when a group of shinobi dragged him out of his cell for another session of what seemed to be their favorite pastime – which one could make the great Copy-nin scream like a little girl.

 

“Shit” Kakashi cursed internally. He’d had the answer all along. Everyone in the compound came to his torture sessions. All he had to do was hold on to his concentration long enough to instruct the clone to hide some food and the chakra pills from his jounin vest in his cell. All ten of his fingers and left arm was broken so they didn’t even bother with the wrist cuffs anymore. He could always re-summon the clone to release him after he’d regained his strength.  It was such a simple idea he couldn’t believe he didn’t think of it sooner. Everyone in the camp had taken several goes at him so he knew what method they liked to use all he had to do was hold out long enough for the clone to at least drop off the food.

 

“A little bit longer, a little bit longer, a little bit longer.” Kakashi repeated that mantra over and over as the kicks, blows, kunai, shuriken, as well as various low level ninjutsu and genjustu were thrown at him.  He could feel the tug on his waning chakra grow more difficult to maintain with each injury.  The clone was now making it down the hallway to his cell.  “Just a little more, please a little more.”

 

Kakashi didn’t realize he’d said the last part out loud until a large shinobi laughed at him “You want more eh?  I’ll be more than happy to give it to you.”

 

Kakashi saw the ridges of a thick soled boot on possibly the largest foot he had ever seen. He heard bones cracking and felt a warm gush on his face as a blood curling scream rent the air. He passed out on the verge of realizing the ragged voice belonged to him.

 

“Idiot, why didn’t you aim for the other side. I had high hopes for that Sharingan!” 

 

Kakashi woke up covered in blood in the cold dark cell.  He didn’t know how long he’d been there only that the rats had eaten most of food the clone had left behind the door.  He half crawled, half dragged himself to the corner and finished everything left by the rodents.  He lay there for what seemed like an eternity forcing the food to remain on his stomach before dragging himself to lay beneath the leak in the ceiling.  He passed out again after making it where the cool water could drip on his abused face.