Shisui crashed through the brush but did not stop moving despite the branches scratching at his bandaged wounds. Kakashi, ignoring his own wounds, had not even waited for him to tend to his cut before charging after the ninjas that had taken Rin, but that gave Shisui the chance to send a message back to Akari. He did not know how his sensei knew that she would be targeted, but now that she had, he refused to let down his teammates and his teacher.
The trio had been in the field, rushing north to assist Outpost Two, when nine Mist shinobi ambushed them. Three of them were jonin, completely outclassing the young group, yet their focus was solely on Rin. Two jonin, each with support from a pair of genins, drove Shisui and Kakashi apart while the remaining Mist ninjas rushed Rin. Although she tried to fight back, she simply had no chance and was knocked out and carried away before either of them could break free from their opponents.
Shisui managed to kill his opponents first, pushing his Ghosts jutsu to its absolute limits and creating four Phantom Realm clones. Even then, the Mist jonin that he was fighting managed to land a water jutsu on his thigh which cut deeply. Once his opponents were killed, Shisui distracted the jonin that Kakashi was fighting, allowing him to land a Chidori on the ninja's chest.
Kakashi did not even bother with saying thanks and summoned his ninken to track Rin. Shisui tried to have him wait long enough to bandage his leg, but he took off anyways, telling the boy to catch up when he could. The usual calm and analytical Kakashi was nowhere to be found while Rin was in danger.
Thankfully, Shisui had dedicated himself to all of Akari's training over the last year, especially the speed and stamina drills. Even with Kakashi's head start and his injured leg, he was able to catch up and stay close to Kakashi as they sprinted at full speed. He took a soldier pill, noting his chakra was below half, but there was little he could do about the blood seeping through the bandages with how hard he had to push himself to keep up.
As they dashed through a clearing, a faint shimmer between the branches of the trees ahead made Shisui activate his Sharingan. A web of metal wires practically glowed to his two tomoe eyes, but he knew that would not stop Kakashi, so he activated his Ghosts. The first formed directly behind Kakashi and yanked him backwards by the collar as the second one formed ahead of Kakashi and leapt directly into the razor wire. The wires passed harmlessly through the clone's body until it was in the perfect position, and he switched places with it, slashing through multiple wires with his tanto and throwing a handful of shurikens with his other hand. In the next instant, his real body switched again with his Ghost clone right before a number of explosive tags detonated, hidden within the trees.
"Lucky brats," a voice complained with a click of his tongue.
"Hee hee... Two little Uchiha running through the forest," a singsong voice giggled as mist rolled in with the smoke from the trap. "Wait... one eye, white hair? Are you some kind of bastard?"
Kakashi had stood up and drawn the White Fang, breathing hard. Shisui stood with his back to Kakashi and tanto in front of him defensively as he scanned the trees. Questions swirled in his mind, but it was also moments like that Akari had drilled into were dangerous, so he focused on the mission ahead of him and pushed the other thoughts aside. Rin was in danger, and at least two Mist shinobi were standing between him and her.
A dozen needles shot straight at Kakashi from one of the trees, but he deflected them with his sword, relying on his own Two Tomoe Sharingan. At the same time, five shurikens flew out of the mist, heading for Shisui, which he knocked away with ease. An ANBU-style masked man sprang out of the fog, swinging a cutlass for Kakashi, while a second thrust a long rapier aimed at Shisui's heart. Both boys deflected with their weapons, but while Kakashi's arms were left tingling from the clash of swords, the rapier stabbing towards Shisui twisted unnaturally as it chased its target.
"Hozuki clan!" Shisui exclaimed with recognition, causing his opponent to tilt his head towards his face.
"Impressive, but too late," the ninja said, stabbing through Shisui's heart... or so he thought.
The moment that the ninja looked into Shisui's eyes, he was pulled into a minor genjutsu, allowing Shisui to escape the attack and trick his opponent into thinking he was dead. Instead of wasting his attack by aiming for a kill shot, Shisui chopped his tanto through his opponent's wrist and caught the rapier as his hand liquified, then retreated to the side. The Mist ninja growled with anger as he threw himself at Shisui, but he passed through his body as three Shisuis appeared, one carrying a tanto, another holding the rapier, and the last empty-handed and forming hand signs.
Despite being surrounded by Shisui's Ghosts, the Mist ninja did not panic and flashed through a series of hand signs at the same time. A blade of water formed in the hand of the Mist ninja a moment before the rapier and tanto crackled with electricity. Neither blade was made of chakra-metal, so using the jutsu on them was steadily destroying them, but it was his only way to counter the Hozuki clan's Hydration technique since he was not good at Lightning Release.
The Hozuki clicked his tongue with annoyance and dragged his water sword before swinging it at one of the Shisui. The attack passed through the empty-handed clone harmlessly as the other two stabbed their swords towards the Hozuki. Twisting and thinning his torso unnaturally, the Mist ninja escaped the electrified blades and continued his swing to cut through a second of the Ghosts while kicking the other holding a weapon. The swords vanished from the hands of the Ghosts being attacked, appearing in the first Shisui's hands, as he lunged at the Hozuki's back. The swords pierced through his back, shocking his body, but underneath the mask, the Hozuki smiled.
"Got you, little Ghost."
The water blade in his hand changed with a hand sign, extending backwards from the handle and shooting towards Shisui's head. Time seemed to slow in Shisui's eyes as his Sharingan tracked the jet of water, and he kicked off, twisting and trying to dodge the strike. The Hozuki's foot and water sword were still in the other clones, so there was nowhere else for Shisui to go... or so he thought.
A fourth Ghost formed above the Hozuki's head, and the swords transferred with Shisui as he switched places. He slammed the blades down through the Hozuki's shoulders, but it was too much for the weapons, and they exploded halfway buried in the Mist ninja's chest, releasing sparks of electricity, shards of metal, and a shower of bloody mist. Shisui dropped to the ground, his Ghosts dispelling, with cuts and tiny pieces of metal embedded in his hands while the Hozuki dropped to his knees, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
Kakashi was not idle while Shisui was fighting. After the initial clash of cutlass versus sword, he stumbled a few steps to the side with his arms tingling, yet Kakashi kicked off the ground, charging at his opponent with silent fury. He understood that he could not physically overpower his opponent, so he focused on speed and using his Sharingan to find an opening.
He cut high, dashed around to the left as he slashed, then stabbed low. Kakashi tried striking numerous times, but once his Sharingan warned him that the Mist ninja would intercept, he moved onto another strike. The Mist ninja kept his guard up, ready to deflect the blow that never seemed to come, so he drew a handful of senbon needles and threw them at Kakashi.
Kakashi deflected most of the needles, but one slipped past him on his right side, which the Mist ninja took notice of. Switching the hand holding the cutlass, the Mist ninja zeroed in on the weakness of Kakashi's normal eye as he repeatedly attacked from his right side. Kakashi was forced onto the defensive, blocking the cutlass with his own sword by the thinnest margins, as he backpedaled.
There was a moment that Kakashi's back bumped against the trunk of a tree, and then the next, he was ducking and twisting out the path of the blade. Unfortunately, it was exactly how the Mist ninja expected and threw another handful of needles directly into the teenager's path of retreat. Kakashi managed to angle the White Fang to block several of the needles, but a couple still made it past and pierced his right thigh.
As Kakashi planted his right foot, ready to kick off the ground and retreat more, his knee gave out, causing him to stumble backwards. The Mist ninja pressed his advantage and swung the cutlass down at Kakashi with an overhead chop. Kakashi used the flat of his sword to block the strike, one hand on the handle while the other pushed under the other flat side, but he was still slammed hard into the ground, knocking the wind out of his lungs.
Kakashi kicked out with both legs or tried to as only his left responded and stomped the knee of the Mist ninja; his right was already being to go numb, so he realized that the needles had been poisoned. The Mist ninja groaned from the impact as his knee buckled, but he angled his fall so that knelt directly onto Kakashi's left leg, pinning it painfully under him, and he pushed his full weight onto the cutlass. The flat of the White Fang was pressed against Kakshi's chest and was the only thing keeping the Mist ninja's sword from cutting him in half.
When the Mist raised a kunai while keeping Kakashi pinned, the teenager thought he was about to die. He struggled fruitlessly to escape the hold as thoughts of Rin and Obito entered his mind. As the kunai came down, he silently prayed for forgiveness for failing his teammates... yet the blow he was expecting never came.
A green and blue blur shot through the clearing and struck the Mist ninja in an upwards trajectory, launching him into the sky. The blur was even faster and seemed to materialize above just long enough to slap the ninja back down to the ground, forming a crater with the Mist ninja's body. A man in a green jumpsuit simply appeared and stomped down on the neck of the ninja, ending his suffering almost instantly.
At the same moment the two swords exploded with a shower of sparks, Duy turned around as the blue chakra glow around him faded to face Kakashi, who was still laying on the ground, and gave him a thumbs up with a smile and he said, "Team Kurenai reinforcements have arrived."
For a moment, Kakashi was too shell shocked from thinking he was going to die to suddenly surviving. He just sat up slowly, touching the cut through his shirt, and found traces of blood on his fingers when I moved his hand away from the small wound. Even his father's sword had not escaped unscathed, and a thin scratch from where the cutlass had pressed.
"Sensei sent you instead of coming?" Shisui asked with a hint of surprise.
"Oh, Shisui... you're injured! Let me take you to Kurenai-san!" Duy immediately offered once he turned his head to look at Shisui.
A hawk cried from above their heads as it swooped down to land in a nearby tree. A moment later, Kurenai, Asuma, and Guy rushed through the brush and into the clearing.
"Good, Kurenai-san has already arrived," he remarked, giving another dazzling smile and thumbs up.
Kurenai glanced over Kakashi and Shisui, sizing up their injuries with a practiced eye, then chose to hurry over to Shisui's side as she pulled a scroll from her belt pouch. Kneeling beside him, she opened the scroll and laid it out before channeling her chakra. An advanced medkit appeared in a small poof of smoke, and she quickly pulled out a pair of tweezers and disinfectant from the pack.
"Why did sensei send you?" Shisui asked with his brows furrowed, wondering how bad things must be if she did not come personally.
"I don't know for sure, but Northern Outpost Two was under heavy assault before I turned my hawk to scout for you two," Kurenai replied as she removed the slivers of metal from his hands. "She's probably too busy... trying to save everyone else. What's going on? Where's Rin? Our orders were simply to assist your team and the direction to find you."
"The Mist... We were ambushed on our way to Outpost Two, and they took her," he answered.
"'Took' her?" she repeated, pausing momentarily due to the surprise and confusion.
The Mist were not known for taking prisoners and, if they did, it would not be for a civilian born ninja when an Uchiha and another boy with a Sharingan were on the team. Before she could ask any more questions, the other boys started arguing, drawing her attention.
"Kakashi, stop!" Asuma said, standing in front of him.
"I've got to find her!" Kakashi growled, despite nearly dragging his right leg.
"Even the flames of youth can burn too hot," Duy said as he placed a hand on Kakashi's shoulder. "Everyone needs to rest sometimes."
"She's my responsibility!"
"You can barely walk! Let Kurenai treat you; we're here to help, idiot," Asuma shot back.
"Bring him over here. I'll be done with Shisui soon," Kurenai yelled over her shoulder. "Guy, Asuma, watch the perimeter."
She poured the disinfectant onto Shisui's hand with no warning, making the boy take a quick breath. Placing the bottle aside, she pulled out a fresh roll of bandages and began wrapping his wounds. Duy guided Kakashi over to the pair on the ground and pressed down on his shoulder before Kakashi finally sat down.
When she finished with Shisui, Kurenai turned to Kakashi as she assessed his injuries and she asked, "Is your leg burning or numb?"
"Numb," he sighed.
Kurenai reached into her medkit and took out two small bottles then poured two of one and a single of the other. "Soldier pills," she explained, passing the duplicate to Shisui and the other two to Kakashi, "and that extra one will help neutralize the paralytic. Duy, can you carry him?"
"Of course, Kurenai-san!" Duy replied enthusiastically, giving Kakashi just enough time to swallow the pills before hoisting him onto his back.
Kurenai activated her Mystic Palm jutsu and placed her hands over Shisui's as she asked, "Do you want Guy to carry you? You shouldn't slow him down too much."
"I can still run, Kurenai-senpai," Shisui answered stubbornly.
"And still be able to fight?" she pressed, moving down to treat his injured leg. When Shisui did not respond and simply looked down at the ground, she called, "Guy, come carry Shisui."
"Yosh!" Guy shouted as he sprinted over then helped Shisui onto his back.
Standing up with a sigh, Kurenai looked up at the afternoon sky and realized that they only had another two hours of sunlight. "At least with us near the coast, there will be more chances for my hawk to spot them. We'll have to hope they don't have a boat already waiting or Akari-sensei can make time to help us."
A/N: I'm releasing chapters as I finish them, so leave me comments for author fuel lol jk I'm still in debt for disappearing for so long 🤣