Somewhere a portal opened and a haggard-looking Shika came out, he came as soon as possible since he saw one of the emergency scrolls burning.
Though there are many ways to communicate in the ninja world, unlike what anime most of the time shows us, there is technology in this world.
However, the technology level isn't high enough, not to mention there is no way to communicate across the nation with technology like Landlines.
For most parts, long-distance communication still relied on physical messages.
In this regard, Shika had to find a way to communicate with his Organisation members which gonna travel to all the places in the Elemental Nations.
To counter this problem, Shika developed a Fuinjutsu scroll, a pair of scrolls in fact. It uses somewhat similar principles to the shadow clones. Upon entering Chakra on one scroll, its partner scroll will receive its chakra.
The Partner scroll was already filled with Chakra up to saturation point, so when that small amount of chakra came to the scroll, it ended up burning the scroll and turning it black.
This was an indication that one of the Organization members needed help.
Shika gave this to every team and put all the partner scrolls in the headquarters.
Now with the help of partner scroll's lingering chakra, he could track down where this extra chakra came from and where the Organization members are.
Upon entering the headquarters with Fuu, he didn't find Karin but saw one of the partner scrolls was burned and the one who asked for help was Suigetsu and Haku.
So he immediately came to the place using his Rinnegan Teleportation.
"No one's here…" Shika muttered with a slight irritation, this was the only problem with the scrolls he created, they only recorded the location where the scrolls were activated and not the members themselves.
Making a hand sign, he put his Curse Energy into play and from his shadow came out a giant grey wolf. This was Divine Dog's Totality form.
"Find Haku and Suigetsu…." Shika ordered, his divine dogs already knowing the scent of the two boys.
The dog started to look around and while that was going on, Shika was pondering on what might have happened to them.
He knew this place, this was a place close to the land of fire northwest border.
"They were going towards the Land Of Earth, so what could have happened? Could it be Konoha Shinobi ?" Shika wondered, a little anxious becuase while the rescue call was sent, Karin wasn't there.
He had no other way to know how long ago the call was sent. So there is a possibility that he is too late.
"I Hope Not…"
"Wauff…" A bark from his giant wolf broke his dilemma, he looked at the wolf who was pointing towards a direction and nodded.
"Good, find them… go," Shika said and then rushed behind the wolf who picked up their scent.
—-
Karin was bored sitting inside the headquarters tapping her fingers against the table. The quiet was suffocating. Everyone else was off to the mission, even that lazy Shika wasn't there, all alone she couldn't help but trash around and pout but there was no one to see her poor self.
So, she did what probably makes any girl of any race and age happy, she grabbed her bag and decided to head to the nearest town. "A little shopping should help pass the time," she said to herself and smile bigger than Saskura's forehead on her face.
She browsed stalls, tried out some accessories, and even bought snacks from the vendors. Shika threatened her about cutting short her pocket money if she used the Organisation's funds for shopping again, meaning this time the fund in her hand was very carefully managed, part of the reason because this was her own money she was burning.
Soon, her bag was overflowing with items—clothes, Cosmetics, herbs for healing, and other trinkets. It was fun, and for once, she felt normal, like any other person just enjoying their day.
But her cheerful mood didn't last long.
As she paid for a new pair of shoes, she noticed a group of shady men eyeing her.
She was the weakest in terms of power in the organization, she started her training very late and didn't have much talent in shinobi arts.
So, Shika mainly focused on teaching her things which she could do easily, namely healing, and long-range Ninjutsu due to her large Chakra due to her being a Uzumaki.
And then there is of course her inherented abilities like Chkara Chains and Mind's Eye Of Kagura.
This all was already quite too much for Poor Karin but in the end, what didn't kill her made her stronger. So she wasn't worried as she saw those goons eyeing her.
They whispered among themselves, their gazes fixed on her bags.
She decided to walk away casually, hoping it wouldn't come down to fighting, though she was no longer what she used to be, but still, she rather not fight on their turf, it could bring attention from the authorities to Yuguure.
But no such luck. The men followed her into a quieter street, cornering her near an alley.
"Hey there, miss," one of them said, smirking. "You seem to have a lot of nice things. Why don't you share some with us?"
If only the mob knew that he was talking with an Kunoichi then he wouldn't have said this.
Karin frowned, adjusting her glasses. "Seems like the fight is inevitable," she sighed.
Karin's chakra flared as she prepared to fight. She wasn't weak, and she could handle herself.
But just as the first thug lunged at her, a shadow darted between them. In an instant, the man was sent flying into the wall, unconscious.
Karin blinked in surprise as Shika stepped forward, his expression even more lazy and sleepy than she remembered.
"I'll say this once, get lost, I'm not having a very bad day, you don't wanna make it worse…" Shika just glared at them and his killing intent rushed out, stumbling all the thugs.
They saw Shika's dark eyes turn red like he was some sort of devil and shadows around the flickering, she could see something in the shadow, something scary which was looking right back at them.
One after a little froze from all of them, they all started to run in the opposite direction, scared out of their wits.
Karin stared at him, wide-eyed. "Woh, you look like when that Sugar Mommy of Yours kept you locked in the Hospital."
A twitch appeared on Shika's face, she was talking about Tsunade alright, and yeah, he was so tired that he can't remember when he was this exhausted outside working for that Legendary Sucker…
"Troublesome, what are you doing here, if you were going out then why didn't you leave behind a clone ?" Shika complained as soon as he came.
Actually, he was only a Clone, the real Shika had to go after Suigetsu and Haku, so he created two clones, one was left behind to look after Fuu while the other was to find Karin.
"Oh, I-I didn't…" Karin paused suddenly remembering that she indeed didn't leave a clone behind.
And now seeing Shika glaring at her, a bad feeling started to form in her gut…
—-
In the dimly lit Akatsuki base sat Pain, his Rinnegan in full display while there was no expression on his face.
Suddenly, White Zetsu emerged from the shadows of the room, his voice breaking the stillness. "Pain, we have a little problem."
Pain turned his gaze toward Zetsu, his expression still uncaring. "Speak."
It felt like his entire day was spent just solving the problems of Akatsuki nowadays.
White Zetsu hesitated for a moment before continuing. "I lost contact with Kakuzu and Hidan. I've been trying to locate them, but it's like they've vanished. Not a trace of their chakra anywhere."
Pain's eyes narrowed slightly, but his voice remained calm. "Vanished? That's unlikely. Kakuzu and Hidan are not easy to deal with. They must have encountered something—or someone—did any of the hidden Village take action ?"
White Zetsu Shook his head. "I've searched the areas they were last reported in, there is a sign of fighting there but no clue where they could be. The entire area was blasted like one of Deidara's works. As for hidden villages, none have recently made any moves."
Pain's gaze grew more intense. "Troubling. Weren't they supposed to be in the land of Hot Waters? What possible cause this, or that they…." Pain muttered to himself, especially that last part.
"What should we do?" Zetsu asked.
Pain leaned back slightly, his voice resolute. "Keep looking for them, also look into both Konoha's and Kiri's movements. Those are the most likely suspects..." as Land of Hot Waters were between Both Land of Fire and Land of Thunder.
White Zetsu nodded and began to fade back into the shadows.
"Konnan," he thought to something and then called out.
A blue-haired angel who was standing just behind him got a little closer, like saying she was there, listening to him.
"Put someone after the two tails if Hidan and Kakuzu are not found in few days… the mission shouldn't be disturbed no matter what…" He said with a cold tone.
"Understood…"
xxx
[Word Count: 1562]
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