Sign of Change

AN: Thank you for your response to the previous chapter!

Happy Reading!

NOTES: Anbu Code Names

Inu (Dog) – Kakashi

Neko (Cat) – Uzuki Yugao

Kuma (Bear) – Tenzou/ Yamato

Dragon – Uzumaki Arashi/ Commander

UNEDITED

Prelude V

4 years ago, KMPF

Uchiha Ishara glanced up at the clock on the wall in front of her, it was past 01.30 that afternoon which meant that it was time for lunch and no cases would be taken for an hour. Ishara had to file in a few more things which she decided to finish while one by one most of the shinobi on duty left for lunch. She had been offered a full time job at the KMPF as a receptionist after the internship she had taken up after a serious injury.

Fifteen minutes later she was almost done with her work and everyone had left except Fugaku, who was holed up in his office. Ishara was about to open her lunch box when the door opened; she looked up surprisingly at Uchiha Mikoto. Mikoto was out shopping given the numerous bags in her hands so Ishara got up to help her put the bags on her desk.

"How are you settling in Ishara-chan?" Mikoto asked politely, it seemed forced.

"I am doing fine, Mikoto-obasama." Ishara answered flustered. "How have you been? And Sasuke-kun?"

"Sasuke-chan saw Touma-kun outside and tagged along to have lunch with him." Mikoto explained absently. Ishara noticed that she hadn't answered the first part.

"Are you here for Fugaku-sama?" Ishara enquired. "He is in his office." With a determined stance, Mikoto walked to the adjacent room.

Ishara was concerned about her aunt but she didn't want to pry. She had her lunch and put the boxes away when she heard Fugaku shouting from inside his office.

"Absolutely not, Mikoto and that's final!" Fugaku ordered.

"But it's my best friend's son." Mikoto argued. "Kushina would never abandon any of my children. Please, I know you respected Minato."

"Mikoto he's…" Fugaku didn't get to finish his sentence.

"He's the Yondaime's legacy. Yet he's living like an urchin with no one to love him!" Mikoto cried.

Ishara, for once, wasn't guilty of breaking the rules. She didn't have time to think about the wrongs of eavesdropping as she was too shocked. She wasn't aware Kushina had had a son. The red headed Uzumaki had died when Ishara was ten. Ishara had been a genin when the Kyuubi had attacked Konoha. That devastating attack had claimed the lives of many including the Yondaime and Kushina.

Ishara had seen less and less of Kushina as time passed. A year or so before Kushina's death, Minato could be seen making ramen runs at various times even at night. The few times Ishara had seen the young Hokage, he had claimed that Kushina wasn't feeling too well or that Kushina had a surprise in store. Minato had sheepishly avoided Ishara's questions about her health and changed the subject.

Ishara was brought out of her thoughts as Mikoto pleaded softly. "Let us adopt Naruto. He was kicked out of the orphanage yesterday. He was out in the market asking for food as he had no money. No one offered him anything."

"Mikoto!" Fugaku said helplessly. "I have no ill will towards the child. I need to think about the clan as well. Even if the clan agrees, the damn Council will never allow it." Mikoto sniffled. "Try to understand. The whole clan is under scrutiny. Tensions are at an all-time high, I'm trying to prevent a rebellion here."

"Kushina-" Mikoto started.

"It does not matter!" Fugaku interrupted. "This discussion is closed. Think about our kids and the clan. Stay away from the boy, he's already got a bad reputation."

Mikoto opened the door and Ishara schooled her features to hide her emotions. Mikoto wasn't trying, she had tears streaming down her face.

"Mikoto-obasama-" Ishara was startled as Mikoto put her arms around her crying. Ishara patted her aunt's back like one do to a child.

"Promise me that you'll take care of Sasuke and Itachi if something happens to me and Fugaku!" Mikoto sobbed. Ishara reassured her multiple times, holding her till she calmed down.

Present

Orochimaru's abandoned underground lab

The first thing Ishara subconsciously noticed was that she couldn't sense anything. She felt like she was in that state between being half asleep and half awake. She knew she had to wake up but she couldn't. Her whole body felt like lead, she wasn't sure whether or not she was even breathing. She did her best to shake herself awake but her body wasn't under her control. There was no movement.

"Ah, looks like our experiment is awake already." A sinister voice observed. "She's probably struggling, the poor thing."

"Hm, I was informed that it would tranquilize her for another day." Another cold voice informed. "I will get another dose then."

"Wait, Danzo." The first voice continued. "Do not give her any more substances which will interfere with her blood or DNA samples. I need to test things first."

Ishara felt more awake as she tried to make sense of what had happened. She remembered that she had had ramen with Naruto and Sasuke while Sasuke had a dramatic meltdown and she had reached home. She had reached home and that was all she could recall.

Danzo. She was familiar with Shimura Danzo through reputation only. She had obviously been kidnapped for some unknown reason. Shisui's letter had also-

"What do you suggest then, Orochimaru?" Danzo retorted. "I strongly advise you to never underestimate an Uchiha. You must know exactly why after your encounter with Itachi."

"I shall place paralysing seals on her. Numbing seals and chakra suppressors as well." Orochimaru assured his accomplice. "Those will not intervene with my experiments."

Ishara felt her blood turn cold. Well technically she couldn't feel anything still. She only had to rely on her ears and gather intel. Her eyes were tightly bound; any smart ninja would take away an Uchiha's eyes. For all she knew, her eyes were gouged out along with whatever Orochimaru planned on doing with her.

There was no way she had any hope of fighting against a Sannin and an S-ranked war survivor on par with the Hokage. She would be hyperventilating if she could. Even if someone did rescue her, which was highly unlikely, she wasn't even sure how long she was gone.

Danzo hadn't mentioned how long it had been, just that she was supposed to be tranquilised for another day. Ishara wondered how Sasuke was doing in order to distract her from going insane. She was trained in handling torture and pain but there was no manual on what to do in this situation.

"You know, I'm glad I did not kill those three orphans from Amegakure all those years ago." Orochimaru mused. "Who knew they would do such wonderful things despite being that perverted fool's disciples?"

"Hm, I was not aware they had survived. I believed Hanzo had eliminated those pests." Danzo remarked slightly surprised.

Against her will, Ishara found herself drifting off as the voices faded. The Uchiha spent her day in captivity by being conscious on and off. She could barely make sense of what was being said. Had given up hope of ever being rescued as time didn't make sense. Her will to live was slowly ebbing as she couldn't feel anything. She felt like a blind ghost who was trapped in a corpse.

In the back of her mind, she heard crows cawing mercilessly.

Kakashi's POV

Kakashi had promptly gathered his team at the Uchiha district after his conversation with the Hokage. The last time he was there, the place was littered with dead bodies and blood. He sorely missed the days when the team was spying on the bustling district. As though the entire team was thinking the same thing, Uzuki Yugao spoke up,

"I wish we still ran surveillance on the District. We could've prevented this." The team concurred.

"We did not think it would be necessary. With Itachi's defection, everyone thought that the threat was over." Shinji Nezumo said while looking for clues.

"Actually, Hokage-sama called it off." Kakashi corrected and signaled everyone to give him space. He summoned his Ninken to help with the tracking. His team was fairly familiar and on good terms with his dogs.

"Yo, what's up, Kakashi?" Pakkun greeted perched on Bull's head.

Bisuke, the youngest and the most playful of his pack, sniffed the air a couple of times and ran inside. As his dogs were almost always obedient, Kakashi and his pack followed Bisuke inside. Bisuke was jumping around the bed in what appeared to be Ishara's room.

"Kakashi I know this human!" Bisuke barked happily. "She was the one to get me out of the water that one time you sent me on the dangerous mission of delivering that very important document to Hokage-sama. Y'know that time, when Pakkun was injured?"

"You dummy! Kakashi has called us for a mission, act professional. All of you." Pakkun chastised all the dogs haughtily.

"That's the mission." Kakashi spoke, ignoring his Anbu team's amusement. "The human-" Someone snorted, "Uchiha Ishara, the one who lives here, is missing. We need to track her. She's probably still in the village as there is no evidence of her leaving."

"All of us got the scent, boss." Pakkun swiftly reached the front door. "The smell's fresh here. But it disappears. She didn't get in and there's another scent here, mixture of herbs." Bisuke ran into one of the bushes on the side and brought a needle in his mouth which Tenzo examined and declared to be a tranquilizer.

Kakashi formed smaller groups with one dog on each team. "Alright, we split up and meet back here every two hours for updates. Scatter."

Hours passed, yet they had made very little progress. They had so far searched every known base of Orochimaru in and around the village. They had also taken to covertly search Root bases that Tenzou knew of but it was no use. Kakashi looked at his haggard team, it always left worse to fail an in-village mission, especially the Anbu as they rarely failed.

Kakashi noticed a flair in his Anbu seal which meant that the Hokage was summoning him. He ordered his team to take a break while he visited the Hokage.

The Hokage had informed him to meet with the Anbu Commander, Dragon. Kakashi reached the Anbu HQ while his team was in the lounge on standby.

"Inu, you seem to be having trouble with your current mission." Dragon remarked, not even looking up from the paperwork he was doing. Kakashi inwardly hoped he never got stuck with the bureaucratic nonsense the upper echelon of the Elemental Countries was busy with, always. "Gather Neko and Kuma, I have the location. I suppose your noisy summons could help too. Summon your best tracking ninken."

"Will you be accompanying us, Commander?" Kakashi enquired. He had managed to keep his surprised unvoiced but wondered why Dragon, who hadn't been out on the field in forever was interested in this.

Kakashi dismissed his team except for Uzuki Yugao and Tenzou as per Dragon's instruction. Both looked visibly bewildered when Kakashi informed them that Dragon was tagging along as well. Uzuki looked like she wanted to ask something but Dragon interrupted them.

"Enough dawdling let us go." Dragon commanded.

Kakashi summoned Pakkun and for some reason Bisuke showed up as well. Kakashi did not want to question it in front of Dragon who was a stickler for discipline and Kakashi did not want his ninken to be labelled unprofessional or undisciplined. His pack was the best.

Dragon led them towards the Eastern border and stopped near a barren field. He seemed to be looking for something when Pakkun barked to get attention running around the ground.

"Boss, I sense some movement underground." Pakkun reported somewhat uncertain. Bisuke ran around too and barked in agreement. Dragon found whatever he was looking for as he snorted in triumph.

"Alright kiddies, this is a faulty 'five seal barrier'. Usually there must be five people on a team to simultaneously disable the four seals while one is on standby to give signals or take care of fail safes." Dragon lectured. "Fortunately for us, this one is incomplete. Amateurs."

"Should we locate the other three seals, sir?" Kakashi asked catching on.

"If you ever come across one done right." Dragon explained. "There are three more seals but they are anchored to this main seal making it weak. We should be fine." Dragon body-flickered thrice too quick to follow and showed them three strips of papers. Kakashi knew that Dragon was an exceptional sensor but the man located the seals like they had neon lights and alarms going off.

"I sense at least three huge chakra signatures below, close to S-rank, along with a faint one." Dragon stated. "We have a third unknown down there hidden from Orochimaru and Danzo. Also, fifteen B to A ranked shinobi who I suspect are the lookouts."

Dragon further elaborated that Tenzou and Dragon would engage the guards while Kakashi and Yugao would attempt to rescue Ishara. If Danzo or Orochimaru tried to escape, Dragon would stop them. The unknown shinobi would need to be watched to determine whose side he was on. With the plan clear, Dragon removed the main seal and the team sprung to action as the base started to rattle akin to an earthquake.

Kakashi and Yugao ran towards the hostage with Pakkun and Bisuke hot on their heels. Tenzou and Dragon fought the lookouts giving them enough time to get away. Kakashi and Yugao stopped at a dead end. Kakashi smelled people beyond the wall which meant that there had to be a hidden part. Kakashi voiced this before using a chidori to break the wall. It barely made a dent. Kakashi and Yugao shared a look of understanding and both used a high powered jutsu giving them just about enough space to go inside.

Kakashi saw Danzo press something while Orochimaru threw a kunai causing the wall and the whole hideout to collapse. The last thing Kakashi saw before being buried under rubble was Danzo and Orochimaru escaping though a tunnel, ironically, and Bisuke running after them even though Pakkun had likely reverse-summoned himself.

Kakashi was experiencing a strange sort of panicked déjà vu as he tried to hold on to something concrete. A panic attack or PTSD, his mind unhelpfully supplied, still struggling to breathe. Before he could go too deep, Tenzou's familiar wooden branches were pulling him upward.

"You alright, Kakashi?" Dragon's voice sounded though his vision was blurry and he could feel his gasping breaths.

"He's alright now. We're safe, Taichou." Yugao assured him as his sight became clearer. The first thing Kakashi noticed was that they were all on Tenzou's wooden surface. An unfamiliar unconscious woman, whom he assumed, was the hostage was clutching Bisuke in her folded arms, Bisuke was unconscious as well. Yugao was on her feet again examining both Ishara and Bisuke , her hands glowing green but neither stirred.

"Your dog is in the same state we found Uchiha Sasuke in, so I believe it's a strong genjutsu cast with a sharingan." Yugao started. "I really can't figure out what's wrong with her. It's like she's a corpse, she barely has a pulse and I can't find anything else." Yugao had taken off the blind fold to examine her eyes which remained open till she closed them. "She's not moving, not even a twitch."

Dragon bent forward, placed his palm on Ishara's head and channelled some chakra. Few paper tags peeled off from her barely clothed body. Her skin looked blue and she gasped for air. Yugao stabilized her with her healing chakra, exhausting herself in the process.

"Inu, take her and your ninken to the Hokage with Tenzou." Dragon ordered. "Neko come with me to the HQ. I will bring my personal medic over and meet with you all there."

Kakashi tried to pry Bisuke from the girl's hands, surprisingly Ishara had a strong grip on him. With a sigh, Kakashi slung her on his uninjured shoulder and made his way back to the Hokage.

"So, what exactly happened after the- y'know." Kakashi asked not really willing to talk about the cave-in.

"The unknown chakra Dragon-sama sensed belonged to a teleporting Uchiha. Danzo-sama and Orochimaru were trying to escape from him for some reason. We didn't figure out what he wanted, he teleported too soon. The whole place collapsed, I chose to save us instead of chasing after them." Tenzou explained tiredly. "I guess this mission was doomed from the start."

"Nah, you saved all our lives, you should be proud." Kakashi advised. "Besides, our mission was to rescue the Uchiha. Capturing the traitors would have been a bonus. You did well."

Tenzou lightly beamed at the prize. Kakashi's mind focused on the rogue Uchiha, he figured it wasn't Itachi, did that mean there was another survivor they had missed?

They gave an oral report to the Hokage and the Anbu medic Dragon had brought examined both the victims. Ishara was admitted to the ICU immediately while Bisuke was just unconscious, he would need some time to wake up on his own. Kakashi's team was given a few hours off to recover, however, they were assigned to guard Ishara as soon as she was released from the Anbu ICU.

Ishara was in observation for a few hours to stabilize her breathing and keep her incubated. She was transferred to the regular hospital before Sasuke returned from the Academy. He had looked at her guiltily and remorseful the whole time, barely argued when the Hokage told him that he would be staying next to Naruto's apartment till Ishara recovered.

Bisuke woke up the next morning in the human world feeling very tired. He had refused to return to his realm wishing to stay by Ishara's side till she woke up to thank her. He was a loyal dog, he argued. He had just given an unimpressed doggie glare when Kakashi attempted to cajole him into leaving by promising that he would summon the ninken after she woke up.

"You always say that 'one shouldn't grow emotionally attached during a mission'. So you'll never see her again." Bisuke had recited Kakashi's words back to him. Kakashi had summoned Pakkun to explain it to him but the pug was so relieved that Bisuke was alright, he gave him permission to stay and had ordered Kakashi to take care of him.

Kakashi's only solace was that none of his teammates were around to witness this scene.

Obito's POV

Orochimaru's defection came as a shock to most in the Akatsuki. Sasori knew that the scientist wasn't loyal to anything except his experiments. Itachi defeating the former leaf ninja was a huge blow to his pride. Orochimaru had taken a Zetsu clone to the latest solo mission assigned to him and had bolted. It had taken two whole days for the Akatsuki to realize that the serpentine Sannin wasn't coming back. The Akatsuki ring acted as a tracker as it was infused with Zetsu's spore allowing Zetsu to find the ring easily.

Zetsu had found Orochimaru's location and had alerted Obito personally. Obito materialised and his once known temper flared. Orochimaru and Danzo experimenting on the girl who had once been his sister. Obito's sister, not Madara's, he corrected. However, there was a little bit of Obito left in him to explode the test tubes of blood the Sannin had taken. Both traitors jumped, startled. He could kill Orochimaru for betraying his organisation as the Sannin didn't exactly have a proper body to jump to. Killing Danzo would be trickier. He needed the warmonger to continue to plant his seeds of dissension.

Obito also knew that he had to kill Ishara. She would be back once the Tsukuyomi was complete. The traitors had been sufficiently aware and decided to abandon everything in favour of escaping. Zetsu wouldn't let that happen. There was rumble and everything started shaking. There was noise from outside. He familiar chirping of birds made Obito see red. His chakra exploded destroying the whole place. Glass shattered, everything caught on fire.

A small creature, Obito recognized as one of Kakashi's dogs came barreling in towards Ishara. He put the dog in a mild genjutsu and placed it in Ishara's arms to keep her warm. She had always liked dogs.

Obito would come for her, he promised. For now, he would let fate decide who would die buried under rubble just like he once did.

AN: Wow this was a pain to write. The next chapter will be a transition chapter. We'll get to the fun stuff after that. This is the end of the introduction phase.

Do let me know what you think. Till next time!