In the present day, in front of a cave, a body jumped at the entrance.
"You are back," a girl said at the entrance.
"I said I would. Yukimi-san, how are you? Any word from Orochimaru?" the boy said.
She let out a slow breath. "No. And I hope I don't have to hear from him again. He did not fulfil the promise he made to our clan."
Kinoe had no answer for that. Instead, he reached into his pouch and drew out a sealed scroll and summoned some things.
"Medical supplies," he said. "Food and water. Let me know if you need anything else."
"Thank you," Yukimi said quietly.
"How is everyone?" Kinoe asked.
"It's getting worse," Yukimi said. "Dad is very ill. And we lost one last week. He just… drifted apart near the cave mouth. There was nothing left to bury. It was—" She paused, her gaze dropping to the ground. "And a part of the cave collapsed last month. I don't think Orochimaru can help us now."
Suddenly Yukimi tensed. Her head snapped toward the tunnel entrance, eyes narrowing.
"Someone stepped into the smoke," she said. "We have an intruder?"
They moved together toward the disturbance, Kinoe in front, Yukimi close behind. A single masked figure stepped from the shadows. The dog-faced ANBU mask turned toward them, silver hair visible above it.
"You were following me," Kinoe said.
The masked figure said nothing.
"You're an ANBU ninja under Lord Hokage," Kinoe said.
"I am looking for Orochimaru." Kakashi asked. "You know where he is?"
Kinoe dropped into a fighting stance. "No, I am also tracking him like you."
It was all the warning either of them needed.
Kinoe made a few hand seals, and the stone floor cracked as wood surged upward, twisting into thick branches that lunged toward Kakashi.
"Wood!!!" Kakashi was surprised.
Kakashi darted sideways, lightning chakra already crackling in his palm. He moved fast, cutting through the first branch with a sharp slash of his lightning-coated hand, then pivoting to sever another.
Then Kakashi closed the distance. Kakashi quickly subdued Kinoe and was on top of him.
"You can't run now," Kakashi said, voice low but firm. "You're coming with me."
Before Kinoe could react, the air around Kakashi thickened. Yukimi's smoke surged from behind, coiling around Kakashi's head and shoulders like a living fog. The smoke pushed into his nose and mouth, cutting off breath entirely.
Kakashi tried to push away but his focus slipped. The lightning in his hand flickered and died.
"Kinoe, are you hurt?" Yukimi called.
Kinoe forced himself to one elbow. "I'm fine. Don't kill him."
"Why not?" Yukimi asked.
"He's ANBU," Kinoe said, pushing himself upright, one hand pressed to his ribs. "If we kill him, the village sends search teams. They'll find this place. Find all of you."
Kinoe paused and continued, "And he's more valuable alive. We need to know what he knows. Who he's told."
Yukimi let the smoke press just a little further. Kakashi's body buckled, his movements weakening, then stilled as consciousness slipped away. She pulled the smoke back and solidified, breathing harder than she let on.
Kinoe forced his hands into seals again, fresh wood coiling from the floor. The branches wrapped around Kakashi's wrists and ankles, lifting him slightly off the ground and suspending him in the air, arms pulled to the sides.
Upon regaining consciousness, Kakashi was tied up. Kinoe stood a few steps away, arms folded. Yukimi crouched closer, watching Kakashi with wary, tired eyes.
Kinoe asked, "How did you find this place and why are you here?"
"I found this place by chance when I was tracking Orochimaru's movements through the region," Kakashi explained. "Your movements intersected his old trail." His gaze shifted between them. "I know you're the one passing messages between Danzo and Orochimaru. What I don't understand is why this clan is tied up in it."
"As per Lord Danzo's order, my mission is to find Orochimaru and deliver him a message," Kinoe replied. "He is being cautious and dodgy. I was tasked to keep in touch with people who might have a connection to him. When he was a leaf shinobi, I came here with him. Now I am trying to find him like you."
"So you are connected to him," Kakashi said.
Kinoe replied, "Orochimaru is too powerful to be stopped without full preparations. The best we can do is keep track of him and know what he is up to. That is the mission Lord Danzo has entrusted to me."
"If that is the case, then release me. I am also ordered to report anything I find to Lord Hokage. Our missions have similar goals. We can work together."
He turned to Yukimi. "If you're not actively working with Orochimaru right now, your past connections don't matter, as all higher-ups in the village also had some connection to him earlier. So help me understand—why are you hiding in this cave? And what was your connection with him?"
Yukimi looked at Kinoe. He nodded.
"You want to know about us?" Yukimi asked quietly. Kakashi nodded and said, "Maybe I can help you too."
Yukimi waited and said, "We can't keep doing this… Keep waiting to disappear."
She turned to Kinoe. "What do you think?"
"I don't know if he can actually help with your problem," Kinoe said. "But Orochimaru is certainly not helping either. This... isn't."
Yukimi looked back at Kakashi, studying his face. She'd learned to read people in the caves—who was fading, who was lying to themselves about being fine. Kakashi looked tired. Guilty. Honest.
"We release him," she said. "We seek his help."
Kinoe nodded slowly.Yukimi no longer cared for Orochimaru so she started telling Kakashi about her clan.
Long before the Hidden Leaf existed, when clans still fought without banners or treaties, the Iburi lived in small scattered settlements across the Land of Fire. One among them discovered a unique ability—he could turn his body into smoke. It terrified him. He told no one, hoping it would vanish on its own. But it didn't.
When wars began to sweep across the land, the clan fled underground, retreating into cave systems to avoid the chaos of the surface world. For years they lived there, escaping conflict. In those caves, away from prying eyes and enemy blades, others began to manifest the same ability. The bloodline had awakened, quietly spreading through the generations. And then the bloodline got out of control in those who later inherited it. At first they were hidden from the wars; later, they hid from the wind itself as people started to turn into smoke to never be seen again.
After three wars and generations of living inside of caves, the caves become the world for them. Till one day a shinobi found them and gave them hope and dreams of freedom. Little did they know he was a snake beneath his human skin.
Kakashi listened without interrupting and then said, "Orochimaru," he asked at last. "What did he promise you?"
"A way to stop fading," Yukimi said. "To make us stable. He took people to study. He said he'd fix what's wrong with us." Her mouth tightened.
For a moment, she saw her brother's face—the way he'd looked back at her before walking out of the cave with Orochimaru. The pale snake Sannin had smiled and promised he'd return stronger, cured. Her brother believed him. He was so sure. He hugged her before he left and told her not to worry.
"That was a year and a half ago." Yukimi's hands clenched. "I'm still waiting."
"He experimented on them," Kakashi said quietly, his tone laden with sorrow and condemnation, highlighting the atrocities committed by Orochimaru.
Yukimi's jaw clenched. "Yes."
"Orochimaru doesn't heal what's broken," Kakashi said. "He pulls it apart to see how it works. Once he's done, there's nothing left to save."
"You say that like you're any different," Yukimi said. "You came here with a blade."
"I came here to stop someone who turns humans into experiments," Kakashi replied. He held her gaze, the tired weight in his eye betraying more than his voice did.
Kakashi was quiet for a moment. The words seemed to cost him something. "You remind me of someone I lost."
Yukimi stared at him, and for a moment the cave fell very quiet. She had seen that look before, in the eyes of her elders after one of their own never reformed from smoke.
Yukimi's shoulders slumped slightly as some of the tension bled out of her. "You don't even know us," she said.
"I know enough," Kakashi replied. "You're hiding. You're hurting. And you reached for help even when you knew it might be a trap. That's enough for me."
The silence stretched out once more.
"So what do you want us to do?" Yukimi asked.
Kakashi hesitated only a moment. "You came to Orochimaru because you were desperate," he said. "But there's another option. Lady Tsunade—one of the Sannin Just like Orochimaru. She's a medical prodigy."
Yukimi's eyes brightened for a moment.
"She's not in the village," Kinoe said flatly. "She never is."
Yukimi's hope dimmed. "Of course not."
"But," Kakashi said, and her head came up. "There's someone else. Ryu Hamura."
"I've heard that name," Kinoe said.
Yukimi said, "Elders once talked about him. I don't know what they talked about, but I definitely heard that name."
"He is Lady Tsunade's apprentice and renowned for his medical expertise in complicated cases," Kakashi said. "Let him take a look at you."
Yukimi and Kinoe nodded.
"I go back to the village first," Kakashi said. "I find Ryu. I speak to him. If he agrees to try, I'll return here."
Yukimi and Kinoe watched Kakashi leave, feeling hopeful that Ryu Hamura might be able to help. They exchanged a glance, silently hoping for a positive outcome.
##PoWeR StOnEs PLeaSE##
A/N :
Kinoe first encountered Orochimaru prior to Orochimaru going rogue and before Kinoe participated in experiments. Kinoe was already a root spy and was handed to Orochimaru for experiments.
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