It's Me, Hua Ling!
The night was thick and oppressive over the Kirigakure the Hidden Mist Village, long shrouded in blood and secrecy.
Inside the shadowed office of the Mizukage Building, a swirl of black-and-white matter rose silently from the floor.
"Obito," Zetsu's voice rasped as his divided body emerged from the wall, "Hatake Kakashi has been captured. He's being held in the prison beneath the administrative district."
The masked man standing before the window did not turn. His single visible eye cold, calculating reflected the faint lanternlight.
"What are you going to do next?" Zetsu asked, curiosity threading through his tone.
"You'll see soon enough," Obito replied calmly. "Go inform Hua Ling. Tell her it's time."
Zetsu lingered for a moment, sensing the layered intent behind those words, but Obito offered nothing more. With a ripple, Zetsu sank back into the woodwork.
Not long after, an emergency assembly was issued in the name of the Fourth Mizukage Yagura. Every registered jōnin in Kirigakure was ordered to report to the Mizukage Building immediately.
No one dared question it.
In the era known as the "Bloody Mist," hesitation could mean execution.
As the elite shinobi hurried toward the summit hall, the prison's guard rotation thinned exactly as Obito had intended.
Disguised beneath the appearance of a Mist chūnin, Hua Ling moved quietly through the outer corridors of the detention complex. Her chakra control was meticulous, suppressing her signature to avoid detection. A simple genjutsu layered over her features ensured even a close glance would reveal nothing unusual.
She carried a lacquered food container.
Click.
The cell door opened with a metallic echo.
Inside, shackled with chakra-suppressing restraints designed to disrupt hand seals, sat Kakashi Hatake.
He lifted his head lazily, silver hair falling over his forehead protector. His visible eye sharpened instantly upon sensing her presence.
Another meal.
For days, the same Mist chūnin had delivered food always a large bowl of thick wheat noodles. Kakashi had begun to suspect the prison kitchen possessed no other recipe.
Honestly… if he survived this, he might never eat noodles again.
Yet something about her chakra felt faintly familiar.
"Kakashi," she whispered urgently. "I'm getting you out. Once we leave, you must exit the Land of Water immediately."
His mind stalled for half a second.
Why would a Mist ninja risk treason for him?
And that voice
"Don't ask questions yet," she added. "We don't have time."
Her hands moved swiftly. A concealed chakra scalpel fine as mist itself severed the disruption threads embedded within the restraints. She had clearly studied the sealing formula beforehand; brute force would have triggered alarms.
Kakashi suppressed his surprise. That level of preparation wasn't something an ordinary chūnin possessed.
They slipped through blind spots in the patrol route. Twice, Hua Ling subtly altered a guard's perception with short-range genjutsu never long enough to arouse suspicion, just enough to redirect attention.
Moments later, they cleared the outer perimeter and vanished into the mist-covered forest beyond the administrative district.
Only then did Kakashi speak.
"You are…"
She released the transformation technique.
The unfamiliar Mist chūnin dissolved in a ripple of chakra.
"It's me, Hua Ling," she said, smiling. "Long time no see, Kakashi."
He stared at her for a heartbeat.
"Didn't we just meet recently?" he replied dryly. "That hardly counts as 'long time.'"
Then his gaze hardened. "Why are you here? This village is under strict surveillance. Outsiders are treated as potential spies."
"Of course I'm here on a mission," she answered with mock offense. "Only Konoha shinobi are allowed to operate internationally?"
"That's not what I meant." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "The Land of Water is unstable. The Mizukage's policies have made the village paranoid. You shouldn't have risked this."
Hua Ling folded her arms.
"And yet Konoha's genius Kakashi was captured, shackled, and forced to eat the same oversized bowl of noodles every day."
His eye twitched.
"…Let's change the topic."
She laughed lightly.
They moved deeper into the forest, careful to mask their trail.
"What's happening in Kirigakure?" Kakashi asked. "The hostility feels excessive, even by Mist standards."
Hua Ling's expression turned serious.
"The Fourth Mizukage rarely appears publicly. Orders come down through select ANBU channels. Clan purges continue in silence. Anyone suspected of dissent disappears."
Kakashi's mind immediately connected the pieces.
A leader who isolates himself. Policy shifts toward brutality. Widespread internal executions.
Genjutsu manipulation…?
He remembered rumors of the Three-Tails' jinchūriki being unusually reclusive. The possibility lingered in his thoughts.
Hua Ling continued, "I infiltrated weeks before your arrival, posing as a member of the Kaguya Clan branch family. Their history of violence makes them useful cover no one questions aggression here."
She paused.
"I learned of your capture by accident. When I confirmed it was you… I chose to act."
Kakashi fell silent.
He understood the weight of that choice.
Abandoning a mission for a comrade.
His father, Sakumo Hatake, had once made the same decision. He chose teammates over mission completion and was condemned for it. The shame drove him to take his own life.
For years, Kakashi believed that narrative without question.
Until recently until an enigmatic Uchiha suggested the White Fang's disgrace had been politically engineered.
Since then, doubt had taken root.
"If your mission fails because of this…" Kakashi began quietly.
"It's just a mission," Hua Ling interrupted. "A shinobi who abandons a friend isn't someone I want to become."
The simplicity of her answer struck him harder than any reprimand.
He exhaled slowly.
"Thank you."
Two words. Yet heavier than any jutsu.
She grinned mischievously. "I didn't expect to hear gratitude from the Copy Ninja of Konoha. Should I record this moment?"
He quickly tugged his mask higher to conceal the faint flush creeping across his face.
"Absolutely not."
Far above them, hidden within the bark of an ancient tree, a spiral-masked figure observed silently.
Obito's lone eye followed their retreating forms.
Everything was proceeding according to plan.
And in the depths of his consciousness