It was quite late, around 1 AM. Nagare sat awake, thinking deeply while the moonlight shone through his small window and left a glowing print on the floor below. He needed to find Gakuto. The gears in his mind turned and his headache pounded through his brain, into his veins, throbbing, throbbing. Gakuto had been on his mind for a long while now, and he hadn't slept well since the day of their last battle, the day the Mangekyou was awakened, the day a powerful Missing-nin was born. Gakuto was a shadow, a corrupt being crawling on the wall in search of its next target to engulf. He would destroy Kages, their villages, and entire countries until he reached his goal of dominion. Nagare never stopped thinking about it. He got out of bed and put on his glasses, moving his hair out of the way. His forehead was drenched in cold sweat. He wiped it off, exhausted, and stepped out the door. When he got outside, he made a hand sign, and Horui emerged from his body.
Horui, we need to figure out where Gakuto is.

I'm with you. Where did you plan on figuring out?"

The ANBU Headquarters. It's closed to the public, but I know where it is and they have information on every missing-nin there. It's our only chance of doing this.

Are you sure you don't want the ANBU to handle it themselves?

Nagare's blood red eyes seemed to darken as he thought, Yes, I'm sure. This is my burden now.

Without another word, Nagare jumped into a nearby tree, linking to a next, and another, until his pace grew faster and he was barreling through branches and leaves at an extreme speed. Horui kept up, but was still a few meters behind and took on different trees to land on between jumps. Nagare made an abrupt turn to the left, and the two came upon a fortified base. Horui made the hand seals and created a heat map. He detected 5 different heat signatures within the radius of the building, all of which seemed to be ANBU. Nagare thought for a moment.

You go to the east and go in through the barred window there. I'll go in through the front. They took their respective positions, and began charging at the building as fast but as silently as possible. The 5 ANBU were alerted to their presence immediately, and all 5 dashed at Nagare, since they didn't see Horui entering in through the side. Nagare got punched in the stomach and was sent flying back until he hit the wall of the building, where 2 ANBU threw razor sharp kunai to effectively nail him to it. 4 kunai pierced him through his arm, torso, and both of his legs, and he was stuck. He reached his arm out as they approached him, and released a Raiton shockwave, knocking them all back and onto the ground. He broke free of the kunai and the wounds bled furiously. He braced through the pain and grabbed 2 smoke bombs from the hip pouch of one of the fallen ninja, and used them to escape. Horui escaped as well, and they went to a nearby secluded area in the woods. Nagare left an apology note with a long explanation there, before going a different route home that was an extra 2 miles. Finally, he returned, and tended to his wounds.

Nagare laid down on his bed, feeling desolate and dissatisfied. It was a failure. I should've known that we couldn't have taken on the ANBU on our own.

Horui looked back with a sly look. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small black book, with faded words etched into the front. That wasn't a failure at all. We've got exactly what we're looking for. Nagare's face lit up and he snatched the book from Horui's hands, staring in awe. He opened it carefully and flipped through the pages, finding the last name "Souseiji"....finally, he came upon the page, and the only result with the name was, of course, Gakuto. This page seemed fairly new, which made sense. Nagare read through the information carefully, and learned about Gakuto's various crimes, from murders to thefts to fraud, and his skills, and finally, his last recorded sighting. He was last seen in the coast along Kirigakure. Nagare had never been to Kirigakure, but if that's where Gakuto was last seen, it was worth a shot to try and find him there. He gave the book back to Horui. Go back to the ANBU hideout, and run straight into the ANBU. They'll kill you, but they will think it is me and they will get the book back, so that no record of this will ever have to be taken. Horui hated dying as much as the next guy, but considering the fact that it wasn't permanent for him, he followed Nagare's orders and jumped out of the window, heading back toward the forest. Nagare ran over his thoughts one last time in his mind.

I'm going to be a Special Jounin soon. Zetsume would surely be willing to accompany me to Kirigakure, as well as Jishin. Maybe not Kharis, he's not ready yet. Or maybe the Raikage will give me a squad of my own. I'm not sure....but when I do become Special Jounin, that'll be when. That's when...I'm going to...Kirigakure.

Nagare's eyes fluttered one last time before closing like impassable gates, and he was asleep.