Fiat justitia, ruatcaelum

{{A/N; Just a reminder, still using the disguise names;
Sakura - Ryo ‘Ero’ Maru Ai - Hinata
Naruto - Kitsune Rin - Ino
Sasuke - Suki Haku - is still Haku
Thanks. CD}}


Mitarashi’s Doomy Forest

“This is my forest!” Sergeant Mitarashi threw her arm out in an arc, taking all of the dark surface foliage of the sinkhole jungle. The growth was old and thick, more or less even as a whole, save the lone spire of rock looming over the trees. A small fortress had been built at the peak of the spire, the stone walls blending in color perfectly, though the architecture stuck out almost violently.
“I hope you’ve packed your overnight bags, boys and girls, because this is where I pitch you headfirst into the last place you should willingly go.” She scanned the genin again. One of the leaf groups hadn’t shown. “And this is your last chance to back out. After you get into my forest, you will be hunted not only by one and other, which is terrible enough, but by the anbu within, beasts looking for an easy meal, and several species of plant that would do the same given half a chance.”
Those assembled seemed stoic enough.
“And a slew of other nasties the twisted humor of Nature has devised over the course of time.” She reached into her coat, withdrawing a stack of paper tags. “These are the tickets to the nightmare below. Once inside, you will have to secure a talisman that will grant you access to the fortress. Each team needs only one and each of the anbu in the forest carries one. You have three days.”
“Three days seems like an unusually long timeframe.” Haku judged the distance to the spire, perhaps twenty miles. “The journey should take little more than four, maybe five hours.”
“Though the forest around Konoha, that much would be true, even at a casual pace. But MY forest is denser. Ground light is thin during the day, black as a poisoned soul at night. Predators grow here both larger and in larger numbers than they have the right to. And then there are your fellows to worry about.” The woman smirked her evil smirk again, “But don’t worry. We’ll send search parties out for the remains of anyone who doesn’t show up by sunrise the last night. Other questions?”
“Sounds like a gilded invitation to me!” Sango pressed past the nin in her way, holding her hand out as she stood before Anko, “One ticket to Mitarashi’s doomy forest, now.”
The sergeant’s high laugh broke through the still air as she peeled a tag from the top of the stack, handing it to the girl, “Just make certain your teammates are as ready as you are, Moerku! Before you commit them!”
Suki was right behind her, stepping up just before Haku.
*Is Shika wearing tights?* Ryo couldn’t help but stare. The dark blue body suit hugged every curve. The bracers looked heavy, as did the greaves. A thin plate was riveted to the upper arm and thigh and down the back and chest. *Like some sort of carapace… So much for lacking on the physical end.*
Ryo suddenly felt a little intimidated. Somehow his sun kissed tan and leather pants didn’t quite stack up.
*That is a really masculine thought…* Inner Sakura mentally poked her. Just remember, One good hit to those fancy tights and he’ll drop just like any other guy.*
“For HONOR!” Sango shouted, holding both fists high in the air.
“For Glory!” One of the ash nin shouted.
“For freedom!” Ai roared out.
“For RAMEN!!” Kitsune cried out, her voice nearly cracking. She opened her eyes, looking at the confused faces around her. “What?”
“For Idiots!” echoed a shout from the clump of other nin. Several mist nin laughed, clapping high-fives.
“For idiots indeed.” Mitarashi’s words cut through the laughter like a kunai. “Let me summarize this for the hearing impaired; You are about to enter, the words were ‘Doomy Forest’. Challenge an anbu who is probably quite unhappy about having to be in such a stink hole assignment, steal from them, and then run. And you have to worry about pursuit from not only that anbu, but any other anbu without a talisman, potentially every other team, and any hungry beast that happen across your trail. And you can expect no help today. Or tomorrow. Or the day after.”
“Hold on… I’m having second thoughts about this…” Kitsune stepped away from Suki and Ryo, looking pensive for a moment.
Suki glared, her mouth opening with a sneer on her lip.
“For ramen!” Kitsune shot one fist into the air, “Let’s go!” She pulled the talisman toward her, peering at the teleportation symbols and the three empty rings. Peering through squinted eyes, she turned it over. Then flipped it, taking in the blank back. “No directions? How do we work it?”
“Hehehahaha. If you can‘t manage that, you shouldn’t have passed the written!” And the sergeant vanished in a flash of smoke.
“Now what, oh fearless leader?”
Ryo shrugged the vest, “Don’t make me grope you, Suki.”
The distinctive sound of air concussing turned all heads.
“The sand nin figured it out.” She nodded to the smoky area within the group. Then the ash nin vanished.
Two leaf groups almost in unison, and a mist group behind by less than a second.
*Hey! Every talisman either needs to be completed, broken, or charged. These have blank spaces, so they’re already broken, and the rings look pretty important…*
*Right three nin, three rings.*
*Yeah. So we’re thinking…* “Blood.” Ryo slipped a finger along the razor edged pommel of his sword, pressing a drop into the ring. The ring of black ink turned red, glowing and turning clockwise a quarter turn. Suki pressed her thumb against one of the spikes of her belt, while Kitsune bit her own. They activated their rings of the tag, “Whee!!” Kitsune shouted.
Light enveloped them. Ryo felt the wind tear from his lungs, felt the unbearable pressure trying to crush him, even as his skin felt ready to burst. And As he was certain his brain would come flying out his ears, it was gone. Noting remained but the expended tag the trio still held and the smoke that was quickly thinning around them, the stink of it still in the air.
They stood beneath the protective branches of an ancient oak, up to their knees in slowly moving water.
Daylight filtered weakly through the leaves of the tree and there was just enough of a breeze to keep the insects down.
“Well,” Ryo picked up his feet, standing on the surface of the water, “That was fun.” He crumpled the tag and threw it over his shoulder, his drift over the water coming to a stop as his feet ran aground against one of the roots.
Suki looked around as she squeezed water from the long socks, “We should get moving. If Sergeant Mitarashi was serious…”
“She never jokes. Ever.” Kitsune took a step upstream.
“…any number of things could have been attracted by the jutsu.” Suki pulled her socks back on and slipped on the shoes.
Ryo nodded, “Alright. I’ll find a tree to climb. See if you can find any sort of sign nearby. If all else fails, we’ll just steal a talisman from someone else near the spire. But make lots of noise. See if we can attract some attention.”
Both girls who weren’t girls nodded, taking off in different directions.
Ryo stepped up onto the root, putting one hand to the trunk of the tree. The wood was beyond merely ancient and as strong as it was old. *Let’s see what we see…* And up he went. The rough bark was smooth, as far as the energy within went. Not like the trees in the training ground, practically soaked in scores of different chakras and fading quickly as you went up. This tree was uniform and clean, clear to the top.
Perched atop a branch high enough to peek out, Ryo scanned the forest around them.
What must have been more swampy area went for a few miles, the tree growth rising steeply where the ground probably grew firmer. To the other side, the sheer wall of the sinkhole rose nearly a half mile vertically.
*I pray the spire isn’t that high… What a bitch of a climb that’d be…*
*Murphy’s Law.* The inner voice chimed bleakly.
Ryo sighed, but didn’t answer. The drop from limb to limb back to the surface seemed to take longer than the climb.

Ai loathe being blind. Perhaps even more than Hinata loathed Neji. The byukaguran compensated nicely, but she was already missing the little things. Like the color of that flower there, knowing what that sign there really said without having to ask.
“Being blind pisses me off.” She muttered.
“There isn’t much that pleases you,” Rin looked up from where she filled the water skins. Why they hadn’t been full in the survival scroll was an interesting question, but one not worth answering. “Is there?”
“Alright, ladies.” Haku called down from her perch in a nearby fruit tree. “Ai, any sign?”
“Nothing.” She watched as Haku fell from the tree, an armload of what could have been soap bubbles spilling as she hit the fuzzy surface of the ground, “Nothing worth worrying about anyway.”
Haku gathered the fruit back up, tossing one to Rin and Ai each, “Does that tire you?” Haku loaded the remainder of the fruit into a small pack, clipping the water skins to the sides. “Keeping your eyes on all the time?”
Ai shrugged, “It’s negligible. Kind of like sleep. You can always put it off, but the effects aren’t pretty when they catch up to you. Headaches, eye bleeds, exhaustion of regular sight if you force it to remain on too long.”
“What’s that last one?” Rin tried the fuzzy fruit, slurping at the juice that ran down her chin.
“Temporary blindness of both sights. Damage to the inside of the retina. It heals quickly, a day or two. Like a bruise, really.” Ai tried the fruit. The fruit made her happy. Though she wouldn’t admit as much aloud.
“Don’t kill yourself.” Rin pried the pit of the fruit out, tossing it away, “We need to keep fresh and alert. Just try to rest it as often as you can.” She crammed the rest of the morsel into her mouth, chewing with bulged cheeks.
Ai focused, looking as far as she could make sense of the flows of energy and life. “We’re good, but there has to be someone else out here someplace.” She pushed up the headband, revealing eyes a pale bluish color. As if they had died in her skull, but never rotted away.
Rin blanched and looked away, “That is freaky.”
“Oh… Orange.” Ai took a large bit out of the fruit. “They didn’t taste orange.”
Haku shouldered the pack grinning, “And what color did they taste like?”
Ai shrugged, “Beats me. Let’s ask the first nin we come across, and they don’t have an answer, we’ll beat them up and steal their stuff!”

Ryo leaned closer over the wire, low to the ground. One of the long kunai in hand, he gently shifted one of the misplaced leaves on the ground with infinite care.
The rope lay beside the exposed wire. The hidden weights and bowed branches above would have drawn the rope op and taunt, the seven snares along it’s length spaced randomly, but effectively.
It would have caught at least two of them had them been running along the ground.
“I’ve got a wire up here, too.” Suki called down from above.
“Leave it.” Ryo sheathed his knife with a slam, “This guy’s messing with us.” He looked around in what he knew was futility. An anbu that didn’t want to be seen simply wasn’t. “The bastard’s probably within a hundred yards right now, leading ahead of us and laying down these ten cent traps. Waiting until he’s got one of us in them.”
“Can we use it now?” Kitsune stepped on the rope deliberately, “Pleeeeeaaase!!!” Hands clasp tightly, large eyes gazing up in the perfect beg. And the hair in pigtails only amplified it.
Suki dropped to the ground on the safe side of the trap, crossing her arms. “Nothing else has worked…”
Ryo shrugged.
“EEEEEE!!!” Kitsune hopped up and down, squealing in joy. Three signs flashed quickly and a doppelganger of Naruto appeared, holding a massive tome bound in bright orange leather on his back like Atlas held the world. A massive red swirl was displayed across the cover beneath the words ‘Naruto’s Ninja Handbook’.
Kitsune flipped the cover open, the doppelganger reaching over to catch it as it fell. She scanned the table of contents, arm at full extension with her finger pressed against the page near the top.
“Let’s see… Tracking and capture…acolytes…ambulances…amoeba…amputees…anbu! Page seven forty two.” She pulled up a wad of pages, flicking them back down as the number scrolled down. Stopping on the exact page, she levered the stack over with a soft thud.
“Tracking and capture of the common anbu.” She grinned victoriously.
“You wrote this? The whole thing?” Suki ran one hand over the thickness of unmoved pages. “There must be thousands of pages here.”
“Yeah I wrote it. All seven thousand, eight hundred and ninety six and a half pages.” Kitsune beamed. “Actually, someone else was at the wheel. I personally slept through most of the pen work. But it was my idea to put the glossary in front of the table of contents. To make searches like this easier. He wanted to put it all in a scroll.”
“That would have been a huge scroll…” Suki gazed into thin air.
Kitsune nodded, “Take three nin just to move the thing, five to read it.”
“Right.” Ryo tapped the page, “So what do we need to do here?”
Kitsune returned to the entry, reading it over quickly, “For the common anbu… we need a length of stout rope for binding a person, a simple trap to be improvised, one fresh paralysis talisman, and Suki’s voice.”
Suki frowned, reading over Kitsune’s shoulder, “My voice?”

The anbu pulled up his dog faced mask, unable to believe entirely what his first impression told him. And being a man who’s gut instinct was usually pretty close, this disturbed him.
“What the hell are these genin up to…?” He stuck to the shadows, leaping from branch to branch, following the soft moaning sounds.
The moon was low in the sky, only just rising. Thick shadows covered nearly everything. Except the tripwire the genin he’d been tracking had laid over the branch.
“Tch. Lame…” He stepped over the wire, his foot hesitating. A second wire was set behind the first. Hidden in the shadow. “Still lame.” He stepped on the dummy wire laid in the light. There was a quiet snap, a kunai cutting free of its camouflage and rocketing toward his belly.
The anbu reacted on instinct, leaning back, his charged feet sticking to the tree branch as though that were down. The kunai punched into the tree trunk with a solid thunk. *Maybe not so lame…*
“What…? Ahhhhh…” The query was interrupted, the moaning resuming with new fervor.
The anbu used his newfound position to peer around the tree trunk. The young man lay asleep, curled up in a snoring ball. And completely oblivious to the anbu.
Especially if he hadn’t woke to the noise his teammates were making.
As for the girls… All he could make out from this distance and angle was the bright flash of light colored hair and a pair of milky white thighs on either side of the head.
Something tapped the anbu on the shoulder. He batted it away.
Those long socks had been pushed down, exposing skin so smooth and pale it nearly shone in the moonlight.
Whatever it was lit upon him again. He swatted more persistently this time.
The moans were growing sharper, higher in pitch, closer together.
“Pardon me.”
The anbu’s eyes went wide in shock. He looked back as the paper tag slapped his forehead.
Ryo watched the anbu slip from the branch and fall to the brush below. “Pervert.”
“Get off!” Suki kicked Kitsune away, the red dressed girl falling in Ryo’s still slumbering form. One that burst into a cloud of smoke, popping like a balloon.
“I told you it would work!” Kitsune’s Cheshire grin of victory was bright.
Suki flipped up to her feet, pulling her striped stockings back up, “Yeah. But keep your hands to yourself next time, Dobe!”
“Kitsune looked confused, except for the shadow of her smirk, “But that wasn’t my hand…”
Ryo dropped down beside the anbu, checking the tag on his forehead and applying another. “Sorry man…” He hoisted the stiff limbed man over his shoulder and carried him to the center of the clearing, setting him down gently. “Anyone remember what this stupid talisman is supposed to look like?”
Suki shrugged, opening an equipment scroll and pulling lengths of rope out, “It’s gotta look like something. Just search him.” She clipped the rope and began binding him tightly.
Ryo began turning out pockets, piling the things beside the anbu.
“Come on, pervy guy. Where’s the talisman?” Kitsune papered his face with paralysis tags.
Kunai, two equipment scrolls, one was nothing but shuriken, mouth loads of water, fire, and smoke in two colors, a tube of ration pills, a short length of chain, a roll of wire, a handful of random coinage, a book with a pink cover…
“Ichi-Ichi Paradise?” The spine and back cover were blank, only the title and volume number printed on the front. This was one of a great many. “These any good?”
Both girls shrugged.
Curious, Ryo flipped open to a random page. An amulet had been set into a cutout of pages, turning the book into a case of sorts. A solid ring with a serpent coiled in a complex knot, coming back upon it’s own tail. The leaf symbol was etched in an overlapping pattern along its back.
“I think I found it…” Ryo pulled the amulet out, showing it to his teammates.
Suki nodded, “That looks like the one.” She gave the last knot a final tug.
Kitsune looked up from her task of braiding leaves into the man’s hair, “Suki… What the hell is up with the funky binding thing? Couldn’t you just wrap it around him a few times and be done wit it?”
Suki pointed at the man, “Leave it alone. This is the only set of knots I’ve never been able to get out of.”
Ryo laid a pair of paralysis tags on each hand.
“So when did you take up bondage?” Kitsune asked with an impish smirk. The web pattern of the rope did seem a little artsy…
“Whatever…” Ryo shook his head, “If he doesn’t get up, I’m not worried. Just leave him one of those nasty smoke bombs to keep the critters off him.”
Kitsune pulled the smoke bomb from her waist pouch, tossing it to Ryo.
He knelt beside the anbu, putting the mask back on, “I’m sorry, these things reek.” He pressed the button and set the device on the anbu’s chest, “But it’ll keep you from getting eaten and bring help, hopefully.”
Ryo stood, backing away as the yellow green smoke began to rise into the air.
A smell like rotten eggs, vomit, and burning oil began to fill the air.
“To the tower!” Kitsune shouted, bounding into the trees.
Suki shrugged at Ryo, but following the casual run.
And laying in a noxious fog of smoke, an anbu fumed in the fumes. Helpless with his hands numb and his body bound tightly. Wearing enough paralysis tags to freeze a siege machine and leaves tied into his hair.

Rin watched the shadows around her with paranoid caution.
All day, and they had seen nothing. No nin, no creatures, no trails.
Twelve slow and caution filled miles and not hide nor hair of predator or prey. And their goal was looming over the trees nearby in clear view.
“Peek-a-boo, little girl…” A cold voice came from two directions, both out of the darkness. “You aren’t a very good guard.”
Rin stood, a kunai in one fist, a pair of shuriken in the other. She could vaguely sense three bodies before her. One was trying to mask itself, the others felt hollow. Doppelgangers.
A stuttering impact hit her from behind. Three needles in precision strikes. Her arms went dead and limp, her weapons falling to the ground. Her legs moved, but they were numb. She couldn’t feel them save for the weight of her body against them.
“Too easy.” Kiba stepped from the shadows, appearing from a new direction. She hadn’t sensed him at all.
He approached casually, “Now, tell me where you hid your talisman and we’ll just take it and leave your haite-ate.” His boots and gloves were tipped with short claws, the same tattered shorts and fur-lined vest he always wore in place. The harness on his chest bearing the metal ring and all his equipment.
“Ai! Haku!”
Kiba sighed, looking down at his nails, “Sleep seals. Your partners are out cold. And they’ll stay that way for twelve hours. Or until we remove the seals.”
Rin fought with her numb limbs, trying to will them into motion, no matter how weak. Not even a tingle.
“we don’t have one…” Something large nudged her from behind, pushing her down to her knees.
“Maru! Knock it off!” Kiba shouted. The great cat came around Rin, sniffing her neck and face. Bright yellow eyes peering into her own. The harness it wore a perfect copy of the one on Kiba.
“Kroawwr…” The beast padded back to Maru’s side, glaring into the darkness. Putting one paw on Kiba’s foot.
“Don’t pester me now, Maru.” He swatted the cat’s shoulder. Then looked down.
“Rrr-errow…” Ears pressed back, the growl still smoldered deep in the feline. It hunched lower, widening it’s stance, tail low and puffed out like a bottle brush.
“Shit.” Kiba turned his back to Rin, watching the darkness where the cat was glaring. “Fellas, I think we have a problem…” His voice had dropped.
“Is this a real problem, or another wild dog?” Shino in his long coat and dark goggles appeared. The goggles were pushed up onto his headband.
“Can it, Shino. We have the ‘other’ problem.”
Rin felt the other boy stiffen, coming up straighter, “Which other problem?”
Kiba hunched down, fingers clawing out, “The worst other problem.”
“Fuck.” Shino put one hand on Rin’s back, the warm healing jutsu repairing the damage done by his needles. “Listen carefully…” His words near her ear were deathly quiet. “Three anbu. Close by. We can split ways and try to run, each for his own, or we can try to get to the next camp. There are other nin nearby, we came across the trail nearby. It’s a gamble, but they might help us.”
Rin winced as sensation returned to her arms and legs, “We’re in. Just wake the others.”
“Already on it.” Haku spoke from behind her, pulling the tag from Ai’s brow. The tag she had probably been wearing was sodden, laying in a puddle on the ground.
Ai snapped to her feet, “They’re here!”
Haku slapped her. “The two in the clearing are with us. Who else is here?”
“Three… Four. In the trees. Fifty yards. One trailing back another ten.” Ai gestured to the left, “Got three more, faint. Quarter mile, give or take.”
“That’s our reinforcements.” Shino nodded. “And if we do live, I’m Shino. There’s Kiba and Maru, the fuzzy one.”
“Haku,” She nodded and pointed to the others, “Rin, Ai. Pleased.”
Shino dipped his head, “Pleasure’s mine.”
“Whatever.” Ai glared at them, “We leave, now!” And she burst from the ground, into the trees, five bodies behind her following. And four more hesitated. Watching them for a moment before cutting across the trees.
“Pursuit!” Ai shouted. She pumped more chakra into her hands and feet, exploding from each footing, bounding from trunk to trunk.
Their path was a bee line for the other group.
One of the three ahead had noticed the flare of chakra, head turning to face the group, eyes brightening.
All lit up bright in the semi dark world and the trio prepared for the speeding arrival.
Shino came up alongside Ai, “Can you make them out yet?”
Ai nodded, “One of them has eyes that can see us. The others are at ready.”
“Leaf…” Shino crossed her path twice as the trees came to them, “Let me do the talking. There’s only two teams with Hyuuga on them. We should be good, Even if it is Sango’s team.”
*The Moerku girl?* “What’s the deal there?”
Shino smirked, “Let’s just say the leaves they wear are more formality than declaration of loyalty.”
Ai glared at him, “Great. Anything else you’d like to share before we jump down?”
“Nope!” Shino gave a final leap, powering himself into the clearing. “Never autumn! Never autumn!”
Shino stood up out of the tall grasses as the others piled in around him, “Five and one with us! Four enemy tailing, Shika’s lost.”
One woman, two men, one with the Hyuuga eyes burning like lanterns. Ai could feel his attention focus on her. “Hundred, closing fast. They’re using an advanced formation, but four doesn’t seem to be with the program.”
The woman nodded, “They shall feel the flames of our youth! Trident formation, sinking point!”
“We’ll take left and forward flex!” Rin shouted, dashing into what must have been position.
“Center!” Kiba called, pulling a long scroll from his harness and unfurling it with a wide flourish.
“Noha, Toshi, fall back!” Sango leapt and fell into the grasses.
“Decoys up!” Noha called half a dozen shadow clones appearing at the back of the clearing behind Kiba and Shino.
Haku stood, quickly falling out of the loop.
“Follow Rin,” Ai gave her a shove and drug her into position, “Stick with her like a shadow.”
“Won’t they suspect something when you know all the communication keywords?” Haku knelt beside Rin, drawing two fistfuls of senbon.
Rin shrugged, “We’ll worry about that later.”
The anbu burst into the clearing, two landing hard on their feet, the third sailing in a belly flop. The landed anbu grabbed the airborne man by his collar and hurled him forward like a human kunai.
“Now!” Rin jumped into the air, flinging a wide spray of shuriken at the two grounded anbu.
Haku was close behind, a tight salvo of senbon in the wake of the shuriken, passing them in flight.
Ai closed the gap on foot, kunai shredding the top of the highest grasses as she ripped them out as quickly as she could draw them.
On the other side, Sango and Satoshi closed the gap as four of Noha came from above, shuriken raining down on the anbu. A fifth member of the boy had been hurled at the flying anbu and two more stayed behind, weaving a long, complex jutsu that stirred the air and dust, flexing the grasses in a wide circle.
Shino ducked under the missile anbu as both of Kiba dodged to the sides, each with his limbs twisted in a beastly posture. The fur vest and red spikes under his eyes seeming more feral than normal.
One of the anbu dropped under the grass as the other swept his arms around him, a thick wave of wind energy gathering in a course imitation of the rotation maneuver.
*Using his hands, not his shoulders. Can’t follow the track when he can only see in one direction…*
The projectiles all stopped dead as the wind veil came over them. Ai leaned back, reading the flow of chakra in his arms. The veil flattened out and raced at her, even as she came down, rending the grasses like an invisible scythe, the buffet passing over her in a widening arc.
Digging in her heels, Ai came back up, burning her momentum and channeling a burst of chakra into her feet, leaping high into the air, drawing the kinetic energy of her body tight down as she spun, ready for the bola his partner was spinning. How he had gotten behind her was interesting, she hadn’t even seen him move.
Three of Noha landed around the wind channeler, rapidly striking him and just as rapidly bursting into clouds of smoke as his kunai blades slew them.
A slim boot flashed in the grass, doubling the anbu over as the last Noha clone dropped his heel on the man’s head.
Then the anbu shot into the air, his limp posture and the feet quivering from the handstand kick probably excuse enough. Sango’s top half appeared and she launched herself after the anbu, the wraps on her hands coming loose, fluttering in the wind of her motion.
The flying Noha intercepted the missile anbu at last, exploding in a cloud of smoke as he knocked the anbu off course.
The anbu hit the ground, dirt flying up in clumps. He stood up, holding his head and trying to stumble forward. And a slow moving orb of chakra the size of a melon slammed into him.
“Yes!” A pair of voices shouted and the anbu was shrouded by a cloud of thick, glittering violet smoke.
Both of Noha clapped a high five before they began to weave another jutsu.
Ai turned her focus down on the bola anbu, the weighted chains buzzing like angry hornets as he released the weapon.
*No see a real… shit, no Hyuuga moves!* Hinata could feel the buzz in her joints with the chakra pooled in her shoulders, the spin of her body in place.
Rechanneling the energy, Hinata pushed it all into one hand, catching the bola by one heavy weight behind her back, turning her body with the whirling projectile and whipping it around back at the thrower.
She heard the crackle of bone as she released and spread herself out, canceling the spin she had picked up, putting one hand out to break her fall.
The bola anbu stepped back quickly, his weapon crashing into the soil explosively, showering him with shredded grasses and clumps of dirt.
The airborne anbu felt only the lightest touch at the small of his back before a knee struck his kidney, spinning him around, the bindings of Sango’s wraps getting caught in his limbs.
Their ascent peaked and Sango drifted over the anbu, both hands listing to the side she had risen from. He saw her wink and collapse her limbs shut, the spin she initiated directed to him through the wraps he was bound in.
“Vortex Assault!!” Sango’s voice rang out as the anbu picked up speed, twirling like a top and Sango’s foot connected squarely with a loud, metallic cry.
She teleported in a flash, intercepting the anbu’s flight and changing it with another viscous kick. And again, meeting him midair only to hammer him, changing his course with raw violence.
A dozen more strikes, a teleportation between each one, always downward in an ever tightening spiral, a trial of chakra smoke dotting the change in flight until the anbu was just above the ground.
And Sango stood waiting for him, grabbing the bottom of his chest plate with both hands over her head, poised to send him crashing into the soil headfirst.
Ai hit the ground, cradling her hand and looked up as the bola thrower came out of the dust cloud, katana high. His arm came forward, releasing the blade straight as an arrow. She could only watch as it came, her chakra seemed scattered or expended.
Smoke flash!
Noha appeared before her, the sword striking him, piercing him cleanly, chakra in place of blood spraying from his body as the wound consumed him and he popped, a doppelganger dispelled.
Two forms raced past her, the Kiba pair tackling the last anbu in a dual body slam.
The sword hit the ground and the area was silent for the time it took Ai’s heart to constrict.
“HOLD!!!”
The missile anbu appeared with a flash in the heart of the knot of ninja. He held his hands up, weapon less and open palmed. “We are defeated.”
Sango dropped the anbu and turned to regard him, “Sorry about the armor…”
The man rubbed at the oblong indents, as if trying to brush them away like so much dirt. He shrugged, rubbing his jaw, a large bruise forming already. He picked up his mask bearing a turtle’s face, wordlessly.
Kiba stood, holding up a large log with a smug face carved into it, Maru growling as he shook away the form change.
The missile anbu pulled at the cord around his neck, breaking it away and tossing it to Sango. The amulet on the end shining in the light.
“Allow us to trouble you no longer.” And the remaining anbu vanished.
“Hey! What about the rest of us!”
“Here!” Noha threw a second medallion to Shino, “Don’t say I never gave you nothin’!”
“You are a gentleman, Konohamaru!” Shino tucked the medallion into his tunic.
“Don’t mention it.” Konohamaru crossed his arms, “Ever.”
“Very well done.” The final presence, more than just a clone or distraction, unmasked it’s chakra and stepped into the clearing.
“It’s about time, you lazy bastard!” Shino called out, “You get lost on the way to the battle? ‘Cause it’s over!”
Shika hooked his thumbs in his belt, “Don’t forget who’s the ace in the hole, bugboy. And why I’m the head of our group. And our class.”
“We could have used the help.” Rin glared into the half lidded gaze as it swung around to regard her.
“But you didn’t need it.” Shika sighed, “They’re just playing around. This is fun for them. We aren’t in any real danger.”
Ai sighed, relaxing her eyes. The world went dark again. “You, Nara Shikamaru, you really piss me off.”
“Deal with it.” He sneered in reply. “So, do we travel together, or go our ways?”
Sango tied the cord with the amulet around her neck, “You guys came to us. Stay or go at your own discretion.”
“But if you want to come, you better have some food to pay for our protection.” Konohamaru called.
Haku kicked at the thick grasses, “Traveling with allies would be safer, in the end.”
Shino drew the amulet from his tunic, tossing it to Shika, “We’ve got what we need. As do they.”
Shika let the medal fall into his hand, “Alllright.” He yawned widely, “I suppose we could travel to the tower as a group, Sango. But I don’t think much of the blade nin.” He tucked the amulet into the sleeve of his tights, “They fall to easily upon the aid of others. And I don’t see their ticket into the tower.”
Kiba crossed his arms, standing beside his cat, “They told me they didn’t have one.”
“Turn it around,” Rin glared at the beast master, “What would you have said?”
“I’d’ve told you to go screw a hornet’s nest.” Rin didn’t miss the hackles on Maru rise.
“I was getting there,” Rin turned away from him, “Before we were so rudely interrupted.”
“Knock it off!” Satoshi glowered, his eyes glowing brightly in the dim light, “All of you! We keep this up, we may as well start a fire, fry some fish and leave a note, ‘Attack us, we‘re weak and stupid!’”
Sango waved animatedly, “He’s right. Later fellas. We’ll catch you at the tower later, eh? Right? Bye!”
Shika raised one brow, “You’re going with the blade nin?”
“They want to trust us.” Sango flipped back, “And you don’t trust me anyway. So yeah.”
“And they have food!” Konohamaru was chewing through one of the fuzzy orange fruit.
“And they’re upstart outsiders.” Shika countered.
“And they fought beside us.” Sango bristled stepping forward, “Which is more than I can say of you. The coward who hid in the shadows tries to judge those that fought. You are a laugh.” Sango glared at him, “Nothing more.”
Shika shook his head, “You just don’t understand. You never pick the time or place to suit you, always rushing into battle chin first. It’s like you know nothing of higher combat.”
Sango lifted her head, “Ha ha ha! The mighty Nara, backing down once more. Never the time or place. Or it’s just too damn troublesome.”
Now Shino stepped forward, “Did you two even hear Satoshi? We’ve burned off a lot of chakra here. As soon as someone gets wind, they will come running, looking for an easy fight. And shouting like children only makes us easier to find.”
“Team two, move out.” Shika began to back away, into the forest.
Shino and Satoshi nodded to one and other while Kiba and Konohamaru exchanged glares.
“Traitor…”
“Your cat smells like a dog.”
Shika was the last to melt into the darkness, “The candle that burns brighter, Moerku…” He faded from sight, “You know all about burning out.”
“Whatever, flake!” Sango called after them. “If that bastard is right, he’ll live forever…”
Ai heard the woman mutter. Her footfalls were muffled by the rustle of the grasses as she walked by.
And she could smell char. Like blood burned with a flame of chakra.
“Does anyone else smell that?” Ai tried to follow the scent, but the breeze that had brought it to her carried it away.
“Smell what?” Sango asked. Ai heard her sniff. “All I smell is Konohamaru.”
“Hey!” The ribbing of an old joke in his tone. “So you lot are, indeed, coming right?” Konohamaru asked, “You know, after all that and all…”
Haku kicked the tall grasses in frustration, “Curses… Yes. If you’ll still have us.”
“I’d have you if you’d let me!” Konohamaru called, laughing as Sango backhanded him playfully.
Rin put one hand an Ai’s shoulder, “Are you alright? You look… Confused, I guess.”
“Huh?” Ai turned to her comrade, “Oh, I’m fine.” She forced her injured hand to her side, I just landed a little hard was all.”
“I’m not the best med-nin, but I know a swelling, purple hand is bad.” Rin had crossed her arms.
Ai flexed her eyes, noting the prickle in them as they activated. All the major bones in her hand had been broken and the veins had ruptured, spilling blood throughout her hand.
“It’s not as bad as it looks. I’ll get it looked at later.” Ai let her sleeve fall over the hand, shutting off her eyes.
“Right.” Sango called to Satoshi, “Chase us, we’ll find a secure camp and get things settled. Then hit the spire at first light rested and ready.” Satoshi nodded and his teammates bounded away into the woods.
Satoshi turned back to the blade nin, “Let’s get everything squared away.” He pulled a scroll from his vest, tossing it to Haku, “And don’t worry about them. There’s no place they can hide I can’t find them.”
Haku nervously opened the scroll, reading the first few lines, “Why do we hesitate?”
Satoshi approached Ai, “I’m really just a support nin. Medic and clean up. Hand.”
Haku slowly formed signs and pricked a finger on one of her senbon, pressing it to the scroll. The paper turned a steely blue, the metal in her buckles glowing brightly through the paper. It didn’t take Haku long to move to a place where the high grasses had been disturbed.
Ai looked toward the sound of his voice, uncertain of his distance.
“Right, I forgot you were blind… Umm… Just lift up your injured hand… Ai, right?”
She moved the limb up, the sleeve falling away, “Yes. Like this?”
“That will do. Please, hold still. This might hurt.”
Two hands enclosed hers, the chakra filling her hand was an odd sensation, second only to the bones in her hand readjusting in a series of grinding pops. “Sorry…”
*I must have winced… Damn*
“That was a nice spin on the bola. Not my first choice, but a very nice tactic.”
Ai shrugged her free arm, “Ha! Improvised, and half failure at that. If Konohamaru hadn’t sacrificed his clone, I’d be the shish kabob.”
Satoshi moved his fingers, channeling the chakra into a new area, cycling the blood out of her hand, “Hehehe. You remind me of a girl I knew. She had a very strong spirit. And a skull as hard as concrete.”
“What happened to her?”
The flow of chakra stopped, the loose energy bleeding into her own body, “She went missing nin a short time back and kidnapped her little sister, killing her and herself. So the Elders say.”
Ai tipped her head, “You don’t believe them?”
Satoshi took a deep breath and sighed, “If I know Hinata half as well as I think I do, she did what she did for her sister’s sake. Not her murder.”
“Hm. How touching…” Ai lifted her free hand to his face, feeling out his features.
She didn’t pull back as he lifted her headband. Her eyes uncovered, Ai could see what she felt.
“You’re too handsome to chase after a girl like her.”
“So I should date you?”
Ai pushed him back with a wide smile. “I don’t date anyone who can see in more than one direction at once. It creeps me out and makes me jealous.”
He laughed, “Funny. The last woman I talked too told me I was too young.”
Ai pulled her haite-ate back down, “Funny you speak of the Missing Hyuuga, though. She taught me to see again. In return, I helped her break the curse seal over her and her sister.”
“It can be done?”
Ai nodded, “Yes. Though in the wrong hands, it can be somewhat…erotic is the word, I suppose.”
“I could live with that.” Ai was glad she didn’t know exactly where he was just then, “But I must admit; I held me breath when I though you were going to use the rotation maneuver. It would have been almost as beautiful as you are.”
“Are you blushing?”
Hesitation… “Yes…”
“Whatever. Flattery pisses me off.” Ai turned away from him, whipping back as his hand closed on her wrist, pulling her hand to his face. A solemn expression there.
“You must like being angry, then.” His other hand pressed a warm, round object into Ai’s hand as his face left her.
“Ladies, time to go.” Satoshi called, moving away with a steady stride.
Both sets of feet returned at a run.
“Very well. And thank you for the scroll.” Haku gave a short bow, “We managed to gather much more than we stood to lose.”
“Forget about it.” Satoshi waved it away. “The others have covered a few miles by now. We should get moving if we want to get any sleep.”
Ai found herself walking behind Rin, one hand on her shoulder, meandering through a dark world again.
“Hey, Rin…” Ai handed the ring to her teammate, “What is this? I can’t make it out by hand.”
Rin’s step stuttered, “Ai… This is one of the amulets we needed to steal. Where’d you find it?”
Ai listened for the odd set of footfalls. Hearing their guide’s long strides. “Never mind. Just hang onto it for now…”