The Quest for the Sacred Scroll
Chapter Two

When she left work, instead of going to her teachers home where she lived with him and several of his other students, she went straight to the front gates, explaining to the guards she was just going on a hike for some strength-training. They waved her farewell, and as soon as she was deep enough in a cave in one of the mountains, where she was sure she wouldn't be spotted, she summoned a ninken mountain lion, breathing heavily from the amount of chakra it required. After all, she was only a chunin.

She told the cat to report to Konoha, straight to the Hokage, and to request an ANBU meet her here immediately, because she had information that the survival of the village depended on.

And then she sent the mountain lion on its way, and returned to her village, terrified, and unsure what to do, or feel. How could her village do this? The Tsuchikage was a peaceful man, and while her allegances lay with Konoha... this was still her home.

What could they possible want so badly that they would risk so many lives? She swallowed hard, closing her eyes in pain. She knew the answer to that. Power.

Sighing, she began her walk to her home, where she would make dinner for the other students and for Itsuka-Sensei. It seemed so strange, going back to her "normal life" after learning something like that. She needed to speak to Itsuka about this, because one thing's for sure – she needed to get her hands on that scroll.

But Itsuka wasn't home – he was away on a mission. And she knew she couldn't do this without him. She needed his help. She just wasn't a good enough shinobi.

X.x.X.x.X

Itsuka didn't come home for four days, and the ANBU from Konoha Reiko was supposed to meet would be here tonight at midnight, at the cave from where she had summoned the mountain lion. And when Itsuka-sensei finally made it back, Reiko was practically vibrating with anxiety. As soon as he was through the door, she dragged him into the cellar where the youngest children slept, shut and locked the door, and sat him down.

"We have an emergency."

"What? Reiko-chan, what are you doing?" Itsuka exclaimed, confused and shocked at her behavior. Reiko was normally a shy, calm girl. She didn't act up like this unless something was incredibly, incredibly wrong.

"I overheard General Yamasaki, the Tsuchikage, and a few others talking the night you left for your mision."

"Reiko!" He cried out, surprised that she would do something like that. "You should know better."

"Wait a minute, and listen to me," she hissed out. "They were talking about taking over all of the villages."

"That's not even possible," he said softly, shocked at her accusation.

"It is if you summon the Centipede." Itsuka looked up at her, realizing she was serious.

"Oh my god." He said, voice shocky and pained. The Centipede was like the boogey-man, a monster that haunted young childrens dreams and lived in the depths of the worst horror stories.

"We need to get that scroll, Itsuka-sensei."

"Reiko, we couldn't possibly -"

"We don't have another choice."

Itsuka fell into silence, thinking. Then he sighed, nodding in the dim light of the cellar. "Very well. We'll move tomorrow."

"No, tonight."

"Why?" Itsuka wondered, looking up at her.

Reiko took a second, thinking. She shouldn't reveal her identity as a spy, ever, but... Itsuka had raised her since he was a child. She trusted him with her life. And this was too important. They needed to get that scroll tonight. "There's an ANBU from Konoha waiting to meet me."

Itsuka's eyes widened in surprise, and then realization. "You're a spy?" He asked incrediously.

"Keep it down, you twat," she warned, narrowing her eyes at him, peering nervously at the door. You never knew when one of the younger kids would be listening in at the door.

"But how could you do that? How could you do that to Iwagakure? This is your home!" He whispered harshly.

"And clearly, they don't deserve my allegiance," she said just as harshly, referring to the current centipede.

Itsuka lapsed into silence, looking hurt and confused. "Fine. We move tonight."

X.x.X.x.X

After several hours of planning, and Itsuka leaving the home to go gather supplies for another hour, they were ready. Reiko put back on her chunin vest, knotted the hitai-ate on her forehead, and strapped her kunai-pouch to her left thigh. Taking a deep breath, she glanced over at Itsuka, who just finished strapping on his jounin vest. He gave her a brisk nod, and they silently slipped out one of the back windows, so the children wouldn't know they were gone.

They moved along the shadows, careful not to get noticed, until they reached the tower where the Tsuchikage's offices were, and the archives. The Sacred Scroll would be kept in the Forbidden section in the archives.

Reiko walked in, nodding to the guards. "I forgot my wallet," she said as explanation, looking sheepish. One of them laughed at her, shaking his head.

"Dork," he teased.

They didn't question Itsuka's presence. It wasn't safe for a girl, even a chunin, to be out on the streets at night. Konoha was the ideal village in all the lands. Iwagakure was dirty, its living conditions poor even for their prized shinobi, and it was dangerous, the crime rate exponentially high.

She walked in without any other confrontations. The offices were empty by this time of night. They made it into the archives without a hitch – it helped that she worked here on a regular basis, with unlimmitted acces.

To everywhere except the Forbidden section in the archives, of course.

Itsuka stood guard at the door to the archives while she broke into the room, breaking the seals and avoiding the traps that protected the most sacred of all information in Iwagakure.

She slipped in, and found the scroll easilly, tieing it too her back where it couldn't be easily removed, she made her way out of the room, to where Itsuka was supposed to be.

But he wasn't there. "Itsuka-sensei!" She whispered, looking around for him. Moonlight streamed in through the windows, lighting up the room, elongating the shadows.

Reiko barely dodged the blade in time, feeling it clip the end of her ponytail as she ducked down to the ground. When she got back into a defensive stance, facing her attacker, she realized it was Itsuka. "What?" She asked, voice breaking in confusion.

"You didn't really think I'd just let you betray our village, would you, Reiko-chan?" He asked, voice cruel and thick with disgust. "Your little ANBU friend has probably already been taken care of now. He'll be detained and interrogated. I, on the other hand, have express orders to kill you."

He sneered at her, and then rushed in to attack.

"Stop this, Itsuka-sensei!" Reiko cried out, blocking the long-sword with one of her forearm guards. The metal hit the plate hard, pushing her back a few inches and it grated, as he applied more pressure, the metal shrieking as it ground agaisnt the metal guard plates.

"Filth," he growled out, his only response. "A traitor deserves no mercy."

And then he was on her, slashing down ruthlessly, over and over, a barrage of swipes and close-calls. Reiko barely made it out of the window alive, and onto the balcony, where she transported herself to the cave. The ANBU was there, already locked in close combat with a team of Iwagakure's black ops. But Konoha had sent an entire team of ANBU, and they made quick work of their attackers.

Reiko collapsed to her knees, gasping. That transport had used too much chakra. "My... covers... blown...!" she gasped, breathing too hard to fit more than one word in at a time. The ANBU took note of the situation immediately, and one helped her to her feet, silver hair spiking from behind the mask.

"Let's go," he said, voice a deep, husky timbre. And with that, he was leading her along, the ANBU running at top speed, dragging her behind them through the mountains. But it didn't take long for a team of Iwagakure's own ANBU to meet them and cut off their escape. The silver-haired ANBU who had hold of Reiko's wrist let go of her, moving into a defensive stance in front of her. She didn't have the energy too fight. She barely had energy to stand after a run like that, and all her chakra had been used up.

The fight was hard to watch, the ANBU who was protecting her repeatedly putting himself in between her and the enemy shinobi, taking several near-fatal blows to the chest and abdomen. But it was over too quick, when someone swooped in behind her, taking her up in their arms and teleporting away.

Reiko didn't struggle at first, thinking it was Konoha nin, until she found herself in the Torture and Interrogation headquarters of Iwagakure. Then she started struggling, fighting to break free from her kidnapper. But he pinned her down easily, taking the scroll off her back, a smile glinting behind his mask.

"I'll be needing this," he said, voice creamy with sadistic pleasure. And then he kicked her too the floor, hard. Hard enough to make her cry out, and crack two ribs. He put his hands together, and dissapeared in a poof of dust.

Two jounin with black masks over their faces moved in, pinning her down while another slipped a blindfold over her eyes. Something sharp went into her forearm, and a hot liquid spread through her body, numbing everything in its past. She screamed, high and anguished. And then her eyes behind the blindfold drooped closed, and her struggling eased to a stop.

X.x.X.x.X