Chapter 2: The Set-Up
Minako swallowed harshly, inevitably making a gulping sound as she did so. She was practically sweating bullets, hands raised in the air in surrender. How on Earth had she become surrounded by angry villagers with spears pointed straight at her? Curiosity apparently had killed the kitten, Minako thought dismally, trying to recount her actions earlier in the day. Maybe something would stick out in her mind...
Minako had bounced her way into a work. It was a wonder what a little bit of extra sleep could do for the mood and the complexion. Everyone else had seemed a little stiff this morning, and a little on the quiet side. Then again, they really were boring people most of the time, except for Yuki. Speaking of, Yuki had nearly plowed her over that morning trying to get back out the door.
"Yuki, what's up?" Mina questioned cheerfully but with genuine concern for the Ami-look-a-like.
"I'm sorry Mina, there's been an emergency at home." and that was the last Minako heard from Yuki that day. And had she known it would have been an even longer time before they would meet again, Minako might have given the woman a hug. Continuing onto her desk without another thought, she didn't give much thought to the newly appeared manilla envelope either. Settling herself in, Mina picked up the envelope and sliced it open, wondering what it possibly could be that Yuki had left for her.
Well, it was some kind of file, that was for sure. Apparently it was a really tough case, and the included picture of the client...Minako couldn't help but feel her stomach sink in dismay. The man's entire face was covered by some kind of mask that covered his entire face and head, save for a reasonably sized slit that showed his eyes. His eyes...ugh, they were creepy; green irides with red scleroses. The case centered around one guy called 'Kakuzu'. Apparently it was the last name anyone had ever heard him go by before he disappeared from the public's eye. Oh great, just what she needed and wanted..a dodger. It looked like the last place he'd lived at was in Takigakure, and that was a least a week away from here on foot. Minako could feel a groan coming on, but stopped and thought better of it. Yuki must have seen that she had potential to give her a job like this! And so do it she would.
Re-gathering up her things, as she took this as an incentive to skip out on work for the day, she couldn't help but wonder if what she heard was laughter as she skipped out the door. Well none of that matter now, Mina decided...not at spear-point it didn't anyways. Well, after heading back to her apartment, she'd found an old knapsack and packed up a few clothes and things that she would need...mostly underwear. She could always buy new clothes while out on the road had been her thought at the time.
Just to show how dedicated she was to this job, Minako had decided to leave right then and there, only she had no idea of where Takigakure was. Luckily, the landlord kept a map on the bottom floor and she'd made a quick and easy get-away with the thing when he wasn't lookinh. After that, she pretty much traveled for a straight week, camping outside and bathing wherever she could find clean water. She hated it...and she was still sore about it even now though it was the very least of her problems. At the time, she'd been more than happy to just have a bath.
Speaking of, when she finally neared Takigakure, she decided to stop for a quick rest. The map had been giving her nothing but hell. Yeah, sure, there was a waterfall here...but no village anywhere in sight. Knowing her luck, the village was probably wiped out years ago since no one had seen or heard from this Kakuzu guy in a couple of years. Just great...she'd camped outside for a week for nothing! Luckily, at that very moment, something shiny happened to catch her eyes. Being a female with a natural love for shiny things, namely jewelry, she quickly pin-pointed the shine to have been coming from...the very top of the waterfall? It had confused her at the time, but nonetheless determined her to find out just who was shining something in her eyes.
Running up to the side of the waterfall's rocky-lining, she discovered what she had thought to be simple rocks were actually strategically placed stepping stones and grabbing holds for climbing. Adjusting her bag, she calmly made her way up the side until she finally came to where the ladder-like climb branched off onto a craggy path. She wiped her brow and took a deep breath before going further...she must have been at least a 100 feet off the ground! How she'd even climbed all the way up there without flaking out was a mystery to her...as long as she didn't look down, she'd be fine. The craggy path on which she now tread was thin but sturdy, and at the very end there appeared to be an opening to a cave. Terrified at what might have been waiting for her, she'd quickly pulled off her bag and tied her armband around her thin arm. This armband was no ordinary piece of decoration...it meant that she was technically a government official and that if anyone should dare kill her, then they'd be setting the stage for another war. Besides, the bright red of the band went nice with her current outfit.
She had entered the cave warily, trying to make her resounding footsteps as quiet as possible. Obviously, the entirety of the inside of the cave was either wet or dripping water. There were also various pools of different shapes and sizes littered on the floor. It was a good thing that the pools were slightly illuminated too or else she surely would have mis-stepped and fallen in. Later she found out that the pools received their water from a giant lake, and the sun's ray were so powerful, they actually pierced all the way down to the bottom which gave the pools their colored appearance.
The cave wasn't particularly long, and since nothing bad had happened so far, she simply walked out the cave's exit without a thought. The white light that had confused her eyes had begun to dim as she exited, but that's also when she got a face full of spears.
"C-Come on guys, can't we talk?" she laughed nervously, "I mean, what's the big deal?"
"The big deal? I should think trespassing is no light matter, little girl. You may be an assassin sent for my life or something!" cried a voice from behind the spears, and Mina did her best to maneuver her head to see while keeping her body completely still. Eventually, the voice pushed its way through the crowd to reveal a young-looking man with long, brown hair...and he didn't look happy. "I demand to know who you are. State your business! This is an order from the leader of Takigakure."
"Uh, just so you know, I do happen to think a lot better when spears aren't in face." Mina tried to joke but the angry villagers were having none of it. "Shibuki-sama has asked you a question, stranger! Answer him now!" a particularly agitated one demanded, making a prodding motion with his spear.
"Okay, keep your shorts on! Here, look at my badge if you don't believe me. I'm just a simple tax collector trying to do my job, okay?"
"Tax collector? From where?" asked 'Shibuki-sama' in disbelief.
"Konoha." Mina replied simply. What was the big deal? Sure, Takigakure was relatively small but they still had to pay taxes like everyone else.
"Fair enough. I suppose we are close enough that they could have business here. Alright, then who have you come to collect from?" Shibuki motioned for the men to lower their spears, and the men complied without complaint. Shibuki prided himself on knowing every person in the village so if her story checked out, then he'd gladly take her to them.
"Let's see, how to say this...he doesn't have a last name but his first name is Kakuzu...I think." A large round of gasps went up and so did a flurry of whispered conversations.
"K-K-Kakuzu? You can't possibly mean...?" Wow, that was certainly an about-face, Mina noted. Where had the brave Mr. Leader of the Village disappeared to? All she could do was shrug her shoulders, "Well, you see, I'm not entirely sure what he looks like since the only picture I have is of him wearing a mask, but apparently, he's been missing from Takigakure for a little more than 5 years. You know him? Or better yet, you know where to find him?" Shibuki gave a heavy sigh, a slight tremble resounding throughout his features and shaking the protective armor on his shoulder with a clatter. "I was afraid you'd say that..." he groaned, "Follow me." he gestured, turning on his heel and leading her away to his house. The rest of the villagers quickly scurried off back to their homes to spread this new gossip.
"So...I have to ask. Just how did you know I was going to be walking through that cave, huh?" Minako still hadn't found the source of that shiny object from earlier. Still walking, Shibuki turned and stole a glance over his shoulder, "Oh, you mean earlier? Well, I was outside the village scoping the land for intruders...and my headband must have glinted off in the sunlight." he admitted ashamedly, a trained shinobi should have been able to avoid such a rookie mistake.
"Hmph," Mina grunted, scrunching up her features, "so in other words, you were spying on me. I was planning to take a bath down there, you know."
"Oh look, we're here! Please come inside and make yourself at home!" Shibuki had successfully dodged another bullet.
Mina yawned, her hand trying to suppress the action as she quietly slipped cat-like out of the window. Shibuki had offered her a chance to stay for the night since his explanation had gone well on into the evening. However, she didn't see any of this as a loss or waste of time. Shibuki actually had told her quite a good bit of things, of course, the most important of them being where she could find Kakuzu wasn't present. Then again, the guy had been missing for almost 5 years. 'So, let's see if I got this straight...' Mina tried to mentally recap as she slowly closed the first-story window and headed back for the cave; there was little light to see by as it was probably around 3 or 4 in the morning.
Apparently, all those years ago, Kakuzu had been a prominent Takigakure ninja and had been sent on an assassination mission to take out the first Hokage. Mina couldn't remember the guy's name for the life of her though. Anyhow, Kakuzu failed that mission and everyone in the village shunned him and imprisoned him for his failures.
"That seems kinda unfair..." Mina couldn't help but pipe in during Shibuki's explanation, "I mean, it was one lousy mission. So what? He could have just gone back and tried again. I mean, killing is awful but-"
"You must not be very familiar with the way shinobi work, Aino-san." Shibuki answered kindly, much differently than his tone when they had first met, "You see, a mission for a shinobi is everything and failure is never acceptable. There is no second chance when it comes to something like this. You see, not only had he marred his personal honor, he had also brought on dishonor on the entire village. And of course, Takigakure was a small village even back then, and with Konoha on our bad side, we weren't in the best of positions."
After that, Shibuki started back up again with his explanation. Eventually, Kakuzu escaped from his imprisonment but Shibuki failed to mention how. Apparently, no one was clear on how the man had escaped exactly, but then again, he was a very strong individual. That same day, he brutally slaughtered the elders of the village and stole their hearts.
"What?" Mina screeched, resisting the urge to puke, but unable to stop the gagging internally; a blue line of disgust slowly crawling its way over her features.
"I'm sorry to say, but its the truth. You see, after he broke out of confinement, Kakuzu happened to steal an ancient technique from our village called Earth Grudge Fear. Now what this technique actually does is not known by many and I personally am still a little unsure of what it can do. All we know for certain is that its made him an organ-snatcher and very powerful to boot. For every heart he steals with Earth Grudge Fear, the longer he is allowed to live. I don't mean to overload you with all this Aino-san, but I'm very glad to have informed you before you went chasing down a monster like that. We don't need anymore heartless corpses around here..." Shibuki shuddered, still able to remember the carnage from when he was younger. Luckily, his father had been away on negotiations with the Konoha elders and Hokage when the slaughter had happened and was spared. "Honestly," he started again when he noticed he'd forced the blond beauty into silence, "he's nothing short of a criminal and needs nothing but the ANBU or something going after him. What the heck were they thinking sending you out on a task like that? Well I guess intelligence hasn't been updated on him yet though he technically is a criminal. Listen, why don't you stay here at my house for the night, and we'll leave first thing tomorrow morning for Konoha. I'd be happy to escort you back there Aino-san, and that way I can update the Black Ops while I'm there as well."
Mina simply agreed with the man, not trying to take advantage of his kindness. It didn't matter what he said...she was going to do this job for Yuki! And not just for Yuki...she was going to prove to her long-lost Sailor Senshi that she could survive all on her own, and that wherever they were, they should be watching her with pride!
Now, the hard part would be climbing back down the fake wall and not plummeting to her death. It was definitely darker than when she'd first started climbing, and she didn't even want to think about riding the 100-something-foot waterfall all the way to the bottom. Since nothing breakable was inside her bag, she simply leaned over the side and dropped it to the floor below. Worst case scenario: her clothes would end up wet for a few hours. However, this made climbing down so much easier since she had a better idea of where to balance her weight at. Climbing down took what felt like hours but really couldn't have taken her more than 20 minutes. She gathered her things together, which some of them had fallen out thanks to the plummet, and found herself now standing at a crossroads.
Shibuki had no idea of where Kakuzu could be. She had no idea where he had gone either. He really could have been dead on the side of the road for all she knew. Oh wait, that was impossible...he was a 'Heartsnatcher'. Mina tried to make a joke of his abilities by referencing their old enemies to cheer her spirits up, but his powers still managed to creep her out nonetheless.
Minako looked to her left. From what the map in her hands read, if she headed to her left, then she'd end up in the relatively new village of Otogakure. He probably wouldn't be there. A small village would be too obvious a place to hide and too close to Takigakure for comfort. She looked straight ahead of her next. This way would lead her back to Konoha, and she couldn't go back there yet...not until she had every penny Kakuzu owed to the government in her pocket. To the right, there lay a lot of options. If she headed southwest, then she'd come to the small country of Kusagakure. And if she continued in that direction, she'd eventually end up in the desert land of Sunagakure. Eh, there probably weren't a lot of people living in the desert to steal hearts from, she decided. To her immediate right, lay Iwagakure. That seemed like a good place to hide if you ever needed one...plenty of rocky hideouts to throw off pursuers. But then again, that made it seem kinda obvious too. Ugh, all this reasoning was making her brain hurt. How she wished Ami was here right now, plinking away at the keys on her mini-computer, devising a thorough, fail-proof plan that would ultimately be mucked up by Usagi in one way or another. Maybe she was just over-thinking all this she decided.
"There's only one way to solve this." she announced firmly to herself. Closing her eyes tightly, she clapped one of her hands over both her eyes and used her other hand to stick out a pointed finger. "Eenie, meenie, minie, moe!" she chorused childishly as she quickly spun round and round in a circle, "...my mom told me to pick the very best way and you are it today!" Okay, maybe that wasn't the best idea since the forest that surrounded the waterfall kinda looked the same at night. "Well, I already picked this way," she mumbled, index finger still suspended in mid-air, "I guess we'll find out where it leads me."
Kakuzu breathed heavily, near to the point of growling when he breathed thanks to his dry throat. How long had been since he left that place? Lately he begun to wonder as he wandered aimlessly from town to town, picking up bounties whenever and wherever he could. He wasn't quite sure what made of him think of the place...maybe his body was just ready to find some place to lay down and die.
He wiped his forehead by reaching underneath his mask. The mask he wore...he carried it for different reasons, but the main reason was to hide Earth Grudge Fear. Not that anyone would especially know what his village's secret technique looked like, but he couldn't risk being found now...without a clean source of food or water while being pursued. Damn, it was an extremely hot day and the smell of smoke was still in the air. He'd recently come to pass by a burning village. Ransacked and pillaged by some unknown source, but he didn't have time to hang around and find out who. He couldn't risk survivors of the destruction finding out who he was if there were any. Whoever had done the job didn't pull any punches. He was almost impressed.
Luckily, the further he continued on this path, the cooler it was sure to be. He'd concocted this plan a few days back with Ginji, one of the only people he'd come to respect and that meant he was also the only other person allowed to touch Kakuzu's money. They had heard a pretty big bounty was going out for the head of a daimyo in Kirigakure. Unfortunately, the only way for him to get there would be to head through Konoha and use one of their ports. Of course, that was out of the question as he would be certainly recognized, even after all these years. Instead, he had started his journey inbetween Sunagakure and Konoha in the Land of Rivers, and had been trailing Konoha's border since. Just a little longer, his mind told him, and he'd reach the new hidden village of Otogakure. Funny how a village had suddenly sprung up out of nowhere like that. However, because they were so small, they were more than likely still neutral and he could pass through on his way to Kirigakure.
"Well, this is border-crossing if I've ever seen it..." Minako whispered to herself, map in hand as she looked warily around. As she kept walking in the same direction, the sun eventually came out for the day, and the forests around her began to give away to numerous steep peaks. "Maybe this is...Iwagakure?" she questioned no one but herself. Even with her map, she still had no idea exactly which way she was traveling, but hopefully she'd find a village of some sorts or some other traveler on the road who could tell her where she was.
All of a sudden, she found herself coming to a stop in the middle of the road. Ever since the sun had come out hours ago, the day had been nothing but hot and muggy, and she of course was not exempt from the heat. Taking off the jean jacket she wore, she tied it around her waist because there was no room left in her bag. As she did so, a certain sound reached her ears over the light sound of still-present cicadas. It sounded like the wheels of a cart, and sure enough, coming in the direction in which she had just traveled was an old man pulling said cart.
"Sir, excuse me!" she quickly bounced over to him, map still in her hands, "Sorry to ask you, but you could you point out to me on this map where I am. You see, I think I'm lost."
"Well, that's certainly not a good thing to be when you're traveling alone." he remarked, adjusting the brim of his straw hat over his wrinkled brow. "Lemme see here..." he trailed off before finally finding what he wanted and poked a finger into the parchment. "You're right here. This is the Land of Fangs, where the Village Hidden in Hot Water is located. I have business there myself, so if you'll excuse me..." he tipped the brim of his hat in salute this time and carried on his way leaving Mina still there in the middle of the road in confusion.
"Village...Hidden in Hot Water? Yugakure?" How on Earth had she never heard of this place? Well, it must have been a relatively small village if it wasn't marked on her map, she decided, rolling the parchment back up and placing the scroll back into her jacket pocket. "Yugakure, huh?" The name sounded pretty funny in English, she had to admit, but when she thought about exactly what Hot Water could do to your skin, she didn't quite find it as funny as before. Hm, now that she thought it, this Yugakure seemed like a good place to look for that Kakuzu guy. Born in Takigakure, maybe he would naturally flock to another water country or village. The Land of Fangs appeared to be a bit of a wasteland with nothing but the steep peaks she'd mentioned earlier, but if that was true and given the name of the Hidden Village, then more than likely there was a hot springs nearby. Minako smiled to herself, she did deserve a little rest and relaxation after having slept outside for a week.
Speaking of sleep, she'd hadn't gotten a full night's worth of sleep thanks to Shibuki's explanation and her early-morning escape. With a little luck, she wouldn't have Takigakure ninja on her tail trying to bring her back. That certainly sounded like something that Shibuki was capable of doing. She quickly moved out of the middle of the road and hid herself from other travelers on the road behind a huge boulder. Luckily, there were plenty of these around too. Using her backpack as a pillow, Minako planned to take a quick cat nap. After all, she still didn't know where to find Kakuzu...there was no sense in rushing she decided.
"Hm, somebody must be barbecuing something..." Mina whispered to herself, rolling over onto her side once she caught of whiff of smoke. Thinking about ii made her stomach growl...she could really go for some barbecue right now...so much so that she was willing to sacrifice sleep. Grabbing her things up, she rushed back onto the road and followed in the footsteps of the old farmer from earlier. "Sweet deliciousness, here I come!" she happily announced, practically barreling the road. She almost felt like crying because she suddenly realized that Usagi wasn't here to share in her joy of food.
"That must be it!" she announced aloud, trying to raise her morale, but the blond's face quickly sunk when she found out where the source of smoke appeared to be coming from. "What the...? What happened here?" She simply couldn't find the words to say. What stood before her was a burning, blackened village. Blood was splattered everywhere, and various bodies lay strewn about the ground. Any building that was still standing was smoking and blackened from the inside out. What she caught sight of next made her heart sink. It was that old man's cart. "Ojii-san? Hey, where are you? What happened here? Are you alright?" Walking around a little more, she happened to catch his lifeless body laying behind the cart.
Out of disregard for her own safety, Minako began to cry. It was a pretty useless thing to do at a time like this, as there might have been other survivors, but...who had done such a terrible thing? Wiping her eyes, she quickly pulled her hands together and said a short prayer for the man before getting back on her feet and continuing into the village. At the very end of the village, there appeared to be a shrine. Surely whoever had attacked this place had left this sanctuary alone?
Climbing up the stone steps, which had probably been a gray color earlier but were now stained red with blood, she happened upon the bodies of a few dead priests. Still clad in their robes and rosary in their hands, it looked as if they had been cut down while in the middle of prayer. Continuing on into the shrine, not caring if the blood on her shoes were staining the floor of the shrine, she found it to be nothing but a small room with a sacred flame altar. It reminded her of Rei briefly.
The sacred flame altar had been aglow only a few hours ago as the embers were still fresh and hot. Whoever had attacked the village must have also tried to destroy the stone altar with some kind of weapon as there were scratches all over it. This was strange...Mina remarked silently to herself. There was a certain part of the shrine where no blood had been split. It was right behind the sacred flame altar, in between the wall and a wooden scroll. The scroll didn't seem important at first until she realized just whose eyes were staring back at her. "Hotaru-chan?" she whispered, touching the scroll as if it would allow her to see better. Although only an ink drawing, the girl had dark hair and big, bright eyes. Her hair was a little longer than what the normal Hotaru would wear, but Mina still had to admit that it was strange coincidence. Bending down, as something had caught her eye, she found herself picking up what looked like a belt for the priest and priestess's robes. There had to have been a struggle in here, she decided, tucking the belt away into her jacket pocket right next to the map.
"Whoever was here, they're still alive..." And she would find them if it was the last thing she did. She was a Sailor Senshi, it was her job to protect people. Kakuzu be damned for now. If there was a helpless cleric out there that needed her help, she'd find them before the day was out. Minako tore out of the town, not wary that the attacker might have still been lurking about. She figured she'd turn left when she got to the village gate as she had come from the right way to enter and she certainly hadn't passed by anyone else on the road.
Little did Minako know, that she was just a few steps behind a sobbing, traumatized medicine woman and a blood-splattered anti-religion freak.
Okay, I know this chapter relied pretty heavily on the geography of the Naruto world, but I promise that it's not as difficult as it all sounds. All you need to do is go to a search engine and type in Naruto geography and it should bring up three or four maps. The map Mina has is not a detailed one as it only depicts the really big countries like the Land of Fire/Konoha, and not any of the smaller ones. As such, on her map, where the Land of Fangs is between Takigakure and Otogakure would be there, there is a strip of land with no name on her map. Also, for STORY PURPOSES ONLY, I am placing Yugakure in the Land of Fangs because not only does it fit better with my story, the viewers are never told where exactly Yugakure is located at/in. Hidan is from Yugakure even though this is never mentioned in the manga, and only in the anime.
Don't mean to burst your bubble Mina-fans, but the POV will be shifting around for the next couple of chapters, but don't worry, this is still Mina's story. Ojii-san means grandfather or old man. Let's see, did I miss anything else?