Chapter 2: Departure
"Kurogakure is to the north, they network most of their supplies through the Forgotten River channel. Our best bet might be to get through there, but that's only if we want to be conspicuous." They had stopped for a short lunch break in a clearing and Shikamaru was pointing at the map of Kurogakure. It was located in the Land of Earth, far past Iwagakure. It was rare to have villages outsource requests from their lands, but it was a practice saved for S Class missions which would be better equipped with other shinobi. "I'm not sure what our main aim is though."
"Get in there, rescue them and get out." Kankuro shrugged.
"That's not a plan," Temari hissed pinching his arm.
"What was their original mission?" Gaara asked.
"Recovering Hashirama's sealed jutsu scrolls. They were stolen from our village during the war last year and we managed to locate them recently. They were in the possession of Jose and other influential leaders of Kurogakure. Sadly, Ai, I mean Sanmari, knew the most about Kuro and we knew we could send her. It was probably reckless thought on our part. Jose was the one who made her such a skilled assassin and she would be easily recognized there." Shikamaru leaned back against one of the fallen trees. His nimble fingers making quick work of an orange.
"What did Jose do to her to turn her into the Dark Flash?" Chojuro asked curiously, young enough like them to not fully understand who Sanmari was to the older generations.
"I haven't heard the full story," Shikamaru admitted. "She breaks if you try to ask her about it. It's a fight for your life."
"We know the story. We had to contend with the Dark Flash most often because of them residing as a rogue village in our nation." Kurotsuchi admitted.
"Tell us, while we head on to Kuro." Temari requested as the dark haired beauty nodded. They quickly picked up the remains of their camp and jumped back into travelling mode.
"Kurogakure has always been known for experimenting on Shinobi, in a different fashion than we've known Orochimaru to experiment." Kurotsuchi started. "They kidnap kids, of an older age, young genin level, but there was one year where they went for six and seven year olds. During a recon mission into the country, one of our shinobi brought back a notebook detailing this. Otherwise, we would have no idea. Kurogakure is adamant they keep track of everything, they wrote every name of those they kidnapped and their current status. A lot of them were dead, but there was one that stood out among the rest because it had a note next to it that said 'Dark Flash.' Everyone in our country knew that name and the notebook had everything detailing what had happened to cultivate such a dangerous assassin.
"Her full name is Sanmari Imaiquah Alors and she had been kidnapped from Konohagakure when she was six, training didn't start for a few months. It's a kind of trial period to get people acclimated to the city in hopes they will willingly work for Kurogakure. Sanmari apparently didn't go so easily to their desires. She was abused for three months, kept chained in a cell naked and whipped for at least twelve hours per day according to the notes, because she kept refusing.
"Eventually the torture apparently broke her. She showed no signs of having a life beforehand and when asked about living in Konoha before coming to Kuro, she claimed to have no knowledge of it." Kurotsuchi finished.
"That last part is legitimate though," Shikamaru glanced over at the group. "According to our records on Sanmari, when she arrived she didn't know how to respond in the territory because she was so used to Kuro and their abusive methods. When we found out that Max is her twin brother, we brought him into the hospital to see her, but she had no clue who he was. Max had to reteach her everything about her life in Konoha before she was kidnapped, but that was dangerous because it was so close to her torture that she could snap easily. Took her a while to trust that they were family."
"That's disgusting," Temari blanched slightly. For a country to use such harsh methods of training obedient shinobi, she wanted to rip them limb from limb.
"How did she become such a weapons expert though?" Omoi asked, nervously playing with the lollipop in his mouth.
"Once they had broken her into their will, they started training her. Apparently weapons handling came fairly naturally and within only a couple of months she was running S-Class missions by herself at age seven." Kurotsuchi explained. "I'm sure I could send for the official document from Iwagakure if we want to know the full story. There's apparently pictures and other stuff about each person."
"I'd rather not see those pictures, thanks though." Kankuro quickly declined.
Gaara was silent. While it wasn't the same, hearing Sanmari's story hit a chord in Gaara's head. It reminded him of when he was kid and only had his uncle Yashamaru, until he accidentally killed his uncle when his father, Rasa, ordered him to kill the small child. Gaara had broken, becoming a ruthless killer, unknowing of what love truly was. He wondered how Sanmari had come to be reacquainted with the term, perhaps with her brother.
"Do we have any good knowledge on the others, so we can be sure that they won't break like Sanmari?" Omoi asked nervously. "Because what happens if one of us is captured? We could get broken too. Especially if we have any violent tendencies naturally. We'd end up attacking one another. What if we killed each other? That wouldn't end well and it would probably end the alliance. If the alliance ends, we'd end up in war again. It's too soon for the Fifth Shinobi World War!"
"Omoi, calm down." Shikamaru slowed his pace to run next to the dark skinned ninja from Kumogakure. "Sanmari is the only one with a high chance of breaking and we have people that can deal with her. Kuro won't have enough time to touch the other anbu. Rosha was the team leader for this mission. He won't be taking any of the blame for the situation. We underestimated Kuro and their abilities to recognize intruders, that won't happen this time. There's not a lot of information about our anbu, Rosha is going to be a father. He's in his thirties and has been in anbu since he was fifteen, he's skilled and should've been able to hide everyone's chakra signatures, but something happened there.
"The twins on the other hand. I'm not personally aware of any family ties, but they are our shinobi. Anzu and Shogo have been in anbu since they were seventeen. They're now twenty-seven. Their abilities are dangerous if someone else were to manage to use them. Shogo is able to blend in with his surroundings, Anzu can transform easily into various animals which makes her great for infiltrating. She was to be the one who grabbed the scrolls and brought them out safely, Sanmari the assassin, and the other two the hidden guard."
"Logically, the perfect team." Temari complimented.
"Not right for a mission in Kurogakure." Gaara summed up and they nodded.
"What is the plan for once we get there?" Chojuro asked, they were nearing Iwagakure now and it would be another while before they got to the Forgotten River.
"We need to figure out where they're keeping our team. It'd make getting in a little easier." Shikamaru gritted his teeth.
"I'm sorry. I don't have a layout for the city." Kurotsuchi shrugged.
"Would Iwagakure have a map like that anywhere in its databases?" Shikamaru turned to look at her hopefully.
"I think we might, but that would delay our arrival."
"Omoi, Temari, Kankuro, and Chojuro will continue to Kurogakure and see if they can find a safe passage into the city. Gaara, Kurotsuchi, and I will go to Iwa and see if we can retrieve a map of the city. Recon in four hours past your arrival at Kuro, if we haven't arrived, move on without us." Shikamaru decided.
"Understood," Temari nodded and they broke into separate teams.
"Why am I coming with you though?" Gaara asked curiously.
"Because you're the Kazekage, and I'd rather not have Kuro have a chance at capturing you too soon. Although I doubt they would be able to capture you."
-oOo-
"It's been three hours since we got here," Kankuro pointed out.
"Shikamaru said to give them four. Besides, I want to delay our entrance. Having the only way in through the sewers is not something I'm overly eager to do." Temari told him.
"It's a smart plan though. We can follow the voices and areas and find the closest area to where they might be being held without sacrificing our cover." Chojuro smiled slightly, trying to ease the tension.
"But what if something fresh dumps on us?" Omoi started to go off on one of his freak-outs, the other three deciding to ignore him altogether. The guy was helpful, but he overthought everything a bit too much.
As it neared the four-hour mark, the last three of their group appeared, causing the others to breathe easy.
"Sorry, I forgot how popular Gaara is with girls." Shikamaru shook his head.
"I tried to avoid them," Gaara countered. "None of them interest me."
"You have to have an heir at one point though Gaara," Temari reminded.
"Now is not the time to be worrying about who's going to be the mother of the sixth Kazekage." His eyes narrowed.
"We got the map. Did you find a way in?" Kurotsuchi interrupted quickly.
"Sewers," Omoi shivered.
"Clever," Shikamaru complimented.
"I also borrowed these from our village so we can stay in contact." Kurotsuchi quickly passed out headsets and everyone put them on. "If we're using the sewers we can come up fairly close to where we need to be."
They ruffled through maps until they found which one lined up with where they were currently at. They looked to see if there were any maps of the sewers, but none existed.
"Perfect time to add a new map to the collection," Kurotsuchi pulled out a new map and quickly drew a basic diagram of the city and marked the sewer entrance. "According to the notes from previous visits to Kurogakure, the most likely holding places are these three towers here. They're interconnected by an underground tunnel, but we don't know how close the sewer is going to get us."
"How are we going to split up to fully search four towers?" Chojuro asked, looking for guidance.
"Chojuro and Kurotsuchi will go together to the northern tower. Kankuro and Omoi will take the western one. Temari, Gaara, and I will take the east tower." Shikamaru decided, pointing at each one in turn.
"Is there a duplicate of this map?" Kankuro requested.
"We can draft some rough ones quickly." Kurotsuchi offered, pulling out more map paper and tracing the previous map.
"Alright, after we get our ninja, we have to get the scrolls." Shikamaru reminded. "We'll meet back here with the anbu. Chojuro, I, and Kurotsuchi will go back in. The scrolls are most likely to be here, in the south tower. That's where Jose's office is according to the Iwa maps."
"Let's go," Kankuro signaled.
He jumped down to the sewer pipe and lifted the heavy grate with Omoi's help. Everyone filed in quickly. Kankuro and Omoi gently placing the grate back as they backed into the tunnel. They didn't fit it in perfectly so that it could easily be moved again once they had their targets. Kurotsuchi marked the sewer map, leaving unique details about turns and upper grates that extended into the city.
"This grate comes up next to the west tower." Kurotsuchi announced. Shikamaru pulled himself up into the small exit hole, making to push the grate open.
"Hold on," Gaara told him.
He closed one eye, holding out a hand as a sand eyeball formed. It floated upwards, sliding through the opening of the grate and surveying the area. A thin line of sand drifted up after the eye, swarming over people in the streets who would be suspicious of their activities, quickly silencing them.
"Go."
Shikamaru pushed up on the grate, moving it to the side and jumping into the street quickly. Once everyone had exited the sewers, Shikamaru placed the grate back in place. Kurotsuchi used her ninjutsu to hide the unconscious bodies of the street patrons to help avoid further suspicion.
They quickly entered the west tower, looking around corners for Kuro shinobi. Chojuro leaned against the wall, triggering a hidden entrance. They looked around; this was the true secret of Kuro. An outer layer for no real purpose. Several paces away from the secret entrance, they located a set of stairs which went downward, into a dark tunnel.
"This is where we'll separate." Shikamaru looked at Kankuro and Omoi. They nodded, disappearing further into the west tower. They ran through the darkness, flashing a small light to keep their bearings. Chojuro and Kurotsuchi broke off when they found the entrance for the north tower, leaving Temari, Gaara, and Shikamaru alone.