"Nohigake let me go this instant!" It must have been a little bit after two in the morning judging by the amount of time they had been walking, but Hiruto couldn't be very sure while he was trapped inside of the wooden contraption.
"I would love to little brother, but we both know that this is the only way I'll get you back to Sunagakure," Nohigake replied as she continued on the path that would lead her back to Suna, the Kazekage, and her beloved.
"I see you're still working with Kankuro on your puppet mastery dearest sister. You seem to have it down to an art now." Nohigake silently agreed with Hiruto. It was pretty obvious that she had learned much about puppetry; it was with the genjutsu that Kankuro taught her and the puppet he had given to her that she had managed to capture Hiruto, after all.
"I always knew that you were his favorite. Apparently he liked you enough to give you a puppet of your own. I suppose you get special treatment when you 'service' the nobles like we have, dearest sister." Nohigake solemnly agreed, not willing to start a fight, but not wishing to truly acknowledge his words, no matter how true they were. She felt like nothing more than a puppet at that moment. How was it that Hiruto could manipulate one's emotions so well?
"Well maybe if you're good for lord Kazekage, you'll soon be returned to the top level of the servants," she said in an almost hopeful manner, as if she wanted what she was saying to be true more than she believed it to be.
"I find it funny that by 'be good for', you mean 'sell your body to'," he replied sarcastically from the giant, wooden teapot. "I have to say that I'm impressed that you have the chakra control to drag this giant thing all the way with you. I would think that the chakra strings would soon diminish after exerting yourself. I mean setting up a genjutsu and then walking all the way back to Suna would drain any ninja, but here you are, completely controlling the puppet while walking along. You must be really tired by now." Hiruto prayed this would work, and had his prayers answered as a yawn escaped his older sister's lips.
"Maybe it is time to rest for an hour or two. Hope you're comfortable in there Hiruto, because you'll be sleeping in that puppet till we get to Suna."
"I suppose. Is there any way I could convince you to let me go and join Konoha?" he asked her, inwardly giddy that his plan was working.
"I'm afraid not Hiruto. My loyalty lies with Suna, and you can't change that. But don't worry, when you return home, you'll become loyal to Suna again soon." Nohigake set the giant puppet down next to her as she leaned against a tall, dry tree to rest.
Whack! Whack! Whack!
Hiruto had been at it for nearly an hour now, and it turned out that attempting to break the puppet from the inside, whilst being quiet, was nearly impossible. Using the chakra scalpel, he struck the wood once again, but found no success in the endeavor. Shallow cuts soon widened into larger gashes, but the puppet seemed to be reinforced with a special jutsu, making it nearly impossible to break with a simple technique like the only ones he knew. If only he had stayed long enough for Lady Tsunade to show him how to master that immense strength that she and Sakura shared.
Nohigake stirred in her sleep, causing Hiruto to hold in his breath. As the outside world returned to its previous silent state, Hiruto continued with his mundane and frenzied task. He had to break free before Nohigake could awaken, even if he couldn't escape, he could stall until Sakura noticed his disappearance. He could soon see the rays of sunlight seeping through the small hole in the spout of his prison that was far too small to allow an escape, but gave him a small connection to the outside world. The sunlight gave him a renewed hope and he was soon clawing away at the wall of the puppet again.
A spout shot out of the wall of the teapot, startling Hiruto. He soon realized what it was for and attempted to destroy it. However, his efforts were in vain as the spout shot out a thick, purple mist that had the ninja feeling drowsy.
"I'm afraid it won't be that easy little brother."
"Hiruto! Hiruto! Answer your god damned door Hiruto!" Sakura was angry. Sakura was beyond angry. Sakura was going to kill Hiruto. The wooden door broke in half with a resonating crack as Sakura gave it one last, super powered, knock. She stepped over the wreckage and made her way into the apartment, finding it to be completely empty. It wasn't like Hiruto to leave the door locked unless he was asleep. He didn't know that he had the habit, but it was what the pink haired kunoichi counted on whenever she visited Hiruto's house. So it was extremely odd to have it locked if he wasn't there. Most would have expected nothing of it, but Sakura knew Hiruto too well. He would never remember to lock his door, much less get up early enough to get to a training session with his team or Lady Tsunade. Something was definitely wrong.
"Sand Slave isn't coming. I knew he was useless."
"Neji, call him that again and I will hurt you!" Tenten was already furious at Hiruto for skipping training, and she didn't need Neji to aggravate her any further. Neji backed away from the girl who was already red in the face from what he could only imagine as uncontrollable anger, not wishing to evoke the full wrath of Tenten this early in the morning. He knew he could beat her in full combat with ease, but the girl could and would hold a grudge.
The two walked towards the Hokage tower, planning to give the woman a piece of their minds as to where the medic was. Neji was originally against the plan, but was secretly interested in seeing the personalities of the only two women he genuinely feared clash.
"Lady Tsunade!" The blond bolted upright from her nap, quickly wiping the drool from her cheek. A moment of confusion quickly shifted to intense rage. How dare that little tramp yell at the Hokage while she was napping? How dare that little tramp yell at the Hokage in general?
"Don't you dare take that tone of voice with me you little snot! I will beat the living-"
"Lady Tsunade!" Shizune ran in before Tsunade could finish her furious rant and make good on her previous statements. The medic eased Tsunade back to her seat, attempting to block the Hokage's glare at the terrified kunoichi. Neji and Tenten had shrunken away from Tsunade, wanting nothing more than to escape this mad woman.
Sakura ran into the room through the wooden doors, nearly knocking them over, making everyone except for Tsunade jump.
"Hiruto is missing! He isn't at his apartmen-" Sakura's gaze shifted to her friend's teammates. Tenten answered her quizzical stare with a shrug, signifying her ignorance as to the boy's whereabouts. Sakura then gave Neji the same look.
"I don't know where the little failure is. Even if I did, I wouldn't want him found. Hopefully he's dead in a hole somewhere." Neji was soon lifted off of the ground by the throat. Sakura's fist drew back, practically begging him to say something to justify its impending clash with his jaw bone.
"Now you will listen to me! That is your teammate and our fellow Konoha shinobi. You can dislike him all you want, but badmouth him one more time and I will pull your head out of your ass, a feat you seem to be unable to accomplish, and smash it against the nearest mountainside until said mountain is a small pile of gravel. Got it?" Neji scowled at her, not doubting her for an instant, but refusing to relinquish his pride for even a second in the face of this woman. Sakura focused all of her chakra into her right hand, drawing it back as far as she could for a punch that would surely shatter the Hyuuga's skull. Shizune acted immediately, appearing in front of the two, catching Sakura's wrist as her fist came within an inch of Neji's face, and twisting it, immobilizing her hand and bringing the punch to a halt. Sakura struggled to break free from the medic's grip, but soon had her right arm twisted behind her back and a paralytic coated senbon shoved directly into her shoulder, causing her to lose feeling in her limbs and quickly collapse to the ground. Neji lay across from her, leaning against the wall, holding his throat and sputtering as he attempted to regain his breath in heavy gasps.
Tsunade shook her head at the sight before her. Sakura paralyzed on the floor with Shizune leaning over her, chastising her. Then there was Neji, on the floor, gasping for breath with Tenten chastising him. She rubbed her temples; how was it that the shinobi of her day, emotionless professionals that could work together perfectly, were succeeded by these shinobi? It was definitely time for her sake.
"Shizune, I'll be right back. You three have a half an hour to compose yourselves and act like human beings and not bloodthirsty animals so that we can discuss Hiruto," she said pointedly to the three who had already decided to ruin her day and had driven her to drinking so early. Not that she was complaining at having an excuse for sake.
Hiruto awoke with an aching in his back and head, accompanied by a foggy feeling that seemed to surround him. His thought process was blocked by the heavy dosage of drug that had been administered to him by the puppet. He suddenly remembered what was happening, and judging by the sun that was high in the sky, he didn't have long.
"Agh!" Hiruto was soon making choking and spluttering noises, moaning and groaning and making quite a spectacle of what seemed to be rather painful fo him. Nohigake was confused and worried by the noises that escaped from the puppet's chamber. "Gake-neechan, please, it hurts so badly!"
"Hiru-kun, are you okay?" They hadn't used their nicknames for each other in so very long. Hiruto must've been in a lot of pain to result to such childish methods. He could've had a bad reaction to the sleeping gas. The Kazekage would surely kill her if Hiruto were dead when she brought him back. But she didn't care about that at the moment. Hiru-kun was hurt badly. Her little brother needed her help.
She began to yank the chakra strings in multiple directions at impossible speeds, undoing the multiple seals that she'd set in place to keep it closed. The teapot opened to reveal Hiruto curled in the fetal position with tear stains on his cheeks, sobbing uncontrollably as he clutched at his stomach as though he had been stabbed there. Nohigake rushed towards him, examining him to see what it could be that was hurting him.
There was something wrong. Not with Hiruto's stomach, but with his hand. It was glowing a bright blue, the same color of her chakra strings in fact. The chakra traveled around his hand, meeting at the end of his fingertips, yet it continued to extend, finally reaching a heightened point a bit further from where his fingers ended. He quickly slashed his hand over her arm, never touching it with flesh, but with the blade. She could feel a sharp pain in her arm and she soon fell to the ground.
'How could I be so stupid? Why hadn't I recognized this trick?'
"You are to return Hiruto to the village at all costs, understood?"
"Yes, Tsunade-sama!"
"This is a class B mission if Hiruto simply abandoned the village." Sakura and Tenten winced at the thought of the one they considered a friend betraying them. "It's a class A if a ninja of jonin level was successfully kidnapped. So I expect nothing less than a successful retrieval! You are a four man squad and you should be able to catch him easily! He could have very important information that I don't want to leak out. We may be at peace with Sunagakure, but I want us to cover all our bases!" The four darted out of the building to start their mission.
As they reached the gate, Sakura turned to look at the rest of her platoon. Neji, Tenten, Kiba, and she were responsible for Hiruto's safe return. It was top priority that he was.
"Well the deserter is probably on his way back to Suna with the information, so let's get on with it already," Neji stated bluntly, earning a glare from Sakura and a silent nod from Kiba. If she'd had what she wanted, Neji wouldn't be on the team, but he was the only available jonin at the time and they needed to be deployed quickly. She didn't like Neji, and he definitely didn't like her, but they would have to work as a team.
There was only one thing that she could be certain of in the entire mess. She needed to get Hiruto back from whoever had him. She wasn't going to stand on the sidelines in the fight for her friend. She was not losing another one. Not when she was perfectly capable of dragging him all the way back to the village with just her little finger if that was necessary. She had trained for this kind of situation. She was stronger this time and wouldn't be a burden to anyone. The weakling Sakura had died a long time ago and there was no reviving her.
"Let's move."