Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Chapter Four
To catch a predator
Time: 9:04 PM
Location: just outside the Leaf Village
Hiashi led the team, running through the forest like a possessed man. Flanking him were three elite members of the ANBU Black Ops, all dressed in their usual armor and animal masks. Behind them were Kurenai, Kiba and Akamaru, and Shino.
But in front of Hiashi, a black cloud floated in front of him, moving just as fast as he. The cloud shifted constantly, since it was made of Shino's Kikachu, all males, of course. Shino had activated the female who he had placed on Hinata pheromones', and now the males flew toward that scent the female was giving off.
Not only that, Kiba, who was riding Akamaru, contributed too. While Shino's insects were far more sensative then Akamaru's nose, they could not pinpoint exactly where Hinata was, just her insect. So, Akamaru had sniffed a piece of Hinata's clothing, and now was zoning in on Hinata.
Suddenly, Kiba sniffed the air, making a face. Akamaru barked and growled. "Stop! Everyone, stop!" He yelled, instantly bringing the team to a halt. Kiba sniffed again, and pulled out a Kunai knife. "Look out! We're under attack!"
Just as he said it, one single figure leaped from the tree's, landing in front of the group. He was massive, like a turtle cloaked in Akatsuki robes. The way he looked marked him as Sasori of the Red Sand, a puppet master and rogue ninja from the sand village.
Sasori clearly was not one for talking, firing a storm of senbalm from his mouth, each one coated with a lethal poison. Everyone leaped over the needles, then attacked instantly. Shino's hand flew from his pockets, and from his sleeves came hundreds of insects, which flew to attack Sasori.
"Akamaru! Let's go pal" Kiba said, his dog taking up position beside him. "Ninja Art: Human Mimicry!" There was a poof of smoke, and Akamaru took up the form of his master, mirroring his image perfectly. They both ran at Sasori, roaring a battle cry.
The ANBU all attacked in different ways. One made several hand signs, then instantly a raging whirlpool formed above his head, which he threw at Sasori. Another drew a wicked-looking sword from his back, and suddenly it was lit ablaze by fire, and he ran at the Akatsuki member.
The last one was more subtle. One stood beside Kurenai, making hand signs and muttering under his breath. It took Sasori mere seconds for his vision to blur, everything turning black, and he knew he was under a genjutsu. Surging chakra through his body, he broke it in seconds, then fired more needles at the ANBU, making him duck for cover. Finally, Kurenai used her powerful genjutsu skills to try and immobilize Sasori, while Hiashi charged his gentle fist and attacked him, running head on.
Sasori didn't even blink. He leaped, avoiding the various attacks, and then suddenly an arm appeared from his sleeve, revealing his mechanical hand. It began to rotate quickly, and suddenly at least a dozen sticks of wood flew from it, and then those sticks split up, revealing hundreds of poisoned senbalm in each.
The leaf shinobi acted fast. Hiashi suddenly began to spin, activating Eight Trigrams, Rotation, and repelling all the senbalm back at Sasori. Unable to dodge them in the air, Sasori used his iron tail, managing to block most of the needles.
Kiba and Akamaru took a step back, then took off into the forest. "I'm coming Hinata. I'll make sure you come back safe to the village, even if I don't" he thought, following Hinata's scent.
He didn't have to look far. He and Akamaru ran into a clearing, to find Hinata sitting at the base of a tree, playing with some grass. "Hinata! Oh my god, are you okay?" Kiba ran to her, putting his arm around her shoulder.
"Kiba! What are you doing here? Are you here to train with us too?" Hinata asked, not showing any concern.
"Hinata, we need to get you back to the village now! It's not safe for you here… wait a second, did you say 'us'?" Kiba said, his eyes narrowing in puzzlement.
"Yeah. Oh yes, you haven't met my friends yet!" Hinata said, smiling and getting to her feet.
"Who?" Kiba asked. All of a sudden, a new scent found its way to his nose, and he spun around. Beside him, Akamaru growled, baring his canines in what could only be described as hatred.
"Why, me of course. Right Hinata?" came a new voice. Kiba looked, and saw a man, walking out of the trees. He had long, blonde hair, and covering his left eye was some kind of machine, he also wore a headband with a slash through it, bearing the emblem of the hidden stone village.
But most prominent were his clothes. He wore a black cloak that enveloped his body up to his chin, decorated with blood red clouds. This was Deidara, the one who had owned the spider, and the one who had brought Hinata here.
"You stay away from her you bastard" Kiba growled, pulling out two kunai and getting down on his knees, in preparation for his All Fours jutsu.
"Kiba! Don't talk to Deidara like that! He's one of my best friends!" Hinata cried, pushing Kiba's shoulder angrily.
Kiba spun around, wearing an expression that said, "Oh my god, are you friggin kidding me?"
Hinata recoiled in shock at what her teammate had just told her. "Kiba, what are you talking about?"
Kiba turned back to the Akatsuki member, a snarl on his lips that would have made even Kakashi look away. "What did you do to her!" Kiba roared, getting down on all fours again.
Deidara chuckled and whipped the hair from his eyes. "I've done nothing, you aught to talk to my man Sasori about that. Speaking of him, by now he's most likely finishing off your little friends"
"YOU MONSTER! ARGH!" Kiba roared, speeding toward Deidara so fast he was a blur, Akamaru following. Deidara leaped at the last second, over Kiba's head and threw something at him.
Kiba looked just in time to see a miniscule clay bird speeding toward him like a bullet. He rolled to the side, and the bird exploded when it hit the ground, throwing Kiba back. Akamaru ran over to his master, nudging him and whining. Kiba stirred, pulling himself up.
"Lets GO Akamaru!" Kiba said, forming the tiger hand sign. "Ninja Art: Human and Beast Mimicry!" At once, Akamaru turned into a copy of his master, while Kiba took on the aspects of Akamaru, growling and snarling at Deidara. "Now, lets TEAR THIS GUY APART!" Kiba yelled, and both he and Akamaru ran toward their enemy, spinning while in the air until they were nothing but a blur.
"FANG OVER FANG!" Kiba roared, both he and Akamaru hitting the Akatsuki member dead on and tossing him into the air. Deidara fell back to the ground with a crash, landing on his back and spitting up… clay?
Kiba's eyes widened, as the body of the Akatsuki member dissolved slowly into a puddle of white clay. Deidara had used his powers and made a literal clone out of clay to fool Kiba. Kiba looked around, and noticed Hinata was gone.
He roared in anger and caught onto her scent immediately, climbing onto Akamaru and taking off into the forests, following Hinata's oh-so delicate scent of lavender. He placed his hands on Akamaru's mane and funneled his chakra through him to his feet, making the dog run several times faster.
Then, a scent caught Kiba's nose again. His face spun to his right, to see Deidara leaping at him with a kunai. Trying to dodge, Kiba twisted, but the Akatsuki member crashed into him, sending him flying off Akamaru into the grass-covered ground.
Kiba jumped to his feet, looking for Deidara. Suddenly, he was tackled from behind, and he fell again, falling face first into the dirt. Deidara turned Kiba onto his face and smiled sadistically. Akamaru flew out of nowhere, pouncing on the bomber, but Deidara was ready for the dog.
Out of nowhere, a crude clay bird flew in and crashed into Akamaru. The hound whined and then roared in anger, trying to attack the bird. Deidara smiled and made a hand sign. The bird exploded, sending Akamaru flying and crashing into a nearby tree. He fell to the ground and didn't move.
"AKAMARU!" Kiba yelled in pain, as if Deidara had hurt him and not his best friend. Deidara laughed, then looking at Kiba with a fake sad expression. "I'm sorry, but all rapid dogs need to be put down eventually"
"I swear to god I'll kill you if it's the last thing I do" Kiba snarled, raw hatred and fury in his eyes.
Deidara laughed again. "Listen my little friend, your buddy Hinata belongs to us now. Should you try to get her back, we'll kill her, and then you. Now, I'm going to walk away, and you will not follow us. Trust me, it won't be pretty if you do"
Deidara reached behind him, and pulled a kunai from his back pocket. "And just to make sure, this should keep you in place" Deidara stabbed the kunai into Kiba's left arm, impaling it and piercing the ground below. Kiba screamed in pain, and writhed in obvious agony.
"That kunai is dipped in some of my man Sasori's poison. With that poison in you, you'll live for probably three days, all of which will be filled with raw agony. Then you'll die" Deidara smiled again, getting up off Kiba and walking away into the woods.
That was the last time Kiba saw Deidara before he vanished. Kiba roared in fury and agony, the poison now coursing through his entire arm. He tried to scream again, to make some kind of sound, but he couldn't move his mouth from the raw agony. Kiba's eyes slowly closed, all sense of time and place disappeared, and the eyes shut.
Meanwhile…
Kurenai fell to her knees in despair. Halfway through the battle, Sasori stopped, then said he had done his job and disappeared into the trees. Hiashi was unconscious from the pounding that iron tail had given him, and two of the ANBU Black Ops were dead. One had been impaled by that godforsaken tail, the other had senbalm protruding from his chest like porcupine needles.
Shino was the only one who was mostly unharmed. Since there were no medical ninja on this mission, Shino was injecting some of his Kikachu into Kurenai, Hiashi and the remaining ANBU Black Op, so the parasitic insects would break down the poison Sasori used.
The last ANBU had gone back to the village to fetch ninja from the medical core, as he was the one with the least injuries. Kurenai already been treated, Shino was working on Hiashi. Suddenly, Kurenai noticed they were one member short.
"Where's Kiba?" She said, fear in her voice. She closed her eyes and felt the surrounding area with a chakra probe, and she detected a very faint signal, coming from the northeast.
Instantly, she took off into the brush and ran toward the signal, feeling it getting weaker rather then stronger with every second. Her crimson eyes filled with worry for her student, Kiba was never as close to her as Hinata was, but he was still one of the most powerful and righteous genin she had ever seen.
She broke into a clearing, and her eyes widened in horror. Kiba was lying on the ground; a kunai had impaled his left arm, preventing him from moving. He was twitching uncontrollably with his eyes closed, and before her eyes he screamed in agony, then was silent again.
Glancing upward, she saw Akamaru was no better off. The hound was leaning against a tree on its side, and he wasn't moving. His belly was decorated with black burn marks, and blood poured from some of the wounds he had.
She fell to her knees, tears in her eyes, and crawled over to her student. She wailed in pain at the sight of her young squad mate like this. She couldn't pull out the kunai now, as it was all that kept him from bleeding to death. But if she didn't pull it out, more of the poison Sasori used could be flowing through his system.
She wailed again, and maybe that was what saved her. Three ninja came through the tree's, landing next to her. They were dressed in full white outfits, and bore the leaf headband on their brows.
"Kurenai, are you all right?" one of the ninja asked.
She could only nod and more tears came from her eyes. She managed to point at Kiba and Akamaru and then slumped, not wanting to see them anymore.
The three medical ninja put Kiba and Akamaru on stretchers, and then ran into the trees. Kurenai managed to stand and follow them, praying to god that not only Kiba, but Hinata too would be all right.
A/N: Not a bad chapter. Maybe a little bit shorter then I would have liked, but whatever. I was going to throw in a small bit about the Akatsuki but I thought it would be better to save it for the next chapter. If you're upset about the gore, sorry, I didn't know I was going to write it originally, and perhaps watching the dark knight had some influence on this chapter too.
