Kiba was the first one to awaken, finding himself lying on top of Akamaru. He pushed himself to his feet. Akamaru's body rose and fell with his breaths. Good, Kiba thought, that means he's alive. He started to check himself. His body felt relatively undamaged. A few scrapes and bruises seemed to be the extent of the injuries he sustained. He must not have fallen very far. He looked around and noticed he was in some kind of a forest clearing.
Next he sniffed the air. He smelled… Ramen? He looked to his left and saw a sizable chunk of the overhang from the noodle stand was lying broken on the ground. Under it was…
"Hinata-chan!" He exclaimed as he rushed over to her. He threw pieces of wood and canopy aside as he struggled to unbury Her. Hinata was in worse condition than Kiba. The wood falling on her had caused a large bruise to form on her arm. Kiba held her in his arms, cradling her head. "Hinata-chan, wake up!" He said. She moaned and her eyes opened.
"K-Kiba?" She managed. She closed her eyes and hissed in pain, clutching at her chest. Kiba looked concerned.
"What's wrong?" he asked. "You okay?" Almost immediately after asking this he felt somewhat stupid. Of COURSE she wasn't okay, would she be making that face if she were?
"I… My chest hurts," She said. Kiba looked at where her hand was. It was right under her breasts. Kiba knew he should check, but… No, she was his partner, he couldn't think of her that way.
"Maybe I should take a look," He said. The color rose in Hinata's cheeks.
"Um… Uh… But…" She stammered. Despite this she started unzipping her jacket. She pulled it away from her chest, and lifted up her mesh undershirt. Despite the fact that she had a bra on, Kiba felt really awkward. He looked where her hand had been, and there was an ugly bruise.
"Hinata, I think you busted a rib." He said. "And… I can't do anything about that," He conceded. She nodded in understanding.
"Okay…" She said lowering her undershirt and pulling her jacket back on, the color still staining her cheeks. Kiba helped Hinata to her feet. Akamaru had woken up by this point and sat sniffing the air. Kiba, after some arguing with the dog, managed to convince Akamaru to let Hinata ride on his back.
"I think I smell Naruto… Yeah, that's him all right," He said before bounding off into the woods.
It watched.
There were more than expected. However this could work to his advantage. There were more like her.
From his perch on his island he watched them all, wandering, finding each other. They were gathering. All but the chosen and one other.
This other was troubling to it. He wasn't normal. It could sense a malign force within the boy. What it was, it did not know. It could not recognize it. All it knew about this force was that it could potentially threaten it.
It's mask slid back over its face and it waited. The chosen was coming his way.
Sakura had been wandering the island for over an hour, and she had finally reached the edge of the forest. She found herself in a massive field, surrounded by the forest in a perfect circle at least a mile in diameter. At the center of this field, a hill rose. The hill sloped up on one side and had a sheer cliff on the other. On top of the hill was some kind of white structure, or the remains of one.
Sakura thought for a moment. From that hill she could probably get a better view of the island. Maybe she could send a signal to her friends. She started the long walk to the hill, thinking about Naruto and the others. Were they okay? Were they still alive? She smiled to herself. Of course they would be. Naruto would never let himself be killed by this island.
That said, she still hoped he wasn't hurt.
