A/N : this is gonna be a 'filler', but it's VERY important for multiple characters as well as the story in general, you'll see why. Also you may be confused at some point as to why a certain someone is here, but it's explained in the end.
I hope this won't be too boring. It may seem like a random mission but it serves a big purpose.
"It's the middle of the night, what could be so urgent ?" Tenten rubbed her eyes.
She saw the angry looks on her teammates face and turned to Kurenai, "Where's team 8 ?"
"We're here." came Shino's voice from behind. Kiba was rubbing his back comfortingly.
"Alright, Gai is still in the hospital so it looks like we're all here. Let's go. I'll explain on the way." She also had a solemn look on her face, making Tenten all the more confused. What's with everyone ? Where's Hinata ?
As they were jumping from branch to branch at an unusually fast rate, Kurenai made good on her word and explained the situation to Tenten, who was the only one still in the dark, "Two Oto ninjas tried to kidnap Hinata, she fought them off, but then Hanabi came in to check on her when she heard the noise and they tried to take her instead.
"She couldn't fight them off both her and her sister so she let herself get caught, according to Hanabi. It would have been a good plan to take them out at a safe distance from the compound, but apparently they had a powerful kekkei genkai and Hinata didn't come back. One of them dropped their map," Kurenai pointed downwards to Akamaru on the ground, "We're tracking them by scent in case they separate."
"We wouldn't need a tracker team if they had let me run after those bastards right away. They would already be in my Byakugan's visual range."
"Neji, there's a procedure to follow, we have to get permits – "
"Everytime we leave the village, I'm aware." he said, pinching his lips in a line and trying to keep his emotions in check.
A tense silent fell upon them until Akamaru stopped in his tracks and barked. They left the trees and gathered around Kiba who had come down before the nin-dog even stopped.
"What's going on ?"
"They've separated. One of them went east, and the other one kept going north. That's the one holding Hinata I can smell her." Kiba explained.
"Neji, Kiba, you're coming with me north. Tenten, Lee and Shino I want you to find the other one and bring him back to the village. Take the map, you're in charge." Kurenai handed Shino the map and his insects promptly picked up the Oto shinobi's scent on it.
Tenten, Lee and Shino went after him on foot and discussed strategy.
"Oto ninjas are experts experts at sneaking up on you. Most of them have sound-related kekkei genkai, so I'll take care of him. Why ? Because my insects don't have tympaniums." He made sure of that after he heard about the Sound Four.
"I could still take him. Definitly."
"So could I ! I have the power of youth on my side !"
"It's better not to take any risk. I'll use my best insects on him, plus we don't know what his kekkei genkai actually is, we don't wanna be caught by surprise." If Tenten didn't know him any better, she would've thought he was being a little snappy.
"What makes you so sure you can beat him ?" she asked defiantly, a little offended that he didn't trust in her capacities enough.
"Because Kurenai put me in charge ! And she's my teammate !" he gritted through his teeth.
Tenten, as quick and witty as she usually is, was too shocked to say anything back. They have never seen Shino lose his patience like that. Actually, they've never seen him express any emotion before. Except for when he's moping about not being a part of the Sasuke rescue team.
She chose not to press the subject, after all, Hinata was his teammate, and he and Kiba always seemed very protective of her – yet still trusted in her ability to take care of herself. He certainly must be more worried than he looked.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lash out at you." she barely uttered an it's fine before he changed the subject, "I think this is about the Byakugan. Konoha is still unstable, even with Kakashi in office, so they were probably trying to take advantage of that by discovering its secret. It's probably Orochimaru's doing."
"This makes sense, Kumo tried the same thing when Hinata was five." Neji had told them once.
They kept running, silent and focused, until Shino's insects lead them to a cave entrance. Their chakras were suppressed but they knew the ninja inside was aware of their presence.
"I think we lost the element of surprise with all that buzzing." Tenten stated, gesturing to the insects.
Shino shushed her. He signaled silently for her to stay put and ordered his insects to eat at their opponent's chakra. Tenten rolled her eyes and nodded.
Seconds later, all the insects Shino had sent inside went flying out of the cave, along with a skreaching sound emiting visible waves that knocked all three of them back.
Shino and Tenten understood quickly the ninja's kekkei genkai allowed him to create ultrasonic vibrations, and by the state of the Aburame heir's insects, it was capable of damaging organic matter.
Shino explained the situation to Lee, who still looked lost.
They decided it would be safer to draw him out rather than fight in an enclosed space.
Kiba has never been so silent during a mission. Kurenai was trying her best to stay strong for team 8 and Neji – not that he was even showing any sign of worry, besides his deeply furrowed brows – but being the adult in a situation like this one was proving difficult.
Her pupil was kidnapped. She should be allowed to freak out ! But she couldn't let herself display emotions she's a ninja. And she has to stay strong for the boys.
Showing her distress in front of Neji and Kiba would be especially more embarrassing as they seemed to be doing a great job of keeping their feelings in.
"Her scent is fading, his too ! We have to hurry before I completely lose them !"
Kiba had been perfecting his tracking lately, becoming even better at it than Akamaru, so if he said the scent was fading, it certainly meant that the Sound ninja found out he was being tailed.
"He's either disguising their scent somehow, or they're going through a particularly smelly area." he added.
They kept running towards Oto – as it was where the kidnapper seemed to be running – until an explosive tag blew up forcing them to jump to the side and land in a cave.
The cave closed up the moment they jumped in.
"Fuck ! It was a trap !"
He finally lost his cool.
"Calm down, Kiba," Kurenai offered a hand to help him up, but it was pitch dark and he was nowhere near her, "It's just stone, it won't be hard to get out."
Neji punched the stone door that blocked the entrance repeatedly but it didn't break, so he tried the walls of the cave thinking they'd just dig their way out the dirt, but the result was the same, "I don't think it'll be so easy."
Kiba sniffed around and noticed something that made his face fall.
"Where's Akamaru ?!"
As if on cue, a bark was heard outside the cave.
"Fuck !' He put his head in his hands, "Fuck ! Akamaru ! Just wait for me ok ?! Wait here !"
Another bark was heard, but judging from Kiba's face – which no one could see – it didn't mean ok, I understand.
"I don't think he can hear us." Neji said unhelpfully.
"No shit."
"Boys." Kurenai warned.
"How come he can't hear us but we can hear him ?"
"Well, Oto ninjas' kekkei genkais are often related to sound, so – "
"Yeah, I know, it's called the Hidden Sound Village." Kiba cut him off, and made a duh motion with his hand. "Also, I was there for Shikamaru's mission you know."
Neji glared at him even though he couldn't see it, "Maybe you could let me finish ?" Kurenai sighed, mentally cursing herself for getting stuck with the two of them, "Anyway, as I was saying, this… cave probably belonged to the Fuma clan. They used to live at the border between Konoha and Oto until they pledged allegiance to the Sound Land about fifty years ago."
Kurenai crouched down to feel for some twigs. When she gathered enough, she used a Katon and lit them on fire. Because of the new found light, she noticed red marks on the walls.
"If you're right about this and, judging by the stains on the walls," Kurenai pointed to the dried, old-looking blood marks at her left, "We might just be a torture room. So that means this cave traps sounds."
"No one will hear us."
Neji activated his Byakugan but found that he could barely see past the cave, the blockage and the walls being filled with chakra. How the fuck ?
Shino took in the state of his friends – that included his insects – on the ground, worn out and angry. The Sound Village ninja has been blocking and countering all their attacks, and they were left with no idea on how to change the tide.
Rock Lee had been the one to attack first when their opponent came out of the cave using his screaming as a sonic weapon. The sheer force of the soundwaves had propelled the taijutsu expert backwards everytime.
Tenten then tried throwing kunais and other weapons at him.
"It's not going to work ! Remember your fight with Temari !" Shino had shouted.
He couldn't see her jaw clench or Lee wince. She did remember her fight with Temari, that failure was haunting her. And she didn't need Shino twisting the knife, when she already felt like she was reliving the embarrassement.
She threw an explosive tag attached to a kunai, hoping the explosion would somehow counter the sound waves, but it fired back, quite literally, sending the leaf shinobis backwards along with Shino's insects which were about to attack.
Shino felt his teammates-for-the-day get back up, ready to attack again.
"I'm going to try something else. He doesn't have a 360° range, and he's not that fast. I'm sure I can access his blind spot." he said to stop them from acting impulsively. He knew it was a long shot, but he was out of ideas.
"Don't. I know what to do."
"Lee, you already tried taijutsu. Leave this to me." It's not like you have anything else to rely on, he wanted to add.
"You, my friend, need to stop thinking so logically. I have the power of youth and the gates by my side !"
Shino stopped to think. The gates help him decuplate his strength and resistance. That could be the key to resist the enemy's kekkei genkai. This could actually work.
Rock Lee opened the gates one by one, finishing with the fourth, and jumped at the Oto ninja. At the sight of the green aura surrounding Lee, he screamed harder at him, making the leaf shinobi float in the air, stuck between his own force and the enemy's.
Not backing down, Lee opened the fifth, then the sixth gate, giving him the strength and speed he needed to kick the sound waves in the opposite direction, hitting his opponent with the combined power of both of their attacks.
Both of them were propelled backwards. Tenten ran to her teammate's side, knowing what opening the gates did to one's body. Shino used his remaining insects to carry the Oto nin to them.
"When did you learn to open the Sixth Gate ?!"
"We need something to gag his mouth." Shino said before Lee could reply.
Tenten took out one of her scrolls and summoned a napkin. Shino raised a brow at the randomness. He scrunched up the napkin anyway and put it in his prisoner's mouth.
"We also need some tape and a rope to tie him up." He couldn't stay silent as she summoned exactly those things. "Well, you're conveniant." he observed then taped his mouth and tied his hands together.
"Shut up. My fuinjutsu is conveniant. I'm not a walking scroll."
He wanted to tell her it was a compliment, but he had a feeling that would just make her angry.
"We should get back to the village now, and bring the culprit to judgement." Shino turned to Lee as he said this, and realized he didn't want to. He trusted Kurenai, Kiba and Neji to bring back Hinata, but he wanted to save her himself.
And he wanted to have his insects eat at her kidnapper's entire chakra until he died.
"We should wait until your body's recovered. Let's spend the night. I'll take first watch of the bastard, you guys get some sleep." Tenten said.
"If Akamaru was a little smarter, he would have gone to seek help already, instead of barking uselessly for an hour ! But I guess it's as nin-dog, as master !"
Neji was frustrated and Kiba and his stupid dog weren't helping the headache he was starting to get.
They've gone from a few passive aggressive remarks to a full blown arguement in record time.
"Oh, I'm stupid ?" Neji raised his eyebrows defiantly, as if to say I said what I said, what are you going to do about it ? "Well since you're oh-so-smart have you come up with a plan to get us out of here yet ?!" Kiba retorded smugly.
"Maybe I would have if your stupid dog would stop barking his way into my thoughts !"
"Alright ! Stop !" Kurenai yelled. "I don't have the patience for your bickering anymore," she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Let's just… Let's brainstorm together."
They had tried to kick the blockage down, but when it didn't budge, they assumed it could only be opened from the outside, or through something else entirely. They just had to figure out what it was.
Kiba threw his hands in the air exasperatedly, "Fine."
"No. I'll think of something myself, you two can brainstorm without me." Neji said.
Here we go again, Kurenai thought. It was her role as jounin in charge to keep them focused, but she didn't have the patience nor was she in the right headspace right now.
"You're such a dick. You're not the only one who cares about Hinata, you know ! We're her team !"
Neji stayed quiet. He couldn't come up with a reply that wouldn't make it look like he was losing his mind at the thought of something happening to Hinata. He didn't want them to know he even cared, but it was too late for that. I should not have let my anger out, he thought. Ninjas must not show emotions, ninjas must not show emotions… he repeated to himself like a mantra.
Silence had fallen over them as they tried to come up with a plan. Another two hours passed and they were still looking around them, searching for anything that could help them.
Kurenai proposed they rest while she took first watch – in case someone outside opens the cave – only Neji said he wanted to stay awake. She knew he actually couldn't sleep.
"Hey," Kurenai approched him, "Let's take a break from all that thinking ok ? And before you oppose me, think of it as a way to not saturate your brain. You'll be thinking clearer later." she smiled at him gently.
"Ok." he sighed deeply, and tried to relax. Thank god that damned dog had stopped barking. He could hear Akamaru snore lightly.
"Maybe we could talk to pass the time ? How are you feeling ?" she offered.
"I'm feeling fine." he said curtly.
She knew he was lying, trying to pretend as if this is just another B rank mission. She dropped the subject and decided on a tactic to get his mind off Hinata for a while.
"Did you know that the Byakugan can extend a genjutsu's reach ? And accentuate its power ?"
He raised a brow, "I didn't, but it's not surprising." It made sense to him. The Sharingan was the ultimate dojutsu for genjutsu and it was a mutation of the Byakugan.
"I'm guessing they don't teach you that at the compound. I've actually been wanting to teach Hinata some genjutsu." She cursed herself mentally at her mentioning the missing girl.
"That's good."
"How about I teach you some ? We're probably going to be stuck here a while, and you Hyugas already have great chakra control !" she said trying to brighten the mood.
"I don't think we'll be stuck here that long."
"Not the whole training, just a few tricks, you'll see. You'd be a natural !"
The corners of his lips curled slightly, "Sure. Why not."
When the morning came, Shino – who was on watch last – woke up his comrades and his prisoner.
Tenten yawned, "Alright. We should go back now, and bring him," she pointed to the Oto nin, "into questioning right away. You feeling better, Lee ?"
"Yes ! I'm feeling great !" he exclaimed, but he still looked a little weak.
Tenten kicked at the man on the ground, still knocked out by Lee's hit, until he groaned – the sound muffled by the gag in his mouth and the tape on his face – and woke up. She helped him on his feet and kept a hold of the hanging rope that was tying his wrists together.
"Actually, I'm not going back with you. I'm going to Oto with the others and hopefully my insects can track the kidnapper's scent once I'm there." He knew it wasn't exactly a lead, but he didn't care.
They looked at Shino confusedly.
"Those weren't the orders," Tenten said, "I know you're worried about Hinata but she's in good hands."
"I already made my decision."
She sighed, "And there's nothing I can say to change your mind, right ?"
He replied with a curt no, and Tenten and Lee looked at each other, then nodded.
"Then we're going with you." Lee said.
"We're not leaving one of our brothers in arms."
Shino wanted to protest, he wanted to say it's too dangerous to carry an enemy prisoner around, or we can't all disobey orders, but he's never been considered – just, considered – like that by others who weren't Hinata or Kiba, let alone have people willing to break the rules for him.
He hid his blush and agreed.
They were running towards Oto, Lee comically carrying the Sound nin on his back, when they sensed a presence approching them. A bark was heard, and they ran a little quicker to find Akamaru.
What the hell happened, Shino thought.
When the nin dog saw them, he started running in the opposite direction.
"He wants us to follow him, let's go !"
They ran accross the woods for what seemed like hours to them until they reached a cave that looked like the one they saw earlier, except the entrance was blocked by a flat stone acting as a door and some of Shino's insects starting buzzing next to it.
Akamaru barked in front of the blocked entrance and jumped around anxiously, as if begging them to do something.
"Are they in there ? Is that what you're telling us ?!"
Akamaru barked in response.
"Akamaru, yes or no ! Are they in there ?!" Lee shouted.
Inside the cave, Kurenai, Neji and Kiba could hear everything.
"Did he just as the dog 'yes or no' ?" Neji was surprised to see he could still be surprised by his teammate's idiocy.
"We're here ! Guys we're here !" Kiba shouted.
The Hyuga boy looked at Kiba with unbelieving eyes. I'm surrounded by idiots.
"They can't hear you, Kiba." Kurenai said.
"Whatever. Akamaru told them we were here, it's only a matter of time before they figure out a way to get us out."
Rock Lee was punching and kicking at it with all his strength and was about to resort to the gates again when they heard a muffled chuckle.
"What are you laughing at, orange boy ?" At the nickname, Shino's head turned abruptly towards the tied up ninja.
"You. What do you know about this cave ?" Shino said, talking to the prisoner, 'Tenten, peel off the tape and take the napkin out of his mouth."
"Have you forgotten what that mouth can do ?" she scoffed.
"No. If he tries anything, we'll have Lee take care of him." he bluffed. He looked into the Sound ninja's eyes, "You don't want that, do you ?"
He reluctantly shook his head no and Tenten reached for the tape.
"Slower."
At Shino's order, Tenten peeled off the tape excrutiatingly slowly with a smirk on her face, then took out the napkin from his mouth.
The Sound ninja spit a few times then smiled smugly, "You can't open this cave. It's sealed." he just said.
"Do you know how to unseal it ?" Lee asked.
"You have to be from the Fuma clan to unseal it. Unfortunately, I'm not."
Tenten groaned and Lee clenched his fists.
"Bullshit." All eyes turned to Shino. "Bullshit," he repeated. "You have a sound-related kekkei genkai and orange hair, that can't be a coincidence. You know how to open the cave because you are a Fuma."
"And you're shrewd," the ninja laughed, "Alright, you got me. I'll 'open the door' on one condition you let me go after I'm done."
"No can do, pal."
"Deal."
"Shino ! We can't !" Tenten pleaded.
"I'm in charge here. Untie him."
She did so reluctantly.
The Fuma ninja walked until he was in front of the blockage, and ran his hand through its surface, as if looking for a specific spot, or multiple. He did some mudras – that Tenten observed thoroughly – before touching each spot and his mouth started forming a small 'o' shape to reduce the width of his ultrasonic sound waves that he emited on what looked like key points.
He's just using a specific frequency,Shino thought. It took him a minute to understand chakra was flowing through. How is that possible, isn't that stone ? It's not organic.
The door started retracting, but before it even burried itself in the ground below, Kiba tackled the Oto nin to the floor and covered his mouth with his hand.
"I don't care what my teammate here promised you, I'm taking you with us to Oto and you're going to show us where exactly your buddy took my friend."
Hinata woke up and was immadiatly overwhelmed by memories of what happened. She looked around and became aware of her surroundings she was tied to a bed in a room she didn't recognize, unable to move. Her chakra was deranged, according to her Byakugan.
Someone is watching her.
She deactivated her dojutsu and turned her gaze towards a strange man. She recognized him as one of her kidnappers from last night.
"I'm sorry," he started, confusing Hinata, "We had no choice."
Hinata didn't respond, prefering to focus her energy on finding a way out of here.
"I just wanted to save my clan." he admitted, "My name is Kaito Fuma."
"Did – did you derange my chakra ?" she finally asked and he nodded apologetically. She remembered that he had sound powers. He used his powers to neutralize my balance when he took me… Maybe he used them on my chakra points to derange my chakra.
"I'm gonna leave, Orochimaru will be there in a few."
Her heart sped up. Orochimaru ? Was she in one of his lairs ?
As if on cue, the nukenin came into the room, a smirk plastered on his lips. She recognized Kabuto behind him.
"Nice catch, Kaito."
"I've kept my part of the deal ! Release them now !" the Fuma boy demanded.
"All in due time." he chuckled.
"What ?! You bastard, you promised ! You – "
He was suddenly cut off in his insults when Kabuto stabbed him with a needle and he collapsed.
Hinata watches horrified as Orochimaru's apprentice picks Kaito off the floor to carry him out. Before they could leave the room, Hinata felt a surge of courage run through her.
"What are you gonna do with me ?!" she screamed.
Orochimaru didn't answer her. He only smirked wider, an evil glint in his eye, and left.
She had a sense of déjà vu. Her mind automatically went back to the time she was almost kidnapped by Kumo ninjas they had the same look in their eyes. Her heart dropped as she realized Orochimaru was after the Byakugan.
Hinata started tearing up.
She prayed for someone to come save her.
"We can't fight Orochimaru ! He's too strong, and he has an army !"
"Sure we can, Tenten !" Lee said, carrying a tied up Fuma on his back.
(They decided to leave his mouth free).
After Kiba had tackled the the Sound nin – Haruto Fuma – to tell him to lead them to Hinata, he confessed to team Gai and team 8 that he and his brother kidnapped her for Orichimaru's research, thinking it would deter them from going after her. Unfortunately for him, Kiba saw this as an opportunity to kill two birds in one stone. Only Lee agreed.
"She's right. But we're still going."
"We are, Neji. But this is a rescue mission, alright ? We go in, we save Hinata and we leave. We're not going after Orochimaru today. And when we get back, we'll deliver the location to the Hokage." Kurenai explained. They're as talented as chunins, they can handle an A rank mission. I don't need to form a new team.
"That's why we need Haruto. Why ? Because he'll get us in. Just Neji and me."
"What ?!"
"It would be too dangerous to sneak in. We need a believable excuse, so Haruto, you will say that you caught us both when we tried to save Hinata, and that you brought us for experiments."
Haruto scoffed, "What makes you think you're interesting enough for him ?"
"As you've noticed, I'm an Aburame. I'm sure he'd be at least a little curious as to wether or not we have any secrets."
"You are pretty mysterious." Lee mumbled.
"And Neji possesses the Byakugan. Any scientist would rather have more than one guinea pig." Shino finished.
"No. Haruto will tell me the way and the password to get in. Then I'll use a transformation jutsu to look like him, I can't leave two genin tied up with the enemy." Kurenai said.
"And if I don't tell you ?"
"We'll kill you slowly." Kiba said.
"… Fine."
A few hours later, they arrived in what looked like the middle of nowhere.
"It's beneath you." Haruto said.
Neji and Kurenai noticed the invisible difference in the pattern on the ground. They instructed everyone to break the genjutsu that was placed on what was now an entrance door to an underground lair.
"How did you do that ?"
"The Byakugan lets me know when a genjutsu is used." Neji explained.
"And I'm an expert in the field. My eyes are trained to notice those things."
Kurenai did her mudras and glamored herself into Haruto. Tenten summoned one long rope and tied up Shino and Neji. Haruto told them where the new prisoners were usually kept and when all was set, the three leaf shinobis entered the lair.
"Watch him carefully." Kurenai instructed as her last order.
Kiba, Lee and Tenten nodded firmly.
A few minutes after they left, Haruto started talking.
"We didn't kidnap the girl for him. Well, we did, but, not because we feel any loyalty to him."
"Stop lying, we know the Fumas are like, his mercenaries." Kiba snarled.
"That was before ! You don't know anything, ok ? We were never accepted, not in Konoha, not in Oto, even after we swore allegiance to the Sound Land !" he sighed, "He promised us glory if we worked for him. But then, he started using our own members as guinea pigs. A week ago, my sister killed herself. She couldn't take the torture of his experiments on her, so we striked a deal with him. My brother and I would get him the Byakugan, and he'd let our family go."
"And you believed him ? He's a snake ! He has no sense of honor !" Lee exclaimed.
"We were desperate ! Anyway, I just wanted to tell you the truth. And to tell you that I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what ?"
"I told Kurenai there wasn't a password. That's not true, there is. I just can't let you save the girl." he said, before he jumped back and screamed at them, knocking them backwards.
Haruto was about to open the small entrance door with his foot – his hands still being tied – when Tenten ran towards him and swiped his legs.
People often forgot that she mastered taijutsu just as well as everyone else on her team.
He propelled himself up by screaming at the ground and then redirected his sound waves at Tenten, sending her towards her Lee and Kiba.
"Alright, I'll take care of this."
"Lee, you can't. You haven't recovered yet and he knows that ! We need a plan." she said.
"No we don't, watch this !" Kiba said. He ran towards Haruto with Akamaru, the latter transforming into his master.
She stared unimpressed. At least he would give her some time to think.
Alright, what would Shino do ? He would think of a strategy. Last time he mentioned a blindspot. Which is basically everything behind him except I'm not fast enough to run all the way around him without him keeping up. It's just like the chu–
Her eyes suddenly lit up. It's not like the chunin exams ! And I don't have to hit him in a blindspot !
As Kiba and Akamaru went flying backwards – again – Tenten ran towards him and jumped high in the air, I can't open any gate so I won't be floating when he screams at me. I have to be faster than him.
Haruto saw her and redirected his ultrasonic sound waves towards her. She quickly pulled out two kunais and threw them with precision in the middle of the circular waves he was emiting.
As she had planned, the kunais' course went undisturbed. When the first kunai reached into his mouth, the second one hit it lightly in the handle before stabbing the back of his mouth, while the first one went into his throat and cutting through both of the elastic muscle tissues above his windpipe, and then deeper.
Lee and Kiba gaped in awe at the accuracy of her throw.
Haruto took the kunais out of his mouth, coughing harshly and gurgling on blood. He won't make it.
"Let's go find them, they're in danger !" she said.
Then the entrance door opened.
I will kill that orange prick was Neji's first thought when one of Orochimaru's minions had asked Kurenai – glamored as Haruto – the week's passcode.
Still, they managed to get out of that situation when she trapped him in an illusion that would last hours.
They were walking towards the aisle where Haruto said the newest prisoners were placed (Hinata was the only one at the time), praying he hadn't lied about that too, when Neji saw Hinata through the walls, her chakra deranged.
He deactivated his Byakugan and when they were sure no one was around, Kurenai untied them both and they opened the door to find her tied up.
Neji doesn't know if it was the emotions of finding her unharmed after twenty hours in one of Konoha's most dangerous nukenin's lair, or if it's because he trusted Shino and Kurenai not to mention it, but he immediatly ran to Hinata and hugged her tightly, just like when they were kids, before they discovered the concept of branch family and main family.
His happiness was short lived however when he sensed his cousin tense. He turned around and found his allies in two of Orochimaru's minions' hold, and him in front of them.
"Well, well. Two Hyugas for the price of one. Is it my birthday already ?" Orochimaru said.
Neji had a plan B for this situation. He ordered Shino with a look not to deploy his insects, but he musn't have seen him because he did anyway, allowing Neji to untie his cousin and for them to escape the room. Shit ! Ok, let's improvise.
They were reaching the end of the aisle when Orochimaru caught up with them.
"Go ! I'll take care of him !" he looked pointedly at Kurenai.
"Neji ! Don't !" Hinata screamed, but Shino grabbed her and kept running.
He turned around and faced the disgraced Sannin, looking directly into his eyes.
"You think you can take me ? How pretentious. You are a Hyuga." he chuckled.
"Let's make a deal. I'll be your guinea pig if you let her go."
"You'd give your life for that girl ?"
"I'm branch family. It's my fate."
"Well," he smiled, "We have a deal. I can't wait to find out all about those eyes of yours." He would have to abandon this lair, but it would be worth it.
Neji smirked, "I'll bet. Did you know they can multiply a simple genjutsu's power by ten ?"
Orochimaru frowned, losing his smile. The last words had an echo to them.
Neji continued, "By the time you get out of my illusion, I'll already be out of here with my friends." he said, his words getting distorded.
Orochimaru's surroundings were starting to blur before the genjutsu dispelled itself, it wasn't strong enough to last more than a few minutes. When he came back to reality, two of his men were dead on the ground and the Leaf shinobis were nowhere to be seen.
Hinata hugged Neji the moment he got out of the lair. He patted her twice on her back, self conscious of everyone's stares.
"We have to go now. My genjutsu won't hold for long." he said when he broke the hug.
"They'll catch up to us. We need to find some place to hide."
They ran, leaving Haruto's body, looking for a place to hide until Kurenai found one.
"There ! It's another Fuma clan cave ! This one's already closed, Haruto, do what you did last time !" This is perfect, Kurenai thought, no one will be able to get us in here.
"Where is he ?"
"Did you not notice ?"
"Guys… I killed him." Tenten winced. They're gonna be so mad.
She explained what happened outside the lair, how Haruto attacked them the moment they left, why he attacked them in the first place and how she destroyed his vocal cords - and his throat in general - so that he coudn't scream anymore and thus can't open the entrance. Or breathe.
"I'm sorry guys. Maybe we lost them, I mean I can't even sense any chakra signature other than ours."
"You did what you had to do to save your team. Don't ever apologise for that." Kurenai said, putting a hand on her shoulder. Tenten gave her a small close-mouthed smile.
"Th-There has to be another way. Right ?"
"I don't think so, Hinata. From what Shino told me, there's chakra in the blockage, and Haruto uses a specific frequency of sound on a specific point to – what is it ? - derange it ?" Tenten explained.
She used her Byakugan to check. There was chakra in there.
"How did you figure that out without the Byakugan ?" Neji narrowed his eyes. His analytical skills can almost rival Shikamaru's.
"First, my insects were attracted to the stone. They're only attracted to chakra, or smells I program them to track. Then I saw him trying to pinpoint several specific places on it before using his kekkei genkai. It wasn't hard to figure out that chakra was flowing in there." he explained.
Kurenai smiled proudly.
"I think I have an idea," Hinata started, speaking confidently and surprising everyone, "Neji and I can also derange chakra. It's one of the fundamental things we learn in the compound."
Realization struck Neji, "The gentle fist."
"Right. Since you already have the Byakugan, you can find the tenketsus. But, there is a problem. Haruto seemed to be using an exact frequency. If you hit too softly, the wall won't budge, and if you hit it too hard, it will crumble to the ground and we won't be able to hide anymore." Shino said, though his mind was still trying to figure out how chakra was flowing through inorganic matter. Maybe it isn't stone ? But even if it's not, only humans and some animals have chakra, so it's still a mystery…
"We'll start soft. Then we kick it up a notch if it doesn't work."
"Byakugan !" both Neji and Hinata exclaimed.
"There's two tenketsus this time ! The two knots there and there ! Can you see them ?"
"Yes ! I'll take the right one."
"Wait ! Haruto did those mudras to break the seal !" Tenten said, then showed them the complicated hand signs she unconsciously memorized. Once the Hyuga cousins learned them, they placed themselves in front of each chakra point.
The rest watched in silence, completely transfixed on the Hyuga cousins working as a team for the first time. It was a pleasant sight for everyone.
They watched as Neji and Hinata hit the chakra points, harder each time, until the stone went down in the ground. They all got in and it closed right back up.
"So… Are we like, gonna wait here until they stop looking for us ? What if they think we're on our way back to Konoha ?" Kiba said, breaking the silence.
"If you're thinking what I think you're thinking then you shouldn't worry. Orochimaru wouldn't send his men to Konoha, he can't risk it, he's not prepared this time."
"But he knows that we know his current location, Kurenai sensei."
"The way back to Konoha takes at least sixteen hours. He has plenty of time to destroy the lair and hide somewhere else." Tenten chimed in.
"So you think he's not actually after us ?" Lee furrowed his brows.
"I think he expected us to run back home, and he didn't bother sending anyone after us because he would rather save his experiments than waste time and risk not even getting what he's after."
"S-So he doesn't care th-that much about the Byakugan ?"
"He likes the Sharingan better anyway. And he already has it." Shino added.
At the mention of Sasuke, everyone winced a little.
"Guys, I think we should do something before he destroys the lair. I want to save the other prisoners." Lee announced.
Everyone looked at him confusedly until Neji got up from the ground angrily and broke the silence.
"Are you out of your mind ?! We barely escaped and you want us to go back ?!"
"You want us to risk our lives for people we don't even know ?!" Kiba added.
"Isn't that what makes a ninja ?" Lee counter-argued. He had him at a loss for words.
"That's noble of you, Lee, but there's no-" Kurenai was cut off by Kiba.
"They were ninjas too, and they decided to work for that creep. They only got what they deserved." he snarled.
Hinata noticed Tenten looking down and clenching her jaw, no doubt feeling guilty about having to kill Haruto and possibly leave his clan to be tortured and experimented on.
"I think we should save them. W-What about a vote ?" she offered.
"Ultimately, it's Kurenai sensei's decision." Shino said.
"It's fine. I don't want to silence your voice."
Kiba frowned, "Alright. Who's in favor of leaving their asses be-"
"I'd like to say something first !" Lee interrupted, "I know going back there may seem scary, and saving the Fuma clan may seem counter productive, but once we free them, they will fight by our side ! We have something Orochimaru doesn't the power of youth and the will of fire ! What do you say ?"
Kiba looked at him unimpressed, he's no Naruto when it comes to speeches, "Oh, you're done ? Come on let's vote."
They all took turns giving their answer. Neji hesitantly agreed. Tenten, moved by Lee's speech nodded in affirmation, wiping her tears. Kurenai said that she will go along with the majority. Hinata nodded firmly while Kiba, feeling the peer pressure nodded grudgingly.
"What about you Shino ?"
He didn't want to say yes. He wanted to take Hinata as far away from Oto as possible.
But he also didn't want to disappoint her so, reluctantly, he said "Fine."
They tried think of a strategy after that, but they didn't know the place well enough to come up with something foolproof.
Everything went terribly wrong.
In retrospect, they should've aborted the mission the moment they saw Orochimaru already outside the lair.
Now, they're on their way back to Konoha with one prisoner, a lead on where Sasuke could be and one less ninja.
"Alrigth. We go in, we take out his guards discreetly, then we free the Fuma clan and we bail. If Orochimaru or Kabuto shows up, I want you all to run for your life and leave them to me."
"Kurenai sensei, with all due respect, we won't do that." Tenten said.
She sighed, "I know. But I had to try."
Neji and Hinata opened the 'door' to the cave and the Leaf shinobis – plus Haruto – supressed their chakra to a maximum and headed towards the lair.
They hid before they became visible to Orochimaru, who was ordering his minions to take his belongings and move everything to their HQ in Kumo. All their ears perked up at that. At least they'd still have a vague location to give to Kakashi.
"Ok, change of plans. We can't avoid him, so we'll wait until an opportunity comes up."
Kurenai knew this was her fault. She wished she could go back to this moment and say "It's too dangerous. He's too busy to follow us back to the village. Let's go."
They didn't have to wait long as prisoners were being escorted out and that's when Kurenai gave the signal.
Tenten and Lee went to untie the prisoners – before they got placed in traveling cages – but they had to knock down a few ninjas first.
At the same time, Shino unleashed his insects on the ninjas that were about to attack the two thirds of team Gai. He killed most of them, but two used a Katon to push his insects back.
More ninjas appeared and so he unleashed more insects.
Orochimaru and Kabuto got in a fighting stance, facing Neji and Hinata with a smirk. They were about to attack when they felt the earth move beneath them. They looked down, then back up and saw a beautiful tree with pink leaves, Kurenai coming out of it. She threw kunai after kunai at them. Orochimaru and Kabuto felt the pain, trying their best to dodge the weapons, but the gravity felt stronger somehow.
"Break the illusion ! It wasn't the Hyugas in front of us, it was her !"
Or she would go back to this moment. She would've used their confusion to break up the fight between her team and Orochimaru's used it to make their retreat.
After Kabuto broke the genjutsu, they both looked around to see the Fuma clan and the Leaf Shinobis fighting side by side against his men.
The orange haired ninjas, though weakened, used their kekkei genkai to the fullest and created powerful sound waves to knock back their enemies far away. Leaf shinobis aided them by fighting the more resistant ones with taijutsu. They were on the verge of winning.
Kurenai jumped backwards when she saw Kabuto biting his finger and smearing the drawn blood on Orochimaru's arm, she knew what was coming. The nukenin put his hands on the ground and summoned a giant snake.
"Let's fall back ! Run ! Run !" she repeated when she saw that the genins and their new found allies were still engrossed in their fight.
But Neji and Hinata ran towards her.
Tenten was looking down, thinking about what went down and what they did wrong. She wiped a tear discreetly when her mind went to the Hyugas, and how they would take the news.
Shino turned to one of their prisoners – who had surrendered in gratitude to helping his clan – and asked him something that had been bothering him for a while, "Kaito ? How come there's chakra flowing in the stone walls of those caves ?"
"Seriously ? We just lost someone to Orochimaru and you care about that ?" Kiba was angry. He had been lookin for any reason to lash out since they lost the fight.
"The walls, and the entrance blockage they're… They contain carbon and oxygen. It's not stone."
"How come ?" Shino repeated. Kaito's explanation didn't make sense.
The ninja in question sighed, "The walls used to be stone. But when our predecessors almost got caught torturing Leaf shinobis, they decided to turn the dead bodies into something that could protect us. With some Doton and some Katon jutsu… They used the hardened corpses as walls and infused our chakra in them. Then they created a seal and the mudras and the frequency required to break it have been passed down ever since."
Lee's eyes – red and puffy from crying – turned wide, eBut if chakra's still flowing that means there's some part of it that's still alive ?!e
He got his answer when Kaito looked down, silent.
"We shouldn't have saved you." Shino said.
"Where are they ?! Where did they go ?!" Neji screamed.
"I don't know ! I think they used a Body Flicker jutsu !"
"Where's Hinata ?!"
"What do you mean where's Hinata ?! I thought she was with you ?"
A man with orange hair approched Neji and Shino tentatively, "I'm sorry, I saw them take a Konoha kunoichi with dark hair, if that's who you're talking about…"
"You didn't get Hinata ?" Kakashi asked frantically.
On the way back to the village, Neji started remembering how the mission ended Orochimaru's summon was about to wrap his tongue around his body, when Hinata pushed him out the way and ended up in his grasp instead. Kabuto shunshinned them out right after.
The Fuma clan had thanked them and Kaito offered himself as prisoner, for Hinata and for his clan, even after they told him about Haruto.
"I want to assemble a rescue team for her. We think we know where one of his lairs is." Kurenai said, not answering his rhetorical question.
"What do you have ?"
"He said something about Kumo. Fifth Hokage Kakashi, I know this is a dangerous mission, but if you agree to it, I would like for Neji and Shino to be a part of the squad, and I'll you decide of the rest."
Kiba didn't say anything about not making the cut, he just clenched his jaw angrily.
Under other circumstances, Shino would've been happy about not being left out of a rescue mission, but this was Hinata they needed to rescue. He'll be happy when he brings her back.
Neji left the Hokage's office without a word and headed for the compound where he would have to announce to Hiashi that he didn't bring back his daughter. He knew what was coming and raised his hand to his forehead in apprehension.
Protecting Hinata hasn't felt like an obligation for while. It was just something he wanted to do. Not for his clan, not because it's his fate – he stopped believing in fate the moment he lost against a failure – but simply because he loved her. He loved Hinata like she was his sister. Still, he failed.
And now he had to face the consequences.
"Nice work on the shunshin, Kabuto, I didn't know you had it in you."
"Thank you, Orochimaru-sama." he injected a powerful sedative in Hinata, "With the Hyuga girl now in our hands, do we still need to go to Kusa ?"
"Of course." he smirked.
A/N : The mission took place one month before the ultimate fight last chapter.
A lot of foreshadowing in this aha. Not just for Hinata (tho i have big plans for her)
Alright, as for the pairings i wanna thank the people who gave their opinion (btw thx for suggesting sakukarin i love them). I decided Sakura will be playing the field ;) probably with guys and girls. There won't be any leesaku romantically but she will be involved w/ other people i didn't mention probably. The eventual pairing will be a surprise!
Leave a review it motivates me!