Chapter Eight: Caught
Meanwhile back at the house…"We'll work best if we split up," Kakashi instructed, "Iruka and I'll check the kitchen, Naruto and Hinata can check the bathroom, Sasuke and Sakura can check the bedroom and veranda, and Kiba and Akamaru can check the outside."
Naruto glanced over to where Sakura stood next to Sasuke. Aw, man! I wanted to work with Sakura!
Hinata blushed slightly. I'll be working with Naruto, then?
Sakura couldn't help but feel a little giddy, too. Sasuke and I, huh? This is too good to be true! If only Ino stayed long enough to see this!
So, with everyone in their content thoughts (well, most of them), they all split up and began the search.
"Byakagan!" Hinata exclaimed instinctively, doing the usual hand sign to active her bloodline trait.
Except nothing happened! I forgot… Hinata said to herself in disappointment, I can't do any chakra-based techniques anymore…
Naruto noticed Hinata's dejected expression, and his typical smile faltered. He was hoping to find some clue to clear his name, instead… Uh-oh, I hope she doesn't point the blame at me, like everyone else has. But can I blame her? And everyone else? Maybe Ino was right… maybe I did—accidentally—do something to the food, and, somehow, when everyone ate my food, they lost their ninjutsu.
He was about to say something to cheer Hinata up, thinking it was the least he could do, when his stomach suddenlygrumbled. He groaned, clutching his stomach in ache. With all that has been going on, I haven't eaten anything yet! Must… have… my… daily… dose… of… ramen…
Drooling, Naruto suddenly announced to Hinata, "I'm going to grab a bite to eat. I'll be right back."
He rapidly left, yet abruptly returned and—as an afterthought—asked her, "You want me to get you something, too?"
Hinata's frown instantly transformed into a slight smile. "Yes, please."
Naruto swiftly departed, and Hinata decided to search the bathroom by herself. I know we're suppose to do it together, but I'll do him this small favor my doing it myself. He's been through so much already, and—
She suddenly caught sight of the toilet…and felt like barfing.
For inside the toilet was nasty…putrid-brown…diarrhea. Hinata held her hand up to her mouth in a last-ditch effort to keep herself from puking. She then noticed how the air reeked as if Akamaru had just done his business in front of her face when she was sleeping (which did happen a few times in the past). But this was much worse. Finally, she could bear it no more.
And fainted.
As for Sasuke and Sakura…Sasuke opened the bedroom door, and was surprised to be greeted by a clean room. It seems Naruto's room is a lot cleaner than he is in person… He strolled in, and began to check on top of the dresser, then opening the drawers and emptying out its contents.
Sakura scowled a little. "Sasuke…do you think you should be dumping out his clothes like that?" she asked softly. "I mean—"
"We came here to search for clues," Sasuke interrupted, "And that's exactly what I'm doing. Why don't you go search the bed or something?"
Sakura knew she couldn't argue with Sasuke, so she just did as told. Walking over to the bed, she lifted up the pillow and blanket, but didn't find anything. If Orochimaru were behind this hoax, I'm sure they wouldn't leave such obvious clues… And even if it was Kabuto—like Master Kakashi said—I'm sure he would be careful not to leave behind anything that would make us suspect him… Sakura knelt down to look under the bed, but found nothing there either.
She glanced over in Sasuke's direction. "Found anything yet?"
Sasuke gritted his teeth in irritation. "Nothing!" he replied, turning over a calendar hanging on the wall. "Just keep looking!" There's gotta be something in this room that'll point out the culprit! Naruto's whole house was filled with people yesterday! The one who stole our ninjutsu could very well have laid foot in this room!
"R-right," Sakura stammered, turning away to resume searching.
Five minutes later, the two had checked every space in the room and veranda. "I can't believe there's nothing here!" Sasuke exclaimed, clearly frustrated. "We searched everywhere and couldn't find anything!"
Sakura fanned herself with her hand. It's getting really hot… Don't tell me my fever's starting to kick in again… "It's alright, Sasuke," she told him, "I'm sure the others will have found something."
Sasuke glanced at her, and was about to say something but stopped when he got a good look of her. "Are you okay?" he asked her suddenly, raising an eyebrow, "You seem really flushed." Don't tell me all that searching left her exhausted… That's pathetic! It was just a mere five minutes!
"I'm o—" Sakura began, but unpredictably got a wave of nausea! Her knees buckled, and she was about to collapse when Sasuke immediately caught her in his arms.
"T-thanks," Sakura gratefully said, and Sasuke detected the obvious frail tone in Sakura's voice. …This is not an everyday weariness… and she feels kind of warm, too. She must be coming down with something.
Gently, he helped her onto Naruto's bed. Sakura was surprised at Sasuke's sudden concern for her. He really does care… but I have to show him I'm stronger than this. "Sasuke, I'm fine now."
"No, you're not," Sasuke decisively responded, leaving no room for Sakura to dispute with him. "Take a rest for awhile. I'll give Kakashi a report on our… lack of evidence."
Circling the house, sniffing for anything unusual, Kiba and Akamaru finally stopped on their fifth round.
"Smell anything unusual?" Kiba asked Akamaru.
"Woof!"
Kiba frowned. "Nothing, too?"
"Woof!"
Kiba sighed in disappointment. Aww man, I wanted to find something! Wouldn't that be cool? "Well, let's go back and tell everyone what we didn't find."
While Iruka searched the kitchen table, Kakashi carefully inspected the countertops. And something caught his eye…
"There's nothing strange on the table," Iruka concluded after a moment. "Found anything unusual yet?"
"I think…" Kakashi ran his index finger along the countertop, and picked up scant traces of a black powder.
Iruka walked over to where Kakashi stood. He squinted his eyes at the counter, and noticed the black powder on the counter. "What is it?"
Kakashi held it up to his nose and sniffed it. "Well, it's not pepper, that's for sure," he replied.
"Do you think it's…?"
Kakashi nodded. "This could very well be the clue we're looking for," he said. "Now we'll just have to tell the students."
Pound! Pound!
Kakashi and Iruka exchanged glances. "I wonder who that could be," Kakashi said to no one in particular. He and Iruka strolled over to the door and opened it, only to be greeted by an angry Gaara.
What's he doing here? The last time Kakashi saw Gaara was when he was battling Sasuke in the final battle of the Chunin Exam. Back then, he was powerful, yet heartless. Kakashi had no idea if he was still that same person.
"Can we, uh, help you?"
"Where's Naruto?!" Gaara demanded.
Iruka—though he didn't know anything about this kid—suddenly went on the defensive, "What do you want with Naruto?"
"Tell me where he is!"
"AAGH!!"
Back inside the house…Naruto exploded into the kitchen. "Hey, Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, did you find any—" He skidded to a stop when he noticed that neither of them was in the kitchen. He darted his eyes across the room. "That's odd. I could've sworn they said they'd search the kitchen!"
He glanced at the closed door leading to the outside. "I do remember hearing a knock on the door just a second ago," he recalled, "Maybe they went to answer it." Naruto approached the door, but stopped short when his stomach grumbled. "Uh, maybe I'll eat some ramen first."
He turned around and got the kettle off the table. Then, he walked over to the sink, filled it up, and placed the kettle on the heated stove. Naruto took a step back and scowled, folding his arms. And now I'll have to wait a whole five minutes until the water boils!
That's when he noticed something on the counter. Uh-oh, gotta get rid of this!
With a Chunin and Jonin in each hand, Gaara abruptly wrenched Kakashi and Iruka outside Naruto's apartment.
The door closing behind them.
"I won't tell you where he is unless you tell me what you want with him!" Iruka countered evenly.
Kakashi added, "Can you also let us go?"
Gritting his teeth in fury, Gaara dropped them and impatiently said, "Watch."
The two Jonins intently watched Gaara—about a foot away—as he gradually lifted both his arms, outstretched.
Iruka: …What is he doing?
Kakashi: Oh no! Is he about… to do that
As Gaara was about to form his hands into fists, Kakashi instinctively reacted and punched Gaara in the chest, sending Gaara ricocheting through the railing!
And then plummeting to the ground!
Gaping at Kakashi, Iruka yelled, "WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!?!"
"He was about to do his Sand Coffin attack on us."
"His what?!"
Iruka's eyes were still focused on the poor twitching kid, his gourd shattered… the sand surrounding the body like a pool of blood…
"When he does his arm and hand movements like that, it means that he's about to let a massive—"
"Never mind," Iruka interrupted before leaping off the unbroken part of the rail and then landed onto the ground, feet first.
Kakashi sighed before following after him.
"Are you okay?" Iruka asked Gaara, gently helping him stand up.
Gaara shot Kakashi a lethal stare. "If you'd waited, you would've seen that I couldn't attack you."
Both Iruka and Kakashi blinked in bewilderment.
"What do you mean?" Kakashi asked, inquiring to know more.
"Ever since this morning," Gaara began, still seething from all the misfortunate events happening to him, "A similar thing happened…"
In his mind, Gaara replayed the humiliating incident that happened earlier…
"Ready?" Kankuro hollered to Gaara, who was about fifteen meters away.
And as Gaara said nothing in response, Kankuro rapidly unleashed his puppet, Crow, at Gaara.
Temari was watching a few yards to the side, impatiently waiting her turn.
The Sand Siblings were doing some morning training, and Kankuro and Temari were trying to improve their attacks.
And what better way to practice by using Gaara's impenetrable Sand Shield?
Gaara stood still, his arms crossed, as usual.
Typically, Gaara's sand comes to his defense automatically if anything threatened to harm him.
So nobody was expecting what'd happen next…
WHAM!!!
Temari and Kankuro gaped at the sight in shock.
Gaara flat on his back!
The Crow right on top of him!
"GET IT OFF ME!!!!!" Gaara shrieked, stunned that his "ultimate defense" didn't work.
Instantly, Kankuro and Temari dashed towards him. Kankuro immediately yanked Crow off Gaara, and then Temari helped Gaara up, simultaneously asking in bafflement, "Why didn't your Sand Shield come to your aid?"
"I don't know!" Gaara snapped, his irritable mood mostly due to his alarm that his always-comes-to-his-defense Sand Shield wasn't there for him.
"Maybe it was just a fluke," Kankuro presumed. "So, if we try to attack you again, then maybe this time, it'll—"
Scowling, Gaara routinely waved his arm, as if calling the sand to smash into his older brother and sister.
Instinctively, Temari and Kankuro flinched and braced themselves, thinking that they'd soon be flung into the air.
A few moments passed…
Both Kankuro and Temari took a peek…
Nothing happened!
"WHAT'S GOING ON??!!! WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME???!!!" Gaara furiously bellowed.
Putting her quick-thinking mind to work, Temari asked, "When did this happen?"
"Just now!" Gaara snapped, "Didn't you see?"
"It can't have just… not worked all of a sudden," Kankuro said before pointing out, "It worked fine yesterday, before you went to Naruto's birthday party."
"That's it!" Temari exclaimed, snapping her fingers together. "You were fine until after coming back from Naruto's party! Did anything unusual happen at the party?"
"…No… but now I know what might be the source of my Sand Shield unable to work."
"What similar thing?" Iruka questioned after awhile when Gaara didn't continue, snapping Gaara out of his thoughts.
"It's not important," Gaara quietly replied before adding—in a louder tone of voice, "But what is important is that I have to see Naruto… now."
"You still haven't told us why," Kakashi reminded him.
Not wanting to explain much, Gaara glared at the bothersome Chunin and Jonin, and said, "It just has something to do with Naruto's birthday party yesterday. And since it has something to do with Naruto, I need to speak with him."
Iruka and Kakashi exchanged knowing glances, both already thinking the same thing.
When they returned to the apartment, Gaara—now limping as a result of his fall—suddenly asked, "He is in there, right?"
"Of course," Kakashi reassured him, and then opened the door to find Naruto.
Standing at the same counter that had the black powder. A white damp cloth in hand.
A/N:
Craftygirl: Suspicious, isn't it? But…since I said I wasn't going to spoil any surprises, I'll leave you readers in suspense. Anyway, I'm still laughing over that Gaara scene! This is probably our funniest chapter yet! I feel sorry for him, sure, but it was just so funny! ROFL. And I'm glad that Sasuke and Sakura finally got their moment!
Princess Malika: Does anyone think it's Naruto now? Or is anyone still holding out for some other person? I agree with Craftygirl that this is probably THE most LOL chapter—yet! I love Gaara, and I know it's so mean to torture him like that—and definitely OOC—but how would one react when losing their ability to do anything chakra related—especially someone as powerful as Gaara? As for the little SasuSaku moment… I may've written it most of it, but it doesn't mean that I enjoyed it (just not a fan of them)…
