Chapter Nine
Quick Escapes
Chi and Shino locked gazes momentarily. A gentle breeze had begun to blow through the forest, alleviating the heat of the day slightly. Shino allowed himself to enjoy the relieving feeling. Chi looked away. Shino kept looking at her, obviously expecting to hear more. However, Chi seemed to be fighting herself about something.
"Am I sure?"
Chi nodded, her face deathly serious.
"It's rather complicated. But you know how I-" Chi stopped mid-sentence, her head snapping up. "Not possible."
"What?"
For a second Chi didn't reply, simply frowning to herself as though deep in thought.
"Two Hidden Mist Ninja coming this way." She said.
She leapt up into a tree and headed back towards the town. Shino quickly moved to follow her, pushing the jar into his pocket. They quickly made their way back into town and jumped from roof to roof, following Chi's incredible hearing.
Before long Shino and Chi were lying belly down on the roof of a building overlooking the main street. Sure enough, within moments two Hidden Mist Ninja came walking down the street.
"What are they doing here?" Shino said, frowning to himself. He turned to look a Chi when she didn't reply. "Chi?"
"I don't know. Unless…" Chi muttered, more to herself then Shino. "They found out I met up with them."
"Who?"
"The White Shinobe."
Shino frowned.
"Who?"
Chi sighed and crouched down next to Shino.
"In the Hidden Mist Village there were a group of three ninja, a single cell, who prided themselves on being some of the best shinobe of the village. They never failed a single mission from a D-Rank to an S-Rank. They didn't fully agree with the Villages ideals and so they left it." Chi said, "They then used their ninja skills to help the people of the Water lands without asking for pay. The three of them brought down several major crime syndicates. But…"
"But?"
"When I was in the Land of Water one of the White Shinobe went rogue, not long after I met them in fact. He decided that he wanted the ultimate power of the land. He's been causing havoc ever since."
"What do you have to do with this?"
"I suspect they found out I met that White Shinobe."
"What happened to the other two members?"
Chi looked at Shino, her eyes burning with anger and regret.
"He killed them."
"Why?"
Chi didn't answer, turning her attention back to the jonin. She was apparently worried that she was the target of these shinobe. Shino realized that unlike normal people she didn't look scared when she was. She looked like she was on the verge of laughter in fact.
"If they go to the Hokage, for the sake of peace, she will tell them where you are."
Chi nodded still watching the jonin. They were talking with one another as they walked, all their attention on one another.
"There is the possibility they've discovered my mission." Chi muttered, her voice barely audible.
Shino saw her face contort as she became more anxious. He needed to calm her down somehow.
"If we can hide you they will probably leave in a few days."
"I was thinking that, but where can I hide. I can't think of anywhere that will be safe enough. I can't go home as that is no doubt the first place they will look. I can't use the Hyuuga's because they will easily be able to trace me to there, and I don't want to get Neji and Hinata involved." Chi thought for a second, slowly she turned to face her companion, a look of realization on her face. "Shino."
"What?"
"You are the best person to hide me. I hardly ever go to your house is so no-one will really expect that. Not to mention you're smart enough and resourceful enough to pull it off. Please Shino, hide me!"
Shino frowned slightly at her. She seemed quite fine with dragging him into it. He didn't complain though, he was kind of glad she had enough faith in him to believe he could help her out here. He nodded and the both carefully walked away from the peak of the building in such a way as they wouldn't be spotted from the street.
They began to make their way over the rooftops towards the Aburame residence right on the edge of the village. Both of them were so entirely focused on their target they didn't notice the two ninja right behind them.
Suddenly two figures darted out in front of them, causing them to come to a quick stop.
"Chi Udai of the Hidden Leaf Village." One of the figures said.
"Oh crap." Chi said when she realized that they were the Hidden Mist Ninja they had hoped to avoid.
The expletive causing Shino to give Chi a look that said 'You swear in front of me again and I will make you eat an entire bar of soap.' However, as it was difficult to convey all this in a single look Chi just got the message 'This is annoying'. It just goes to show that near enough isn't always good enough.
The two Chuunin froze. Unsure exactly what to do. Shino was mentally mapping out all their options in an attempt to find the best one.
"Chi Udai." The ninja repeated
"Yeah, that's me." Chi said, getting up from the crouched position she had landed in.
"By order of the Mizukage, you are to be returned to the Village Hidden in the Mist to face trail and punishment for crimes under the guise of the White Shinobe."
"You think I'm the White Shinobe?" Chi said, offering them one of her most sarcastic smiles. Shino noticed that the corners of her mouth twitched slightly. She was definitely nervous, despite her best attempts to appear casual.
"No… we believe you are one of the three White Shinobe."
Chi looked momentarily stunned by the revelation, obviously not expecting the ninja to answer the way he had. Then she laughed a little.
"No… I'll admit they taught me a few tricks, but I'm not one of them."
As far as he could tell, Shino had two options. He could help the Hidden Mist ninja to apprehend a known criminal, as they seemed to believe Chi was, or he could help Chi to escape from them. As far as he was able to tell there was really only one choice.
"Chi, do what they say." Shino said slowly, Chi shot him a glare that could have caused small animals to spontaneously combust. Shino however just returned her look with the same cool demeanor as always. "Two chuunin could never hope to take on two jonin. To do that they would need a serious advantage or to create one. We don't have that advantage."
Chi continued to glare by nodded just slightly to Shino. He inwardly sighed, glad Chi had been born with a brain unlike some ninja he could name.
"Fine you win, baka." Chi said, holding out her hands. "You better get me out of this, Shino. Knowing the Hidden Mist Village, the punishment is probably death, and I'd rather not die. He's my best friend you know, how many of your best friends would send you to die, eh?" Chi said the last sentence conversationally to one of the jonin who had leapt forward with the intention of tying her hands together.
"Chi,"
"Yeah Shino,"
"Am I really."
"Really what?"
"One of your best friends?"
"Of course. You're my only best friend." Chi said with a smile in his direction. The Hidden Mist Ninja motioned for her to hold out her hands. She lifted her hands from her waist then brought them both up, delivering a blow to his chin which sent him flying backwards.
"Hey!" The second jonin yelled, leaping forward. In midair, before he was able to meet Chi, he was snatched up by a swarm of Shino's Kikaichu. Shino's directed the swarm to throw the jonin up against a wall.
"Those bugs are so cool." Chi said to herself as she prepared to face the once again risen jonin. She began forming a sequence of hand-signs. "White Shinobe Technique: Ice Armour"
Shino looked over and saw Chi was standing with her body encased in armour which appeared to be made of ice. She raised her hands into the Udai combat position.
"Udai Tri-kick!"
She jumped at her opponent and delivered three simultaneous kicks to his head, chest and stomach. The jonin doubled over in pain. While Shino was distracted with the other fight he failed to notice the jonin he had thrown rising once again. This jonin began forming hand signs.
Shino eventually noticed when the man called out "Water Style: Hidden Mist Jutsu".
Slowly a dense fog rose and covered the entire roof of the building. Shino got down in a defensive position and waited for the attack. The jonin threw kicks at him, some of them actually hitting their mark.
'How can he see me?'
"Shino don't move, I'm coming to you." Chi called. As soon as the words hit his ears the enemy jonin disappeared.
He knew Chi would be fine with her hearing but he was worried because the jonin appeared to have a similar quality. Doing as he was told, he stayed exactly where he was and didn't move, straining his ears and eyes for any sign of Chi or the enemy jonin.
Suddenly there was a scream.
"Chi!" Chi heard Shino yell. She frowned, he sounded worried but she couldn't imagine why. Not to mention that Shino didn't usually sound worried even when he was.
She should have been more worried. Her armor had been shattered by a few well-placed blows from the jonin and she was now freezing. Not to mention that some of the glass had been razor sharp and slashed through her arms.
"Shino, stay still, I'm coming." She yelled to her companion. She was unable to detect either of the jonin and that worried her. She quickly made her way towards her friend, anxious to avoid the edge of the roof and make sure Shino didn't get a crazy idea in his head.
Suddenly she heard him begin to move away from her, his Kikaichu flying around him in a confused haze, as though unsure what their master was doing.
"Shino stop!" She yelled.
"Chi!" He yelled again, as though waiting for a reply from her still.
'It's like he can't hear me… how is that possible?'
Suddenly she realized something. "Shino! Snap out of it! You're walking towards the edge of the building!"
"He can't hear you. My Genjutsu took care of that." The voice made its way out of the mist as though it were the mist itself.
'Genjutsu… I see.'
Suddenly Shino's swarm of Kikaichu left their master and flew straight to Chi. In a moment she was completely surrounded by them. They seemed to be disorientated and unorganized, something Chi had never seen before. The whole swarm of them landed on her and she felt herself flinch, remembering that these weren't called Destruction Beetles for nothing. However, they didn't attack her, instead just buzzing gently against her skin.
Unfortunately the buzzing rang so loud in her ears she couldn't make out Shino's footsteps anymore. She tried to shake the bugs off and move ahead but they were determined to stay with her. It was then it occurred to her.
'If he is under a Genjutsu, what's to stop me being under one too?'
She brought her hands together and shut her eyes.
"Release!"
The bugs disappeared as did the mist. All that remained was herself and the two jonin right in front of her.
"Hm… you two aren't as slow as we thought you'd be." The hidden mist ninja said. Behind him she could see Shino, his Kikaichu swarming around his arms. She could see he was ready to attack.
"Stay back Shino, this is my fight." she said.
Shino shook his head, he couldn't allow Chi to fight on her own against two jonin. Suddenly she took a fighting stance he had become quite familiar with.
'She knows Neji's move?'
"White Shinobe Technique: Bladed Protrusion." Slowly two blades materialized from the back of her wrists. She balled her hands into fists and leapt forward attempting to land a hit on the nearest jonin but froze just as she made contact. The ninja melted, and eventually, washed away. "Water clones!"
Chi leapt over to where Shino was and they went back to back. Chi closed her eyes and concentrated hard.
"We should take this opportunity to escape. They are regrouping some way away."
Shino nodded and the two Chuunin shot across the rooftops, away from the scene of their brief battle towards the Aburame residence.
