~16~
With the task completed, Sai exited the bedroom. His team leader met him and signaled that he did not find the ninja guard anywhere inside. He motioned for them to go. Sai knew the absence of the ninja guard was cause for concern. Indeed, the mission was completed too easily. He decided to go back inside the room to inspect the body. His leader followed.
"It's a real human body alright but is it really Hisamegoro?" he wondered but only to himself. He took out a sheet of paper that indicated the target's profile. It looked like him but a body double was not out of the question either. These lords were prepared to sacrifice other people to save their own hides; Danzo taught him this. He turned around to consult his leader. As he did so, he saw the man finishing a seal formation with his hands and right then, hailstones gushed forward bound for Sai. This was the ninja guard that his leader was supposed to do away with but had taken his form as a disguise instead.
Sai very narrowly dodged a hailstone aimed at his head. He evaded another coming toward his chest but a sharp one cut through his left shoulder. There was no chance to even take out a scroll much less paint a defense. He leaped for the nearest window and tore his way out.
Luckily, the wooden frames were easy to knock out and Sai found himself dodging hail from the outside. This time, he was able to take out his scroll and paint in a lion. It leaped through the air and attacked the hailstone-pelting shinobi.
A large hailstone easily smashed through the lion and its ink composition splattered and disappeared. Almost at the same time as the lion lunged, Sai himself ran forward and gutted the enemy with his sword. The shinobi lay dead by Sai's feet.
His team leader was likely dead. His shoulder was bleeding from the cut. Is this another failed mission?
Sai took a deep breath. He took his scroll out again and drew ten mice. He closed his eyes and waited as the mice scrambled for every cranny they could find. Less than a minute later, he opened his eyes again. "Just as I thought."
He pushed the bed where the fake Hisamegoro lay as far back as he could. A trap door became visible on the floor where the bed was. He lifted the narrow slit with his short sword. The real Hisamegoro looked at him with terrified eyes from below. The assault was quick and possibly even painless. Sai leaped back up from the hole as quickly as he jumped down. Hisamegoro's body lay dead below. Mission completed.
The noise up front was getting louder. Sai ran forward and saw his two teammates battling ten to fifteen soldiers. They managed to take out at least seven with katon (fire element) but then two ninjas arrived and faced them head on. They were ice element users like the one Sai killed. Fire was weak against ice though his two teammates, Sai knew, had more up their sleeves.
However, the mission was complete and so they did not need to take any more risks. Sai himself was running out of chakra. He took out his scroll again and drew three lions and released them toward the enemy as distraction. He then created a bird which grew into a giant size to serve as escape transportation. Sai swooped in for the other two Root shinobi and the bird flew straight out of the mansion.
~17~
Soldiers ran in pursuit together with the two Hail ninja guards. Sai's chakra ran even lower as he struggled to keep the bird flying with three shinobi on its back.
The bird's altitude dropped from 20 meters to only 10 even before it reached the border. The pursuing shinobi took this opportunity to release hailstones in droves. The barrage hit and scattered the ink-made bird causing its passengers to get thrown off violently to the ground. The three were forced to make a dash for it on foot. They made their way to the nearest forest to shield themselves from the attack.
It would take about an hour to reach the border of Hail and into Earth Country at their pace. Their direction was actually opposite to Fire Country as a matter of procedure. The enemy should hold no indication which nation they hailed from even if they're captured. The longer trek to another foreign country was one more sacrifice they had to make to keep their own land safe.
They had long outpaced the soldiers in their retreat but the two Hail shinobi's speed was equal to their own. Sai knew he did not have enough chakra to engage in battle yet they may be forced to do just that if the trackers narrow the distance between them further. As they continued their retreat leaping from tree to tree, the two Hail shinobi suddenly stopped, sensing a river flowing nearby. They formed seals with their hands and the atmosphere became intensely cold. The water from the river was being drawn up by an invisible force. Sharp white shards of ice formed as the water got mixed with the chilly air.
The three Root Anbu sensed the change in temperature. They knew what was coming without looking back and so struggled to hasten their pace. They would soon run out of trees to shield themselves with when they reach the edge of the forest. The Anbu with the fox mask was motioning a plan. The other one with the cat mask nodded in understanding. The two simultaneously blew giant fireballs toward the trees behind them creating a fiery screen of red and yellow. Amidst the flames, the white shards of ice pierced like lightning through tree trunks and whatever got in the way. At that moment, one ripped through the right leg of the one with the fox mask causing him to fall from midair. Sai saw him struggle on the ground below, crawling, carrying his whole weight with his arms. The heavy shard was still stuck on his right leg.
The cat-masked Anbu witnessed the same scene. He looked at Sai once then continued his retreat. Sai's eyes followed him but then looked back at his teammate below. "Whoever lags behind is left behind," he recalled. Why was he hesitating? He had very little chakra left and barely had any sensation on his left arm because of the cut he sustained at the mansion.
The anbu below managed to pull out the shard from his leg but it was impossible for him to get up. The gash spurted out a profuse amount of blood. Very soon the Hail ninjas would get passed the flaming trees and come upon the wounded Anbu. Without thinking, Sai raced toward the man. He had no medical kit so he took off his hood cloak and ripped it. He hastily wrapped the torn strip of cloth around the wounded leg. Behind the fox mask, the shinobi was both confused and grateful for what his teammate was doing. He was also somewhat angry at this development. He was resigned to his fate, almost happy that his long service to Root would come to an end. What was this about?
In the meantime, Sai had done his best to keep the bandage tight to stop the bleeding but he knew this was all useless if his companion could not manage to stand up much less run on his own. The Hail shinobi could appear at any time. He figured he could still make a dash for it but certainly not if he had a wounded shinobi on his shoulders. Thinking fast, he assessed the amount of chakra he had left. "Just enough," he decided.
He took out a scroll with his right hand, unrolled it on the ground and with the same hand, took out his brush and painted a lion. The life-sized beast leaped out of the scroll and folded its legs so that it was laying forward. Sai half-dragged, half-carried the injured Anbu onto the back of the lion. Immediately, Sai resumed his retreat toward Earth Country. The lion followed and soon overtook its creator.
Continue to Part 18
