I added more to this chapter than I initially wrote. Like I literally rewrote this chapter because I felt this mission needed more of a conclusion than I initially thought. So now I have a chapter 11 part A and chapter 11-part B. But it's okay though. Part b is what I'll turn into chapter 12 and rename the other chapters I have written. Hope you enjoy.
I would appreciate if those who read this piece to give me feedback. I feel like an author writing to an invisible audience :(. Thanks.
BTW I posted a new sketch of Saryie in action when she was fighting Yuri, if you guys wanna check that out. It's on my deviantart page.
Stirring Emotions
Chapter 11
Once Sai's birds got them to the Land of Stones, the team descended. It was at that time that Sakura was finally able to take a look at Saryie's wounds. The two girls seemed to be doing better, at least Shui was. Her eyes were concerned as she watched Sakura start to check on Saryie's burned thigh. Thankfully, Nali had stopped crying, but didn't watch as Sakura worked on the wound. The child was still holding on to the pendant around her neck and whimpered when Saryie made a hissing sound at the pain.
Michi was at Saryie's side, concern in his eyes for his teammate. He had seen her do some stupid stuff in the past that had got her hurt but it still affected him. He saw Saryie as one of his younger sisters that he needed to stand behind.
Sai and Neji were still standing. Neji stood over the two girls, his byakugan activated, his face serious. Sai stood off to the side at Saryie's feet. His face too was blank as his eyes watched Sakura's hands rip Saryie's shorts for better access to the wound and started to apply a healing jutsu.
Saryie tried not to voice her pain too much, but hisses could be heard from her mouth on occasion.
"Will she be okay?" Shui asked to Sakura.
"She'll be fine. I'm just cleaning the wound at the moment and then I will help generate new cells within the wound so it can heal faster," Sakura stated, focused.
"Don't worry kid, she's tough as nails," Michi spoke with a toothy smile at Shui.
"Yea, I had worse," Saryie claimed, looking at Shui with a confident smile.
Shui didn't say more, biting her lip.
"Those ninjas that had attacked us, they were after more than just your lives. They claimed the Yuan clan stole something from them. Do you know what they could possibly be after?" Neji asked, his tone calm.
Shui's eyes went to Neji and shook her head, but Nali's eyes averted Neji's and stared at the ground, shaking.
Saryie caught the slight movement of Nali and the hand that was still clutching her necklace.
"They called it the Stone of Vigor," Sai spoke, softly, his eyes too watching the girls.
Shui's eyes immediately widened. "That stone is just an old legend. It was lost 15 years ago after the Yuan succeed the Tuan clan," Shui answered, flabbergasted.
"Nali, will you show us what you're holding?" Saryie asked, bringing everyone's attention to Nali.
Nali's head snapped up in what looked to be fear. She bit her lip and shook her head extensively. Shui's attention focused on her sister's odd resistance.
"Nali…?" Shui questioned.
Nali almost started crying again.
"It's okay Nali, just show them what's in your hand," Shui spoke comfortingly.
Nali looked down and held out her hand and slowly showed the pendent that she had been clutching. Shui gasped.
"Is that…?" Shui hesitated.
"Papa gave it to me… He told me it would keep us safe. He said I couldn't tell you, that the magic wouldn't work if I showed you," Nali spoke in whimpers.
Shui slapped the stone out of Nali's hand immediately, anger rising up within her. "THAT'S THE STONE OF VIGOR, Nali. Papa didn't want you to tell me because he knew I would know what it was. It doesn't keep us safe! It paints a target on our back!" Shui exclaimed, making her sister scared.
"Shui, quit it; you're scaring her. She didn't know any better," Michi spoke firmly, feeling sympathetic.
Shui's breathing was heavy as the anger in her boiled. "I told you! I told you all it was only about politics. Our father didn't want us to be safe. He wanted the stone to be safe!"
"What's so special about the Stone of Vigor?" Neji questioned, keeping his composure.
Shui let out an exaggerating sigh. "The legend was the Stone of Vigor could give the ninja who possessed it with enormous amounts of chakra and strength. That there was a jutsu that could extract the power from the source of the stone. It was said the stone helped the Land of Gems establish itself and was a source of defense against intruders.
"There was a point when the main family was spilt between main members and lesser branches, ultimately the Yuan and the Tuan clans. It was 15 years ago where they battled for the throne in the Land of Gems. The Yuan clan succeed and the Tuan clan was supposedly exiled within the nation but there were rumors that the Tuan clan had been sneaking into the city," Shui spoke bitterly.
"Then those enemy ninjas must have been from the Tuan clan," Neji clarified, thoughtful.
"Yea, but how did they even know how to find us so quickly and how did they know that Nali had the stone in the first place?" Michi questioned.
"There was probably a spy amongst the palace guards or bribery," Sakura theorized, her glowing hand still hovering over Saryie's injury.
"If that were true, then it's possible that others might come looking for them," Neji theorized. "We should get them into custody with the Land of Stone's officers right away."
"How do you even know that is safe?!" Shui shouted.
"You have more of a chance within the Land of Stone's protection than you do sitting here whining about it," Neji spoke firmly, his eyes narrowed.
"Yea right, you don't care about our safety! You just care about completing the mission," Shui stated, bitterly.
"Yes that is our mission. To escort you and protect you until we get you two under the protection and custody of the Land of Stone ninja," Neji stated, evenly.
"What about the Stone of Vigor? What are we supposed to do with that?" Michi asked, looking up at Neji.
"It's not part of our concern. It's a matter between the Yuan and Tuan clans."
"Neji! We can't let any foreigners get their hands on that stone," Saryie spoke up, barely concentrating on the conversation.
"She's right. If it falls into the wrong hands, it is a threat to the Hidden Leaf Village," Sai defended, rationally.
Neji took a few moments to contemplate their alternatives. It didn't seem reasonable to let the stone stay with the two heiresses who had no way to protect it. It also seemed idiotic to pass along the weapon to their allies in the Land of Stone. The weapon could be easily turned against their village. Neji knew they could not take the weapon to secure it. If the Land of Gems found out, their ties would be cut and other nations would fight the village for it. There was no good option.
Neji sighed, in reluctance. "It is not a matter to be concerned with for this mission. There's nothing we can do," Neji stated.
Shui began a rant of how she was right; she stubbornly spoke about how no one cared for them. She spoke ill of her father and of her place of birth. The team let her rant for a bit as Sakura moved on to check Saryie's arm that had been wrapped in bandages.
Neji asked Sakura if they be able to depart soon and if Saryie can walk. Sakura advised that Saryie needed to take pressure off the wound that she shouldn't walk. Saryie claimed she could do it and tried to get up. It was easy to see the pain on her face at putting pressure on her injured leg.
Michi stepped up, offering to carry her. Neji disagreed, wanting Michi to rather keep close proximity to the girls to protect them with his jutsu. Neji instructed Sai and Saryie to take aerial surveillance as they continued their journey on foot to meet the Land of Stone ninjas.
It was up to Sai and Saryie to spot any irregularities along the journey. Neji wanted to be sure the team handed off the two heiresses to the right people.
The team got going soon after with Sai and Saryie taking to the sky and Shui disgustedly picking up the Stone of Vigor. It was her people's most treasured stone even though it was more of a burden than a gift. Neji led the team, walking briskly through the rocky terrain with Shui and Nali behind him close to Michi and Sakura taking the flank. The terrain was too hard to run through. The rocks could easily crumble, making it difficult to maneuver through.
Saryie and Sai kept their eyes opened for anything out of the ordinary. Their guard was up after their last encounter. The team was heading into a ravine of stones, knowing that the Hidden Stone Village's was up ahead.
Without warning, five ninjas in outfits that were similar to the ninjas they fought before, had attacked. Neji was able to block the sharp flying objects, aware that there were more ninja coming. Michi had activated his armor around his body, making sure the two girls stayed close to his side. Sakura was handling the flank, fighting off the ninja that came at her. She two made sure to stay at Michi's side.
"We have to help them!" Saryie exclaimed, shocked watching what was happening below.
Sai was already on it by drawing lions to unleash upon the enemy ninja and to give their teammates room to escape. The other ninja became aware of the flying bird in the sky as lions descended upon them. Saryie's eyes scanned the battlefield, feeling useless. That's when something caught her eye.
"Sakura! Michi! It's an ambush!" Saryie shouted, from the sky.
The announcement gave enough forewarning to Michi and Sakura as the cliff above their head exploded by paper bombs. Michi extended his armor around the girls as Sakura sent a fist full of chakra to her hand. The big boulder that would have crushed them crumbled into a million tiny pieces at Sakura's punch.
After the explosion, Neji had made his way from the enemy ninja to Sakura and Michi. The Neji's team retreated up the ravine, wanting to get out of the ditch and to the top of the cliffs. Saryie and Sai could see more ninja coming from up above. It was about 30 more enemy ninja from the Tuan clan. They were lying in wait for them. It was obvious with this amount of a set up that information about this mission was leaked.
"Get me down there," Saryie stated, angrily.
"You're unable to fight," Sai remarked, calm.
"I can still perform jutsu. Fly the bird down to the ravine," Saryie stated, looking at Sai determinedly.
Sai nodded, flying the bird down. Saryie began performing hand signs and summoning chakra to her hands.
Their team was almost to the top of the cliff with the Tuan ninjas following after them. Sai's bird cut some of the ninja off from following their team. Saryie then let out her jutsu on the unfortunate enemy ninjas.
"Summoning jutsu. Water style. Raging tsunami," Saryie called as rapid waters flooded the ravine.
The water washed the enemy ninja off the cliff and the raging waters spinning, pushing against the rocks. This left many of the enemy ninja to either drown, suffer blood force trauma, or to float downstream as the water slowly calmed.
Saryie was able to take out at least 15 enemy ninja leaving 15 more to deal with. Sai took to the sky again to catch up with Neji and their team. They were holding their own against 5 ninjas. The other 10 still fast approaching.
Sai drew up more lions hoping to slow the enemy ninja down. However, the enemy ninja after slicing through some of the lions drew their attention to Sai and Saryie.
The enemy began throwing kunai and shuriken. One ninja began sending fire balls at them. Sai was able to dodge the flying weapons pretty easily on his bird.
Saryie was using water jutsu against the flaming balls of fire, but had to be careful not to get any water jutsu on Sai's bird.
Another round of kunai was thrown but this time much to Sai, and Saryie's surprise, there were paper bombs tied to them. The weapons were too close to avoid as they exploded. Sai's bird dispersed within the explosion, but Sai had enough time to grab Saryie from the bird and away from the bombs.
Their fall to the earth upon the cliff was short enough to avoid serious injury. Sai and Saryie landed together on the ground, with Sai's arm around Saryie's waist, having absorb most of the impact.
Sai and Saryie sat up slowly, knowing the enemy would gain on their vulnerability. Saryie winced at her leg that was burned as it started bleeding again and at the pain of landing roughly. Saryie looked to Sai, he seemed roughed up as well but not badly as she was.
Sai was focused on the approaching enemies, grabbing at the blade on his back as he slowly stood up. Saryie saw that Neji, Michi, and Sakura were boxed in. Saryie wanted to help but she could barely stand.
Before any ninja could touch Sai, the enemies were thrown back as the Hidden Stone Village ninjas came to the rescue. Saryie sighed in relief as the stone ninja worked with the Leaf ninja against the Tuan enemies.
The ten stone ninja along with the four able-bodied leaf ninja made quick work of the remaining ten Tuan ninjas. When it was all over, Sai returned to Saryie. He picked her up and brought her to Sakura who was with the heiresses, Michi, and Neji. The stone ninja and Neji were talking.
It turned out that the stone ninja were the officers in charge of keeping the heiresses safe within the Land of Stones until the Land of Gems could settle once again.
The stone ninja then led and escorted the leaf ninja to the village once they were ready to depart.
Wow. I definitely like this better than what I originally had. The team will find out more about the mission once they get to the village. I hope you enjoyed. Next chapter will have more Sai and Saryie bonding and a little more about who Saryie is.
Please review!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I do own Saryie, Michi, and Azumi.