THE GIRL OF THE SOUND
Chapter 21 – Kin's Decision
Kin's ears were still ringing from the explosion after she had regrouped with Shikamaru and Naruto.
The stakes of the mission continued to rise. While the trio had succeeded in grabbing Sasuke's barrel and were now on the move, they were still being pursued by Tayuya. Worse still, Sakon and Kiba had managed to blast themselves off a cliff, leaving the rest of the team with no choice but to leave them behind.
Kin gritted her teeth, shooting Shikamaru a glare as she leapt to the next branch. Shikamaru noticed the look and sighed.
"What would you have done?" Shikamaru asked.
"I don't know, gone after him?" Kin replied as if stating the obvious.
Shikamaru was shaking his head before she even finished.
"Then we should have gone after Neji and Chouji? Our priority is completing the mission."
"They chose to stay behind and fight, but Kiba was knocked away while trying to save Akamaru. He could have been knocked unconscious for all we know, helpless against Sakon. What if he's captured and brought to Orochimaru?" Kin shivered at the thought. "Besides, we didn't have the barrel then. Now we do."
"Yeah," Naruto said, struggling to hold the large barrel while also keeping up with the other two, "and it's pretty damn heavy. If you two wanna switch with me, I'm all for it."
"Quiet, Naruto," Kin hissed.
"Our priority hasn't changed," Shikamaru said, calmly, "We have the barrel, but we still have to get Sasuke back to Konoha, and it doesn't look like we'll be able to shake that woman off our trail."
Kin breathed deep, reminding herself that she shouldn't let emotions cloud her judgment. Shikamaru was a Chuunin now; he knew what he was doing.
"Should we set up traps?" Kin asked.
"The enemy's too close," Shikamaru said, "we wouldn't have time to conceal them well enough. We'd just be giving her a chance to catch up."
"Well, sooner or later, we're going to have to-"
Kin stopped speaking when heard something. She was about to shout a warning when something – barely a silhouette, so fast was its speed! – crashed into her, knocking the air from her lungs and sending her flying off the branch and plummeting ten feet to the ground.
Kin hit the ground hard but rolled with the fall, absorbing some of the impact. Still, her whole body ached, and she had to gasp to draw air. Looking up, she saw that Shikamaru and Naruto had dropped down to the ground, looking at her, and at the figure that now stood between them.
"Hello, Kin." Hirofumi said, grinning wickedly as black X's snaked all over his skin.
...
"And the girl was lying on the ground, unconscious?" Tsunade asked.
"Apparently so," Shizune replied, looking over the file that Tsunade had requested.
"What did the medical analysis say?"
"It says here she was bruised, but no fatal wounds," Shizune said, "It seems that the main reason for her weak state was chakra depletion."
"Chakra depletion?" Tsunade mused, "That's strange, both for a Genin, and for such a short fight."
The Fifth Hokage turned her chair around, basking in the late afternoon sun. She brought up a hand to rub her chin – failing to note that it naturally curved as if to hold a cup of sake.
That name – Tsuchi Kin – had intrigued her ever since she had spotted it in the police report. It hadn't rung any bells when Shikamaru had mentioned it, but seeing it in writing brought a glimmer of recollection so elusive that she wasn't sure it wasn't just her imagination. Still, as the hours dragged on and the stack of papers before her grew ever more foreboding, she found she desired to solve this dilemma.
She stood up suddenly, startling Shizune.
"Tsunade-sama?"
"Shizune, we're going to the Archives."
"Eh? But Tsunade-sama-"
Tsunade didn't reply. She simply walked out from behind her desk and headed for the door. Shizune gave one exasperated look to the stack of papers on Tsunade's desk, sighed, and moved to follow.
They moved quickly; despite her years away from Konoha, Tsunade remembered the way to the Archives perfectly. She pushed open the double-doors and strode in, looking around.
"Tsunade-sama, what are you looking for?" Shizune asked.
"The shinobi records. I want to see if there existed a Konoha shinobi with the surname 'Tsuchi'."
"Again with this Tsuchi," Shizune rubbed her temple, sighing, "Tsunade-sama, you have more important matters to attend to."
Tsunade turned and glared at Shizune. "Are you questioning my decisions?"
Shizune stood straighter and quickly shook her head. "No, ma'am."
"Then help me search."
The two set about, plunging into box after box of files, each filled with several pages. They worked efficiently, though, for they were familiar with the sorting system. Not more than an hour had passed when Shizune held up a file, read the name and called Tsunade over.
"Tsuchi Akira." Tsunade read, taking the file and opening it.
"Is this what you were looking for, Tsunade-sama?"
Tsunade flipped through the pages, skimming the details.
"Is this it?" Shizune asked again, curious.
In response, Tsunade began to read from the file: "Tsuchi Akira, an orphan rescued from raiders, born approximately forty years ago. Thanks to a unique bloodline, he quickly rose in rank and joined ANBU at the age of sixteen. When he was twenty-five, he received an undercover mission to infiltrate what was then the beginnings of Orochimaru's Sound Village. At first, he was successful, but then…"
Tsunade looked up, as if recalling something.
"I remember."
"Remember what, Tsunade-sama?"
"Tsuchi Akira. He successfully infiltrated the Sound Village, but then broke protocol and risked contacting us with an urgent message."
"What message, Tsunade-sama?"
Tsunade looked Shizune in the eyes. "He requested extraction. Not just for himself, but for a Sound woman that he had fallen in love with, and was apparently pregnant with his child." Tsunade looked back down. "You won't find that part in the file, though."
Shizune calmed down considerably, finally accepting that maybe Tsunade's little side-quest hadn't been completely unjustified.
"Does that mean this Tsuchi Kin is his daughter?"
"Can't say for sure."
Shizune was quiet for a moment, then asked: "What happened to him?"
"The official story simply states that he blew his cover and was killed," Tsunade shook her head. "That isn't too far from the truth. When Konoha denied his request for extraction, he tried to take it upon himself, even though he knew it would compromise the mission. We eventually sent out a tactical team to try to pull him out before he got himself killed, but there was no way of reaching him in time. When we found him, he was dead, surrounded by Sound nin."
Tsunade crossed her arms. "But then came the strange part. We clearly outnumbered the Sound nin, so they all wisely fled. All of them, that is, except one kunoichi. She stood over Akira's body and fought us until her heart stopped beating."
Shizune's eyes widened.
"Was she the woman?"
Tsunade shrugged. "Who knows. Maybe she was. Or maybe she just stayed behind to delay us so that we wouldn't track the others back to their hideout."
Shizune was silent.
"The analysis said that Tsuchi Kin was found unconscious because of chakra depletion, right?" Tsunade asked.
Shizune nodded. "That's right."
"Well, now I think I know why." Tsunade smirked, satisfied with finally having solved the puzzle. She stretched, sighing, then unceremoniously dropped the file back into a random box and headed for the door.
"Tsunade-sama?"
"Yes?"
"What is it? What did you discover?"
"I'm thirsty, I'll tell you later. Are we out of sake? Where's the nearest bar?"
"Tsunade-samaaa!"
...
Hirofumi shuddered, and the black X's that covered his skin began to writhe. The symbols moved like ink, retreating under his clothing until his skin was normal again.
Kin opened her mouth, but could not form words at first. She used the trunk of a tree to stand up shakily, her eyes glued to her uncle's grinning form.
"What are you doing here?" she asked at length, "They captured you."
"I escaped." Hirofumi replied simply.
Naruto had put Sasuke's barrel on the ground and moved to attack, but Shikamaru stopped him with an outstretched arm.
"Shikamaru?" Naruto asked.
"Don't charge in recklessly," Shikamaru said, "I remember him. He tried to kill Kin right after the Chuunin Exam. He's dangerous. If we mean to defeat him quickly, we need to-"
Shikamaru was interrupted by Hirofumi's laughter, strained but full of glee.
"Defeat me quickly?" Hirofumi mused, "You won't defeat me."
Despite Hirofumi's penetrating glare – a glare he didn't avert, not even for a moment – Kin had calmed considerably. It dawned on Kin that the team was wasting precious time it couldn't afford to waste; Tayuya got closer every second they spent here talking. And she knew that if it came to a battle with Hirofumi, Tayuya would catch up, and then the odds would be against them.
Kin's path became clear to her.
"Shikamaru," Kin called, "take Naruto and go."
"Kin, you can't be se-" Shikamaru started to argue.
"Our priority is the mission, right?" Kin cut him off. "Then go already. It's me he's after."
Naruto looked to Shikamaru, awaiting his decision. The Chuunin hesitated, looking at Hirofumi for a long while before finally nodding.
"You better not die, Sound-chan." Shikamaru said, sparing Kin one last glance before he and Naruto leaped away.
Hirofumi didn't even watch them go, made no move at all to stop them.
'Of course,' Kin thought, 'he's here to kill me, after all.'
In the small amount of time Kin had spent in Konoha, she had found happiness. Now, just over a month after she had become a Konoha Genin, Kin couldn't imagine going back to her old life. And so, despite what she had just done – offered to risk her life for a boy she had never met – she didn't feel fear or dread. Perhaps she should, she mused, but the knowledge that she had helped her allies, helped something that was greater than her, gave her strength.
And so, when Hirofumi, practically screaming with glee, charged at her, Kin felt determined to win.