VII - Improvisation

Sai raised a questioning eyebrow at her the second they were alone. At least she imagined he did, Chikako couldn't actually tell with the mask in place. She sighed and signed a brief explanation of what she knew about Idate Morino.

Ibiki had proctored the first part of his chunin exams, during which the boy got disqualified for lack of skill. If it had been anything like her own exams he had likely been under the impression that his only chance at a promotion was lost. Otherwise Chikako couldn't explain why he went and stole two valuable items from his village and defected together with another shinobi.

As far as she knew their plan had been to join Ame's ranks. They were also supposed to be promoted for the brave act of betraying their home. Chikako really needed to find a way to convey sarcasm via sign language.

In any case, Idate was clearly done playing ninja and had settled into civilian life. She had no idea how that came to pass. At the time he had defected, Ibiki had realized what was happening and followed his brother to bring him back, but Aoi Rokusho, the other traitor, had called in reinforcements from Ame. They captured and tortured Ibiki before something went wrong and the building they kept him in caught fire, allowing him to flee. The Ame nin had wanted information, but not Aoi. The bastard simply hated Ibiki and wanted to prove his superiority by inflicting pain on him.

Word had been that Idate died in the fire, and the only reason that there was still a bounty on his head was the fact that they simply never got removed unless someone brought back a body. Chikako wondered whether Ibiki had lied about his brother's death at the time, or if he'd only learned the truth later and kept it to himself.

Not that that changed anything. She was stuck protecting the disloyal asshole either way.

"I see," Sai said when she was done, and that was all he said. No comment, no judgment, and no reprimand for her behavior.

The race would start in roughly two hours, so he decided to stay with Idate until then, while Chikako took a look around. Usually their roles would have been reversed, seeing as Sai had more of an eye for detail and Chikako was better at detecting and dispatching enemy shinobi. This time however, she was almost as likely to throw Idate to the wolves as she was to protect him. She needed at least a few more minutes to get a grip on herself.

With the race coming up Degarashi Port was especially busy. People wore colorful clothes and bright smiles as they wandered around, drifting from one location to the next. There were some stalls for entertainment here and there, but mostly vendors sold food and souvenirs for the many tourists.

Their prices were high, and their friendliness, while not quite false, rang hollow. It took Chikako a moment to understand that they were afraid of something. With her mask, armor and swords in place she certainly didn't look like a fluffy bunny, but it couldn't have been her they feared. She wasn't deliberately hiding and people occasionally went out of their way to let her pass, but most of them never even noticed the stranger in their midst.

She found out what exactly had the locals anxious further down the street. Three rough looking civilians loudly demanded one of the vendors hand over his earnings and threatened to destroy his wares if he didn't comply. Apparently they belonged to the Wagarashi family and thought they could do whatever they wanted while they still ruled the city.

Chikako didn't particularly care about the people of Degarashi Port and it wasn't like her job was to protect all of them, so she stood to the side and watched. It was always good to know who the enemy was after all. She would have left it at that too, had the Wagarashi thugs left after getting the money. Instead they kept insulting the vendor, a balding man in his fifties, and shoved him to the ground. When one of them drew back his fist, presumably to prepare for a punch, she had enough.

Chikako bodyflickered right into the man's path, catching his wrist. She pressed down hard, using a little chakra to give herself more strength, and letting a tiny amount of killing intent leak into the air. The Wagarashi thug instinctively struggled to get away from her before he had even realized what was happening. When she let go he lost his footing, stumbling backwards and falling over.

"Leave," she told them, voice completely inflectionless. She'd contemplated yelling at him or maybe even growling to get her point across, but being outwardly emotionless worked rather well for Gaara. The redhead was one of the scariest people Chikako knew and she didn't really feel like fighting anyone at the moment. So quietly menacing scare tactics it was.

The thugs were suddenly very eager to get out of her way. She had no doubt they would tell the head of their family about the foreign shinobi. Probably making her a lot taller and adding several kilograms of muscle to justify their hasty retreat.

"On it," Jiro said before she could even ask him to follow them. The little tanuki had her half convinced he was secretly a mind-reader, but then maybe they just thought alike.

. . .

The official start of the festival was marked by fireworks. Red and blue bursts of color lit up the sky while the villagers and tourists cheered. Chikako had no idea what exactly they were expecting to see though.

Both runners would have to cross the water to reach the Modoroki Shrine, where they would have to pick up something called Ryuko Treasure Balls and then race towards the Todoroki Shrine to dedicate them. Both shrines were about equidistant from each other and Degarashi Port, forming a slightly skewed triangle. That meant the spectators would see absolutely nothing except the start of the race, including who won. Unless, of course they themselves traveled directly towards Todoroki Shrine to wait at the finish line. Chikako had the suspicion that quite a bit of the money Degarashi's inhabitants made during the festival was exclusively due to ferrying tourists around.

The race itself was pretty straight forward. Simply: go from A to B to C. There were no other rules either. As long as the contestants themselves made the journey they could do as they pleased to reach both shrines. Taking shortcuts, intercepting the competition, and even hiring foreign shinobi to interfere were all allowed. It would only have been more ridiculous if they had hired the ninja as contestants instead.

As it was however Idate was the one that would be running, and, after hearing from Jiro about the Wagarashi family's dealings, Chikako had every intention to protect him until he reached the finish line. They couldn't hold a candle to people like Orochimaru, Danzo or even just Gato when it came to shady business, but that was only a matter of time, resources and opportunity. There were certainly no morals involved. She had no doubt that, given half a chance, the current clan head would be more than willing to supply anyone with anything, provided the price was right.

That didn't mean she actually wanted to deal with Idate though. Luckily Sai was more than qualified to stay with their charge and ignore his derisive comments about shinobi in general and them in particular. He'd dialed it down somewhat after their heated introduction, but she still had the urge to smack him every time he opened his mouth.

Instead she would be moving ahead of them to intercept any attackers before they came in range. At least that had been the plan they had agreed on with the head of the Wasabi clan. Idate of course, in his infinite wisdom, had decided to take a different route without telling anyone.

Chikako almost crushed the little ink bird Sai had sent to inform her.

"Scout the route he was supposed to take," she told Jiro before following the ink beast to it's master. Sai was far enough away that she couldn't exactly pinpoint his position, otherwise she would have noticed the deviation on her own. The little creature would be able to find him easily though. Letting it take the lead was the fastest option, and since they were essentially in enemy territory now that the race had started time was of the essence.

There had been three shinobi ahead of her when she had left the port. They wouldn't be aware of what was going on yet, but there had also been a much stronger fourth among the spectators. It was incredibly unlikely that he had only come to watch the race and now, while Sai was on his own, was the perfect opportunity for him to attack.

It didn't take long for Chikako to feel the surge of chakra in the distance, that meant she was already too late. By the time she actually arrived Idate was a shivering mess on the ground. Skin shiny with sweat and tiny spasms cramping his muscles every so often.

Sai was in front of him, using his tanto to deflect a volley of senbon. Poisoned, probably. Ame generally preferred the ones that hurt the most, not necessarily the ones that killed fastest.

His clothing was torn in places. Oddly clean cuts with singed edges. Chakra Flow using a fire transformation would do that, but all Sai's opponent seemed to have in terms of weapons were the senbon and an umbrella. The latter of which was likely rigged with needles as well. Typically Ame.

Then she heard the crackling and her head whipped around. Chikako had never seen the Sword of the Thunder God before, but there was no mistaking it. She could tell by his stance alone that their enemy was no swordsman. Zabuza would have laughed himself silly had he been there. Not that one needed to be very proficient with a blade, when said blade was made out of pure lightning chakra.

Steel charged like that could cut stone in the right hands. This sword however was an entirely different beast. It was said that nothing could stand in it's path and survive.

Chikako didn't believe that. In the end chakra was just energy and every technique had it's weaknesses, but the mere thought that it might be true terrified her. The air around them already felt charged with electricity and the Ame nin hadn't even attacked yet. If that weapon was half as powerful as Konoha claimed they were royally fucked.

"Don't look so surprised," the guy said, smirking at Idate. "You should know what this is-"

The rest of his sentence was cut off when two of Sai's liondogs charged him. He barely moved, just swung the blade in a wide, horizontal arc that shouldn't have done anything, considering it didn't connect. A moment later both creatures exploded into sizzling ink and chakra smoke anyway.

"Aoi Rokusho I presume," Chikako gritted out, because Idate couldn't possibly know any shinobi from Amegakure other than the former Leaf chunin that had defected with him. She hadn't been exactly subtle about her approach, so there was no point in hiding. Not even a fresh genin would have missed her arrival, and while the green haired shinobi looked like an idiot, Chikako had seen him shift as she'd gotten closer. She'd been a lot more concerned with speed than with stealth, a decision she now regretted. The man might not have deserved his promotion at the time, but by now his chakra levels put him firmly into jonin territory, even if his judgment didn't.

Rokusho laughed and started in on a monologue that she didn't even try to follow. He seemed to like the fact that she knew his name almost as much as the sound of his own voice. It wouldn't buy them a lot of room to think though. Chikako had no idea how long he could keep the sword activated or if time even was a factor at all. The way his chakra flowed into and out of the weapon seemed odd and for all she knew it was converting natural energy, essentially giving it an infinite supply.

Sai's ink beasts were apparently completely useless at the moment, except maybe as a distraction, and his tanto wouldn't stand a chance against their opponent's weapon either. Neither would her chakra blades, or any of their gear for that matter. They needed to end this fast, preferably without ending up as fried corpses.

Chikako signed a countdown to her partner, making sure to keep her own body between her hand and the threat. She didn't even turn to see whether Sai had noticed or not, instead trusting that he was quick enough on the uptake even if he hadn't.

When she reached zero she send a burst of chakra through her body, claws manifesting just as the Body Flicker landed her directly in front of Rokusho. His eyes widened in shock, but no matter how incompetent of a swordsman he was, the man was also a jonin. He ducked out of the way, letting her attack sail over his head and then slammed the elbow of his left arm into her stomach hard enough to send her flying. By the time she hit the ground Sai had thrown at least two dozen shuriken. Most of them simply flew past their target, and the ones that didn't got obliterated by the sword before they even came close to doing any harm.

"And here I thought we were having a friendly chat," the traitor sneered. He clearly didn't think they were a threat, and normally Chikako would have been delighted to play along, let him fall victim to his own arrogance. Only this time he was right. Rokusho wasn't some great tactician that had outmaneuvered them, he certainly wasn't the most powerful shinobi they had ever fought either. In fact the way he handled his chosen weapon was atrocious at best, but the weapon itself was formidable.

Lightning chakra gave it's user speed they normally wouldn't be capable of reaching. That paired with the ability to stop any attack in it's tracks, simply by cutting through it, was an incredible advantage. One Chikako had no idea how to get around. They couldn't even overwhelm him because Sai could only create and control so many ink beasts, and those didn't do anything other than entertain their opponent.

Rokusho, apparently done talking, threw his umbrella into the air. Chikako knew what was coming before the senbon started raining down on them, but still had to use chakra to get out of the way in time. Both her and Sai dodged the projectiles, putting distance between themselves and the jonin, and dragging Idate further away from the fight in the process.

"Your turn," she told her friend in a whisper, while she pulled Ibiki's little brother away several more meters and out of sight. She didn't cut her chakra off immediately, instead letting it recede slowly as she masked her presence.

Rokusho took the bait, assuming she had run away in hopes of finishing the mission.

"Don't worry, killing you won't take too long and then I'll go after that disloyal little friend of yours," he crowed as if it was a foregone conclusion. Maybe his arrogance would be what killed him after all. Chikako circled him until his back was to her. She didn't have much time before the Camouflage jutsu failed, and she'd have to make her move before then.

Sai knew it too, and so instead of staying at a distance, the way he normally would have, he charged. It was a stupid move and she wanted to shout at him for not using his ink beasts, but that would have given away her position. Sai couldn't compete with her speed. He also didn't have Sasuke's ability to change direction at a moments notice, seemingly ignoring the laws of physics in the process. He was just fast enough to force Rokusho to react. Just fast enough that he couldn't quite overcome inertia and dodge the lightning blade trying to slice him in two.

Chikako didn't wait until it was over. She rushed forward the second Rokusho started to move. His lack of skill meant the motions were slower than they needed to be, swings arcing too wide. And still, when her wakizashi skewered her opponents chest, the smell of burned flesh clogged her nose. A biting stench that had her scrambling to get past him so she could get to Sai. She didn't even notice that the jonin wasn't dead just yet until after blinding pain raced through her body, making her muscles contract all at once and sending her hurtling towards the ground like a lead weight.

She was vaguely aware of the taste of blood and dirt in her mouth when a panicked Jiro came rushing through the underbrush. He gesticulated widely, pointing at something behind himself, but her vision was going dark at the edges and she had to fight to stay conscious.

. . .

Chikako blinked several times and then Jiro was suddenly standing beside her head, rubbing some nasty smelling salve into the skin of her back, left shoulder to hip. The tanuki grumbled something under his breath while he worked, but her fuzzy mind was too distracted by the three dead bodies in front of her. Judging by the light she couldn't have been out for more than a few minutes, but that was apparently more than enough time to miss another attack.

Two of the Ame nin were on the ground, arrows sticking out of their head and neck respectively. The third didn't die as quickly. His corpse got pinned to a tree by four arrows, stomach, thigh, shoulder and chest.

"Your aim sucks," she slurred, only to get a: "So do you," thrown back in her face. Sai's voice was tight with pain and the scent of charred meat made her wince.

"You gonna live?"

"Yeah," he huffed out in what sounded too much like defeat and not enough like exasperation. Chikako didn't have to turn in his direction to know that it was bad. Even with that warning in mind the damage was worse than she had feared.

Sai's right leg was a bloody mess, skin blackened and molten in places. Some spots seemed completely dry, like mud cracking under the sun's heat, while others where almost slick with a mixture of ichor and sweat. Jiro had clearly cleaned it, cut away the fabric where it had been in the way. Judging by the color, mint green with a hint of ocher, Sai rubbed the same stuff into his wound that Jiro had used on her. The only difference was that Sai also used bandages to cover his skin afterwards.

"My back look like that?" She asked, the words almost clear.

This time Sai's huff was amused. There was even the hint of a wry smile playing around the corners of his mouth, that had her gaze flick to the discarded masks, right next to his bow. He looked a lot more like a fox than an owl at that moment.

"Don't worry, you got a pretty scar," he told her, going so far as to hand her a small mirror so she could see for herself. It had to be Rokusho's Chikako mused as she held it over her shoulder, twisting awkwardly to get a better view.

She could make out dark red lines that started in an almost purple bruise on the base of her neck and spread out like roots over the left side of her back. It wasn't nearly as bad as her friend's leg, but she wouldn't call it pretty either. The color would probably fade to pink and then white given enough time, but it would be a constant reminder to make sure the enemy was actually dead and not just mortally wounded.

"What happened?" Chikako asked, poking at her skin to test if that would help with the burning sensation. It didn't.

"It looked like the blade formed into a bolt of lightning, but whatever he was trying to do backfired," Sai informed her. "You only got hit with a tiny part."

She glanced over at Rokusho's smoldering corpse. Someone, likely Jiro, had dragged him off towards the side and partly covered him with earth. What Chikako could see of the rest reminded her of burned wood. Not quite coal, but close enough.

The hilt of what used to be the Sword of the Thunder God was cracked and still tightly clutched in what was left of the traitor's right hand. It was probably for the best. Neither her nor Sai had the right chakra nature to wield it anyway and she was decidedly not in the mood to get near any lightning in the foreseeable future.

"The kid is alive by the way," Jiro piped in after several seconds of silence, completely ignoring that Idate was older than any of them. "One of the three genin had antivenom on him."

"Good for him." Chikako didn't particularly care either way at that moment, but Jiro wouldn't let it go.

"The race is still in progress," he insisted with all the fervor of a plushy furball.

"Are you serious?" She groaned, not at all amused, but already heaving herself up.

Jiro actually went on a rant about how letting the Wagarashi family win would spell certain doom as well as some other overdramatic nonsense. Idate had been quietly standing around in the shadow of a tree so far, but it seemed Jiro's attitude was infectious. The former genin was still pale and somewhat shaky on his legs by the time Chikako had made it to her feet and gotten Jiro to agree that he would wait for her return with Sai. She fished around in their things, decidedly longer than she actually needed to just to annoy him, and then handed over a soldier pill after taking one herself.

Idate looked almost constipated when he swallowed, but bit back a comment at her raised eyebrow. This probably counted as cheating, even in a competition with practically no rules.

. . .

They ran in silence the whole way. Both to conserve energy and because they couldn't stand each other. Idate had this ludicrous idea that ninja were somehow inherently evil, that made her want to lock him in a room with Naruto for a day or two. He was afraid, angry and frustrated, and of course he blamed all of it on her because that was the most convenient course of action.

Chikako's fingers were itching with the need to smack him into the closest tree just to get it out of her system. She hadn't been nice to him sure, but her and Sai had come a lot closer to dying than she was comfortable with to keep the ungrateful little shit alive. She almost hoped that there was another shinobi they had missed, simply to have a distraction, but of course no such luck.

By the time the finish line came into view Chikako was so fed up that she stopped dead in her tracks and let Idate run on ahead. The other contestant was almost there, and still the crowd started to cheer when they saw the Wasabi representative, as if he would somehow manage to win by a hair's breadth against all odds.

She sneered, putting her hands up into the Snake seal, followed by the Rat seal. Genjutsu was far from her specialty and she really only knew this one, but it was always nice when she got to use the technique Kakashi had taught her by accident.

The demonic illusion was weak, but more than enough to fool the Wagarashi contestant. He stumbled over his own feet, hitting the ground face first and giving Idate the edge he needed to win. A confused silence hung over the crowd for a moment, but then the cheering started again, even louder than before. All the while the head of the Wagarashi roared his displeasure as if the heavens would open up and fix things if he was just loud enough.

Nobody even noticed Chikako's presence, and with her job done she headed back towards her team.