Ch. 25 Rescue
Isaribi got on her feet and pulled out two kunai, one for each hand, and took a defensive stance against her captors. They didn't look intimidated once they got into the light and she could see their faces. They didn't look worried, or bothered, or even happy at the prospect of a kill. They didn't look anything, like their faces were frozen in an apathetic stare. She didn't like it, it felt so... inhuman.
With their swords out, one of the men opened the door into their room, but not to let her enter. Rather it was so they could get to her and cut her to pieces. She briefly wondered if they expected her to just stand there and let it happen. Either way, she wasn't going to. Since the out opened out, from Isaribi's position, it was easier for her to ambush them then for them to ambush her. So she jolted out the door and used a kunai to cut the chest of one guy but the door blocked her attack on the other guy.
Isaribi quickly put some distance between herself and her captives and took another look to see anything she should be wary of. The first thing she noticed was that the guy she had wounded acted like it didn't hurt. He definitely acknowledged the wound by touching it and wiping off his blood, but his expression was unpained and unchanged. Almost as if he didn't recognize pain. The next thing she noticed was that neither of them wore any symbols telling where their alliegence laid.
'These must be the suspicious ninja we were warned about. I should focus more on getting out of here than fighting them.' Isaribi thought, looking for a way out without taking her eyes off them. 'Odds are likely I can't get out the same way I got it, and it's highly unlikely that an underwater base wouldn't have an emergency exit of some sort.'
Isaribi started backing away without making it look obvious. Unfortunately her current adversaries saw that and advanced forward to restrain her. Isaribi ducked down and used her kunais to cut their calves. Since any water jutsu might flood the place, she was limited to solely taijutsu and weapon-handling here, but that meant her enemies were too. The downside was they looked like they were jounins or at least strong chuunins. The odds weren't in her favor so she had to get out of here.
'I guess I only really have one option.' The purple-haired girl thought. During the brief time her opponents couldn't stand, she raced to the back of the room and opened the door. There were no locks on it because the only ones intended to be here wouldn't need to lock themselves out. There was a short hallway, if you could call it that, with two doors, each one opposite the other. With no time to think, she went inside the left one hoping it would lead out.
It didn't. Instead this was a white room like one would find in a hospital, complete with a respirator and heart monitor, and even a patient on a bed. Curious, Isaribi got a closer look and saw a sleeping woman, who was quite attractive if even a little unkempt. Her long hair was a rich red and her face looked gentle and peaceful, but that was probably because she was unconscious. There was an IV hooked to her right arm and the heart monitor showed a steady pulse. Her skin was a healthy shade so Isaribi wondered why she was here and in such a condition.
Before she could try to figure it out, the unidentified shinobi caught up to her and they didn't look too pleased with her. "Get away from our leader's prize." One coldly demanded.
Isaribi approached the part of the room where the equipment wasn't and put a paper bomb on the wall. The bomb went off just before one of the unmarked ninja would have been able to stab Isaribi in the stomach. The blast of the explosion sent them both back flying but Isaribi landed away from him. Warning sirens went off and cracks in the walls formed, letting seawater enter. It started slow, but would soon speed up.
Isaribi got back on her feet. "Water style: Water Drill Jutsu." The water rose into the form of a twirling drill and shot right into the stone wall with a lot of force, carving a hole to the outside. As expected, a lot more seawater came inside and flooded the place. She then grabbed ahold of the unconscious woman, unhooked her, and got her on her back. Isaribi took a deep breath and used her chakra to propel herself against the current and suction to get outside.
Before she could reach the surface, she felt a chain wrap around her ankle, pulling her back down. She turned to see the two strange ninja with new mouthpieces trying to catch her. One held the base of the chain used to catch her while the other held a long ninjato, ready to skewer her once she got close enough. And both were swimming towards her.
Knowing that resisting would only result in her and the woman drowning, Isaribi prepared a jutsu specifically designed to be used in water or underwater. Unable to say the name, she mouthed it. "Water style: Water Torpedo Jutsu." At her hands the water condensed and darkened, then shot at her targets with the force of a cannon ball and a shape similar to that of a featureless shark. Both of her targets dodged, but the attack turned around behind them and hit the chainweilder from behind, making him drop it.
Isaribi took the chance to use the slack in the chain to get loose and then swim to the surface for a much needed breath. Just as she surfaced and inhaled, she felt a sharp blade graze her right abdomen. The cut was deep but not threatening, probably meant more to make her bleed a lot than downright kill her right away or harm the woman. When the man surfaced and stood on the water to attack her from above when her hands were full keeping the woman afloat, Isaribi inadvertently activated her curse mark and became covered in dark wavy lines.
The purple-haired Oto genin briefly let go of her cargo and dove under the man who tried to kill her. He thrust his sword into the water hoping to strike her but she was too deep to reach. She tried to swim upwards and give him an uppercut but he dodged and gave her a small cut on her arm. Now Isaribi was really hoping there weren't any sharks in the area.
Once back underwater, Isaribi kept a close eye on her target. He could see her, but just stood there, as if waiting for her to resurface and then kill her. She knew this was inevitable, but luckily she had a good lung capacity and she was probably the only person outside Land of Water who bothered to learn underwater warfare. So far that had been her best advantage here.
She prepared another set of hand signs and mouthed the name. "Water Style: Aqua Vaccuum Jutsu." The water in front of her created suction that pulled whatever was on the surface down under, much like a whirlpool, only without the spin included. The swordsman and the unconscious woman were pulled under, unable to fight it off.
She readied another Water Torpedo Jutsu and checked on the woman when it took effect, and pulled her back up. At the surface, Isaribi saw this woman was still breathing under her own power, which she took as a good sign.
Isaribi was caught by surprise and pulled back. The sword-using ninja had gotten back to the surface and grabbed ahold of her hair to do so and was ready to slit her throat. Isaribi couldn't think of a good enough defense in time, and closed her eyes. 'Goodbye Naruto-kun, I hope you're happy with Hinata and the others I couldn't be a part of.'
She felt her would-be killer jerk as if struck by something, making her open her eyes. She saw he now had a kunai tip sticking out of the front of his neck and another kunai piercing the hand that had been holding the ninjato, which had been dropped upon injury. Taking a chance, Isaribi struggled to get out of his weak grip and got back to the surface while he began sinking.
Once at the surface, she saw Sasame standing on the water holding out more weapons. "Are there more?" The orange-haired kunoichi asked.
Isaribi shook her head. "No, I only saw two. Where's the other one?"
"I got that guy while you were busy with him. He was a tough one, but he's fishfood now. Who's this with you?"
Isaribi started pushing the woman towards the shore. "I don't know, I found her in their hideout, and they said she was their leader's prize. I wonder what's so special about her."
"Better let Kurenai-sensei and Anko-sensei worry about that." Sasame commented. Once out of the water they rested her on the sand and treated Isaribi's wounds. Sasame then used their comlink to contact the others. "Come in guys, we found something important. Over."
After a few seconds, someone responded. "I hear you. What did you find? Over." It was Fuu's voice.
"We'll show you, so get everyone to return to camp. We'll be there soon. Over and out."
Thirty minutes later, all of the Oto shinobi were gathered together at their campsite. Naruto was out keeping an eye out for the Konoha ninja team and to keep them off the Oto team's trail if needed. Sasame and Isaribi had brought the unconscious woman to them as carefully as possible and told of their encounter, with Isaribi saying the most.
Anko and Kurenai shared a look before saying anything. Kurenai spoke first. "Whoever this woman in, she must have something significant about her. Maybe she comes from a noble family here or something."
Hinata used her byakugan to check out the woman internally. "Actually Kurenai-sensei, I think she's a kunoichi. Her muscles are larger than any civilian and her chakra coils are too large to be anything else. Oddly, they remind me of Naru-kun's in terms of size alone."
"So we have here a powerful kunoichi that's unconscious and captured by Kami-knows-who." Anko groaned.
"What else can you tell us Hinata-chan?" Kurenai asked.
"Not much else. Naru-kun's Neo-Byakugan should probably take a look too though."
"Ah speak of the devil." Anko said as Naruto showed up. "I take it they won't find us anytime soon."
Naruto shook his head. "Nope. Shadow clones are amazing that way. But I wouldn't recommend no guards tonight still." He then noticed the new person in the area. "Hey, who's this?"
"I found here being kept in an underwater base by what I presume to be the unwarranted ninja our client told us about." Isaribi answered. "I'd say she's in a coma but somehow stable enough to not need life support."
"That's not normal." Naruto stated, remembering some things Tsunade taught him. "We should take her to a hospital right away."
"If we do that those ninja that contained her will easily be able to reacquire her." Kurenai told him firmly.
Isaribi looked confused. "But Sasame-chan and I got rid of them."
Kurenai shook her head. "It's highly unlikely that there were only two of them to begin with. That base was most likely a safe place to hide themselves and their prisoner. You two most likely only dealt with the place's watchmen, while the real threat was elsewhere."
Isaribi paled. "Oh crap, you mean those two were just the security guards?"
"It's likely. We can't just assume we or her are out of danger just yet. By the way Naruto, can you use your Neo-Byakugan to give her a look over?" Kurenai answered, then asked.
"Sure." Naruto said, then activated his first doujutsu and looked at the woman internally. "Okay, her chakra system appears large but somehow diluted to a dangerous point, her heart is going at a steady pace, her bones are all in one piece, there's nothing wrong with her lungs, and... wow. That's odd."
"What?" Everyone asked, suddenly all ears.
"On her stomach there's what I think are pieces of a broken seal on her, much like..." Naruto suddenly paled.
"Kit, I know this woman." Kyuubi's voice suddenly told him.
'You do? How?' Naruto asked.
"I'll explain in a moment. For now, try to put some of mine and your chakra into her. It'll help her recover." Kyuubi responded.
'Put our chakra into her? Are you crazy? Your chakra might kill her.' Naruto mentally shouted.
"Kit, I swear it won't. Believe me, I know her, but I thought she was dead. That's why I didn't recognize her right away. But if it is really her, then our combined chakra should help her right now."
'But what if it doesn't?'
"She's in a coma! Would she really be any worse off?" Kyuubi practically roared.
'Ok ok I see your point.' Naruto sighed, figuring the fox would keep harping on him until he at least made some kind of effort. "I'm going to try something." He told everyone, and then gathered his chakra into his hands for a healing jutsu, with a small amount of Kyuubi's added in.
Upon contact the woman's body jerked, as if stung by something. Naruto worried, but his Neo-Byakugan showed him that her chakra levels were steady rising to a healthy amount. Suddenly the woman gasped and sighed, making Naruto stop. The woman tilted her head to the side, the first signs of voluntary movement she had ever showed, and her eyelids twitched and then slowly opened to reveal deep violet eyes.
She tried to speak, but only a cough came out. She then tried to sit up, but her body wouldn't cooperate. Even her arms protested her mental commands. So she resorted to just lying there, asking the people with her gaze just where she was.
"Kit, say hello to your mother." Kyuubi said.