(Well, this is chapter 25. The turnaround on this one was a little faster due to the Holidays being over with. Now for self promotion. Anyone who is a fan of Claymore and enjoys my writing style should check out Ghosts of the Past, it's a story I plug away at when I'm not writing anything else. Next, for those into Sekirei, I've got a fic there as well. Next, I do appreciate the reviews, but try to make them more then 2 words, and try to at least put some thought into them. It's nice to know you like the chapters and all, but the same 2 word review for every chapter doesn't really help me as a writer. That said, I can't stop you from writing them, so you can do what you like. Finally, comments and criticism are always welcome, so enjoy the chapter.)
End of Babble
Start of Story
Chapter 25: Shinobi and Sounds
The four of us stand in the Hokage's office, a palpable silence having fallen over us since the Hokage made his ominous statement.
"Ever since Orochimaru's death, the Land of Rice Fields and the Village Hidden in the Sound have been in nearly constant chaos." Minato explains. "That strife and chaos has no doubt been the result of Orochimaru's former subordinates fighting for control of both his organization and the resources it controls." He pauses a moment. "Konoha's military strength has only recently recovered in the last two years, and the council and I didn't want to risk uniting the currently warring factions against a common foe so we've been content to sit back and watch them kill each other. Unfortunately in the last few days the amount of strife and chaos has dramatically decreased, and the entire village council is in agreement that some leadership structure has finally formed and brought all of Orochimaru's subordinates under his control. I'm with the council in the belief that if they are united, they may try to strike against Konoha or one of our allies, and many of the other nations consider Orochimaru once a Konoha shinobi, so we should be the ones to deal with this new regime."
Shino pushes his sunglasses up to the bridge of his nose.
"This is the source of our mission, Hokage-dono?" Shino asks, and Minato nods.
"I want the four of you to go to the border with the Land of Rice Fields and meet with the border guards there. Once the border guards show you the safest crossing, you'll cross into the Land of Rice Fields and search out whatever could put an end to the chaos that has gone on for so long, and once you learn as much as you can about it, you're to return to the Land of Fire." He explains. "Your mission is simple reconnaissance, and your orders are to avoid conflict at all costs." He continues. "Though, I shouldn't have to add that combat can't always be avoided…" He pauses. "You leave in three hours, any questions?"
The four of us shake our heads no, and Minato waves his hand in dismissal.
"You're dismissed." He says.
With that, the four of us leave the Hokage's office and make our way through the tower. During the relatively short walk from the Hokage's office to the streets, my mind focuses on Sasuke, and the fact that Minato saw fit not to send them with us.
At least he ISN'T coming. I could deal with Kiba, Akamaru, Sakura and even Kakashi, but to be on a mission with that emo psycho.
I remember the last time I fought the boy, the strange curse mark and the insanity that appeared in his eyes, his obliviousness to the fires that he himself started, and the fact that he didn't seem to care if he burned the village to the ground, so long as he could beat me.
I shiver, and Naruto looks at me out of the left side of his eyes.
"You okay, Hina-hime?" He asks, slight concern coming to his voice.
"I'm fine, just felt a chill." I quickly explain.
Naruto nods slowly, as though he doesn't really believe what I've just said.
"OK…" He trails off, his voice telling me that he doesn't really believe what I've told him as well.
He doesn't say anything else, and neither Haruka nor Shino decide to speak up, so I am again left with my thoughts.
If Sasuke has only improved since back then, then fighting him off would be less than enjoyable, and if Sakura ever learned that I knew all along that Sasuke has a crush on me and didn't say anything to her after the talk we had, she'd probably want me to take a long walk off a short pier.
The four us leave the tower and hit the streets. Haruka stops and the three of us follow suit before our captain looks at each of us in turn, meeting our eyes with a look of confidence in her gaze.
"I want you back here in two and a half hours, packed and ready to go, understood?" She orders.
The three of us don't argue.
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It's been nearly two and a half hours since Haruka, Shino, Naruto and I all split up, and Naruto and I currently walk back to the tower with our backpacks on our backs. We both packed separately, and we have enough supplies for a week long venture into the wilderness.
Ahead in the distance, Shino and Haruka stand with the Hokage's tower behind them. Looking up at it, an ominous feeling wells up in my stomach, to the point where I can't look away, and the next thing I know, Naruto is a few paces in front of me, looking at me with real concern in his eyes.
"Are you all right Hina-hime?" Naruto asks, leaning forward slightly while he looks into my eyes.
I shake my head quickly, pulling myself out of my delirium.
"I'm fine. I just had a feeling, that's all." I explain.
Naruto stands up straight.
"What kind of feeling?" He asks, casually curious.
"I don't really know…" I respond, shrugging my shoulders. "…almost like something bad is going to happen on this mission."
Naruto slips his hands into his pockets.
"Like what? It's a simple recon mission."
Again I shrug my shoulders.
"I don't really know…" I trail off.
"Is something wrong?" Haruka's voice enters my ears, and I nearly jump when I see both of them within five feet of us.
They crossed the fifteen foot barrier between where Naruto and I were talking and where they were standing without a sound, and did it without even alerting me they were coming.
"No, nothing's wrong." I quickly speak up before Naruto can.
Haruka nods once.
"All right then, we're heading out immediately."
Naruto, Shino and I nod, and with that the four of us take to the rooftops. Naruto, Shino and I follow Haruka, the four of us moving as unit and looking more like four ANBU rather than formal shinobi of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Haruka leads us northwest, taking us to the northwest village gate and ultimately the border with the Land of Rice Fields and the Village Hidden in the Sound.
We hit the gate and get through it without a problem, and once we're through the gate we take to the trees. Haruka remains on point, and through hand signals communicates to the rest of the group that she wants us alert and ready. We acknowledge through hand signals, and we keep pace with her, moving through the trees like wraiths. As we move I use my Byakugan to act as field scout, scanning the surroundings for chakra sources or anything that I can see out of the ordinary. While my eyes work on seeing nothing special, my mind drifts off to another subject.
Who could've taken over Orochimaru's organization? From what I remember there were those four shinobi who erected that barrier during the Chunin Exams, they seemed like his lieutenants. It's possible that one of them managed to kill off the other three and took control of the entire group. Though that would be the best option, because it would mean there are three less enemy shinobi to deal with that could cause problems, it seems like whenever I'm involved things always seem to be the worst possible situation, at least when it comes to missions.
I blink the thoughts away, shutting down the train of thought due to its obvious lack of results, and I instead focus on my duty, scanning the surroundings and searching for anyone dumb enough to try and attack us.
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Even moving at Haruka's ANBU pace, it takes several hours before I can spot the border guard patrol at the edge of my range.
"Taicho, I've just located the border patrol group, and it appears as though they are themselves and not under the influence of a jutsu or spies in disguise." I report to Haruka.
The Uchiha woman nods.
"We'll go in slow, have our meeting with them, find this crossing point and go from there, understand?"
The three of us nod without a word.
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"Man, this assignment sucks, being stuck on border patrol is the worst." One of the border guards mutters to his teammates.
The four of them are dressed in normal Konoha shinobi uniforms, dark pants, dark long sleeve shirts and green vests with headbands on their foreheads. All of them appear to be in their mid twenties, and none of them appear to be too happy. One has brown hair, another is blonde. The third guy has obviously dyed aqua blue hair and the last has hair that's a similar color to Shino's trench coat. The white haired guy has the only visible scar on his face, running down his left eye and cutting a section of the eyebrow off from the rest of it. All in all, they look like four bored shinobi who haven't seen action in months.
Currently, Naruto, Haruka, Shino and I all hide around the border guard's location. Haruka decided it would be best to watch them for a bit before announcing our presence, as their time away from the village may've led them astray.
"We don't even have a kunoichi on our squad either." Another guard grumbles. "At least if we had a nice looking chick here, things wouldn't be that bad, but instead I gotta stare at your three ugly mugs until we get back to the village." The blonde responds to the blue haired guard.
The white haired one flexes his eyebrows, and he looks up at a flying bug that slowly hums overhead and recognition flashes behind his eyes.
"That's…" He mutters.
He glances around nervously, and upon closer inspection I see the bug he examined is one of Shino's flying kikai, and he probably recognized it from his time spent during a mission with one of Shino's relatives.
"Whoever's hiding, come out and show yourselves!" The white haired guard calls out to us.
Tension fills the four of them, and they move their hands toward their weapons, preparing for an attack when Haruka gives a signal, and the four of us emerge from our hiding positions, revealing ourselves to the border guards.
The four of them relax upon seeing Haruka, the tension disappearing from their faces and their hands drifting back to their sides.
"What's the password?" The blonde guard asks.
"Fluttering Leaf." Haruka responds, and the blonde nods.
Once the two of them exchange the password, the air around us seems to relax somewhat.
"How's the border been, any recent activity?" Haruka inquires, and the blonde shakes his head no.
"It's been quiet, really quiet." He explains.
"Are there border guards on the other side?" Haruka continues, and again the man shakes his head no.
"My team and I have been out here for four months, and we haven't seen hide or hair of anyone else since we got here."
"You've done well in remaining vigil this entire time, despite the lack of activity."
The white haired shinobi glances at Naruto, Shino and I. His eyes seem to just drift over Shino, upon noticing Naruto surprise flashes behind his eyes at seeing the son of the 4th Hokage standing in front of him. When his eyes land on me, however a totally different expression appears in his eyes and on his features.
Haruka shifts her attention to the white haired shinobi, glaring at the man and emitting a noticeable amount of bloodlust. The white haired shinobi easily picks up on Haruka's obvious desire to kill, and he quickly turns his face toward her.
"What'd I do?" He asks innocently.
"Do you have a problem with one of my shinobi?" Haruka asks, obviously irritated.
"No." He responds, up and away. "I just thought the fox-girl died years ago, that's all."
Well, if word isn't out by now, then it will be by the time we get back to the village.
Naruto narrows his eyes and opens his mouth, but Shino speaks up before a syllable can be uttered from Naruto's mouth.
"It would be unwise for you to refer to someone who imprisons a creature of such power in such a tone." Shino suggests.
The white haired shinobi glares at Shino, clearly unafraid of the Aburame or any of his abilities.
"What business is it of yours?" The White haired guard asks.
"Our kikai are excellent weapons, without an overt move I could have the four of you covered before you could even draw your weapons." He taunts.
The blonde guard shifts, and Haruka steps between him and Shino, and I can see her Sharingan in her eyes, and almost as much bloodlust coming from them as when Gaara of the Desert released the sand demon inside of him.
"It would be wise if you followed my subordinate's advice, as he isn't the only one who didn't take kindly to that snide remark of yours." Haruka informs him.
I look to Naruto to see his teeth clenched, and blood dribbling down his fingers from his closed fists. The amount of restrained bloodlust coming from him is obviously noticeable.
"Hey, relax man." The white haired guard advises Naruto.
Naruto flinches, with Haruka opening her mouth probably being the only thing stopping him from striking the guard.
"You should watch your mouth." Haruka advises. "The Hokage has eyes and ears everywhere, and you should be thankful Hinata already told both of these young men already about her prisoner or I'd be forced to rip your head from your shoulders for violating the Hokage's law."
The white haired guard quickly masters his emotions and nods.
"It won't happen again." He quickly assuages her.
"Good." Haruka says with a murderous smile on her face.
There's a moment of silence between us, and Shino clears his throat, breaking the mood.
"It would be prudent for one of you men to take us to the location of the most suitable crossing point." Shino says, changing the subject.
"Right, follow me." The blonde says before he starts off into the forest.
The border guards remain in their position, and Haruka, Shino, Naruto and I all follow their leader through the forest along the border line. Haruka intentionally leaves a few strides of distance between her and the blonde border guard, the only showing of her distrust and probable personal dislike of the man.
"Thank you." I whisper to both Shino and Naruto, and both of them react in nearly identical fashion.
They both shrug their shoulders, saying 'We're friends.' At that, I smile at them, and part of me still doesn't believe that I really have friends, as much as I hate to admit it.
The guard leads us to a small river roughly eight feet across, and he suddenly stops. We're still technically in the Land of Fire, so we haven't crossed the border or risked an international episode, yet.
"Is this the spot?" Haruka asks, and the blonde man nods.
"It is, it has the best cover on the other side of the border as well as the most discreet crossing point."
"Thank you, we'll take it from here." Haruka says. "Remember…" She begins.
"I know." The blonde interrupts. "I have never heard of any of you, you were never here."
Haruka nods.
"Right, very good." She praises him, sounding condescending.
The blonde guard takes off, heading back to his men without another word, leaving the four of us alone. Haruka looks to me, locking her eyes on me, she just nods.
"Do it." She says simply, and I completely understand.
The veins around my eyes bulge as I activate my Byakugan and I look into the distance beyond the border, and I check thoroughly for any sentries or hidden traps that may've been set up to cause any unpleasantness.
Looking through the Byakugan, I search ahead of and around our group, and other than the four Konoha border guards; there isn't a soul around us.
"We're clear." I confirm for Haruka, who quickly looks around.
"All right, we're camping here for tonight."
Naruto looks to Haruka with a puzzled expression on his face.
"Haruka-taicho, why don't we just cross now?" Naruto asks.
"We're heading into enemy territory Naruto." She points out. "Personally I'd rather have a full night's rest while we're still in friendly territory. That way we can be completely refreshed before starting the reconnaissance portion of our mission." She explains. "We'll wake up one hour before sunrise and cross at first light, any questions?"
The three of us shake our heads no.
"All right…" Haruka begins. "Once we're in the Land of Rice Fields, Hinata will be our field scout; she'll use her Byakugan to keep an eye on our surroundings." She explains, turning her head toward me. "Since we'll be relying on you so heavily, you won't be in the guard rotation for tonight, so get a full night's sleep and wake up rested tomorrow."
Shino raises his arms to shoulder level, and kikai escape his sleeves and fly into the air in a tiny swarm.
"My allies will establish a perimeter." Shino informs Haruka.
"I'll get started on camp." Naruto begins, making the sign of the ram. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Ten shadow clones pop into existence around Naruto, and each of them goes to work without a single word of complaint or questioning.
Before he would've had to spend ten minutes dividing up the responsibilities between clones and dealt with their arguments, now they just do their job without question. But I wonder, is that due to a change in his mindset, or a rise of ability as a shinobi?
Haruka had turned her gaze to the forest while I was watching my teammates, rubbing her hands together in anticipation.
"Um, Haruka-taicho, about the watch rotation…" I trail off, and the woman looks to with a stern expression.
"I've said it once, and I won't repeat myself more than once Hinata, you're going to be the lynchpin of our team, and we can't risk you being tired or exhausted in the least."
I can't just fold, that's the old me.
"I know Haruka-taicho, but I've got stamina reserves beyond normal people, I can go on less sleep and I can fight longer than normal people can, so I can do my part!"
Haruka glares at me with annoyance in her eyes, and I feel a hand from behind me touch me on my shoulder. I turn to look to see Shino standing there, thankfully his kikai don't still stream from his sleeves.
"Hinata, Haruka-taicho is correct in her assignments." Shino reminds me in a level voice. "While the demon being imprisoned inside of you does grant you reserves of strength beyond normal shinobi, your role tomorrow may require you to dip into those reserves tomorrow, and if those reserves are already depleted before tomorrow, we could find ourselves in a mortal situation that could've been avoided." He explains concisely.
"Very well put." Haruka comments.
I guess I can't convince them to let me share the burden. The least I can do is do what they want me to and be well rested tomorrow, even if they won't be as well rested because of it.
"All right." I assent, and Haruka nods.
"If that conversation is settled, help set up camp Hinata."
"Yes, ma'am!" I enthusiastically respond.
With the help of the extra ten bodies, Shino is able to focus completely on manipulating and controlling his kikai, ensuring that they patrol in a manner that leaves no gaps in their protection pattern. While helping to set up camp, I force myself not to blush when working with either the shadow clones or the real Naruto, and I remember my conversation with Kushina before I left the village and the small box with fifty one pills in it now in my backpack.
"Will you ever mature?" The Kyuubi's voice whispers in my ears, sounding more annoyed than angry.
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Just inside half an hour later the camp is set up and ready to go, and two of the shadow clones make their way through the woods, lugging rather large pieces of wood between them. They dump the firewood in the middle of our circle shaped camp. The clones dispel soon afterward, and Haruka goes to work creating a fire pit, and she uses some of the larger pieces of wood to set up simple chairs around the fire pit.
Using a low power fire ninjutsu, Haruka starts a fire, and motions for the three of us to sit down with her. The remaining shadow clones disappear with puffs of smoke, and the four of us sit down around the fire. We all have our packs handy, grabbing ration bars and canteens from them and we begin eating dinner.
After the first bite of the ration bar, Naruto groans in distaste.
"Man, every time I take a bite of one of these things, it makes me yearn for some of Hina-hime's cooking." Naruto mutters, taking another bite and washing it down with a mouthful of canteen water.
"Hina-hime?" Haruka asks, raising an eyebrow.
"Um…" I mutter, looking down and avoiding her gaze.
Haruka looks to Naruto, who scratches his cheek with his ring finger, holding the ration bar with his middle and pointer fingers on his right hand.
"Uh…" Naruto says, avoiding Haruka's gaze as well.
"Anyway, we can eat good food when we get back to Konoha, so deal with the ration bars, they're good for you." She reminds him, taking a bite of the nutrient rich bar.
We eat in a comfortable silence, and I eat one of the ration bars along with an MRE, nothing that really tastes good, but it is better than starving. Once the four of us are finished eating, Haruka looks around at the three of us.
"All right Hinata, get some rest, the three of us will watch the camp while you sleep."
"All right." I assent. "Good night all."
Shino nods and I get up. Grabbing my pack I walk to my tent. Naruto gets up and walks to my tent. He stops there, and I stop near the entrance, and he looks me up and down, and then kicks the dirt with his left foot.
"Um, good night, Hina-hime." Naruto says.
What does he…oh I see, he wants a good night kiss, how cute.
"Naru-kun…" I begin, and he looks at me with curiosity in his eyes.
I move in, bringing my lips to his for a quick peck. He nearly jumps in surprise, and by the time I pull back, I can see him trying to decide whether I read him or if I wanted to kiss him on my own.
"Good night." I whisper to him, and he quickly nods.
"Yeah, good night." He returns the farewell.
I slip into my tent, closing the zipper on my tent behind me. Inside the tent I have my sleeping bag unfurled and open, ready for me to slip into and go to sleep. I set my pack near the corner of the tent. I slip into my bag, and folding the bag over me I grab the zipper near the bottom of the bag and zip the bag up, closing it around me.
Am I really doing everything I can though?
The thought stays with me as I lay my head down and close my eyes, forcing myself to go to sleep.
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The damp smell of the now familiar underground bunker is the first sign that I'm once again going to speak with the Kyuubi. Looking down I see my feet are submerged up to my ankles in water, and above pipes run overhead, all of them heading down the hall in front of me. In the distance I can see the large open room, and at the rear of that room the giant bars that restrain the Kyuubi No Kitsune from getting out and wreaking havoc on everyone.
The Kyuubi's growl resonates throughout the hallway, emanating from the cell at the end of the hall. I walk down the hall, my steps plodding in the ankle deep water. Before long I'm in the cavern like chamber, and the demon's red eyes glow from behind the darkness behind the bars. The monster opens its mouth, revealing rows of shiny, very sharp teeth.
"What do you want?" I ask the demon as it grins at me.
It lets out a low growl.
"How can you refer to me in such a tone?"
"I have no respect or fear of you, that's how!"
The monster's anger is instant and apparent. It lets out a roar and lunges against the bars. The impact resonates through the chamber, and its claws point out between the bars. It bites against the bars, but the bars hold, as they always do. The Kyuubi growls and pulls its claws back, its teeth slipping back behind the bars.
"If not for this accursed seal, than I would've eaten you and that pathetic place you call home years ago!" It growls at me.
Unsurprisingly, I believe what the demon says with absolute confidence.
"What do you want?" I ask again.
It exhales a low breath, sounding more like a growl than an animal breathing.
"I've been watching you, and I want to know why you haven't simply taken that bastard's child as your mate if you desire him."
It even cares about that?
"I don't want to do that with him unless the feeling is mutual."
The fox's laugh resonates from behind the bars, a demonic chuckle that's accompanied by its teeth filled smile.
"You must be blind." It begins, getting it's laughter under control. "The boy's physical desire for you is obvious even to me, and I'm not a member of your pathetic species!"
"I don't want to end up pregnant now."
"What purpose is there to mating other than having progeny?"
"What does that matter?" I ask, and the demon scoffs.
"That's none of your concern."
"Why have you brought me here?"
"My reasons are none of your concern, host."
"Hinata…" Naruto's voice whispers in the wind inside the bunker.
"It would appear that the outside world is calling."
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I awake to the sight of Naruto kneeling over me, a neutral expression on his face.
"Time to wake up Hina-chan." He says, cocking a smile.
I sit up and smile back at him.
"Thank you, Naru-kun."
He nods and slips out of my tent and for those few seconds I can look through the open zipper to see that the sky is mostly dark.
We were supposed to wake up an hour before dawn according to Haruka-taicho, so it stands to reason that it's an hour before dawn is supposed to arrive.
I get up and pack my things, rolling up my sleeping bag and going through an abbreviated morning routine. Once I'm done with that, I quickly get out of my tent and pack it up as well. While I collapse my own tent, I look around to see Shino and Haruka doing the same, though Naruto's tent is already gone, his pack resting on the ground near the fire pit.
He must've had the last guard shift, and rather than just stand around he probably had a shadow clone or two help him to pack his things up and get ready for the morning.
Thinking about the guard rotation, I feel a pang of guilt inside, at forcing the three of them to take longer shifts while I slept the night away.
You were ordered to sleep the whole night by your superior, remember? If you had woken up and tried to assist in the rotation, then it would've been insubordination during a mission, something that isn't looked to well upon by the village council, who already has enough reasons to hate your guts.
You have to make sure you do your job perfectly today, that they didn't let you sleep the whole night for no reason. If you don't and you let them down, it could mean their deaths.
I finish packing my things and stow my tent on my pack. I quickly shoulder the pack, and once it's secure on my back I go to work helping Haruka and Shino close down their tents and pack their things.
Before the sun even begins to rise, the four of us are packed and ready to go.
"All of you, get some breakfast and drink something, dawn is still half an hour off." Haruka says.
We each sit down around the now burnt out fire pit. We each break out our canteens and pull out our ration bars. It's obvious that Naruto still doesn't like the dismal tasting bars, but we all chow down on them, knowing that the bars will provide our bodies with necessary nutrients and proteins. Naruto scowls while he eats, and Shino keeps his face neutral. Haruka watches Naruto out of the corner of her eye, making sure that she doesn't have a repeat incident of the night before, but Naruto holds his tongue at the bad tasting bar, consuming the whole ration bar without complaint.
With our meal finished in ten minutes, Haruka is the first to stand, looking around at the three of us.
"We're moving out." She says simply.
Haruka motions toward the border, and looks toward me.
"Hinata, if you would?" She asks, and I nod.
The veins around my eyes bulge, and insight fills my vision. I look out ahead of us, across the border line and into the land of sound. Seeing the area ahead is oddly clear, I look around us, searching for anything out of the ordinary. Seeing everything around is clear, I nod toward Haruka.
"We're clear; there isn't anything around or in front of us for over three hundred meters."
"Understood." Haruka informs us. "Follow me; we move in a line, I'm on point, Naruto you're behind me, Hinata behind him, and Shino you pick up the rear. Any questions?"
We move into the formation specified by Haruka, and the four of us take to the trees. Without a word we cross the invisible line separating the Land of Rice Fields and the Land of Fire. We move in silence, communicating by hand signals. Haruka has us move at a relatively 'normal' pace, allowing me plenty of time to search our surroundings and make sure we aren't walking into a trap. I watch our surroundings like a hawk searching for its next meal, making the most of my fully rested mind and body so that my attention never once falters.
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It's been four hours since we entered into the Land of Rice Fields, our ultimate goal being the place that we believe to be the Village Hidden in the Sound. Though, we don't know exactly where the village itself is, Konoha does have its spies, and that spy network has indicated the probable location of the village itself. It's to that location that we now head, hoping to locate the village and find out just what caused the sudden cessation of hostilities inside the nation.
There's a shimmer inside my range, a wraith like movement.
"Everyone stop!" I call out, and the three of them land on their respective branches.
Haruka looks back at me, a look of questioning in her eyes.
"What is it Hinata?" Haruka asks.
"Two hundred forty seven meters east of our location, I thought I saw something."
"What did you see Hinata?" Haruka asks.
"I saw a shimmer in the air, without my full attention on it I couldn't tell if it was a ninja using a concealment ninjutsu or just a trick of the wind." I explain.
"I'm not taking any chances; scour the area with your eyes Hinata. I want to know if there's so much as a squirrel over there gathering nuts."
I nod, turning my face and body toward the source of the movement. I look out through my Byakugan, doing just as I was told. I scour the area with my eyes, focusing my full attention on the area where I noticed the movement.
"Naruto, send two shadow clones to check the area out." Haruka orders.
Naruto makes the sign of the ram, and two shadow clones pop into existence. I continue to scour the area while Naruto sends out his shadow clones. I feel something brush my shoulder, and I nearly jump out of my skin in surprise to see Shino standing behind me on my left, his arm hovering above my shoulder.
"My kikai have been agitated." He informs me. "I've released a small amount of them to search along with Naruto's shadow clones."
I nod in understanding.
"I hope we're just overreacting to all of this." I mutter to him, meaning every word of it.
I glance to Haruka and I find her looking forward through the jungle with her Sharingan in her eyes. The woman searches the area in front of her with her eerie eyes, restrained bloodlust seeping from them. Both Naruto and Shino look around, trying to find something while I look near and far, trying to find whatever it was that caused the motion in my field of vision. In the distance I can see the two shadow clones and a small cluster of kikai above them moving toward the original motion area. I watch and scan, trying to sweep that section of my range with a fine tooth comb.
I'm not going to let someone sneak up on us because of my stupid mistake. If there's something out there, I'll find it before it can sneak up on us and kill us, no matter what it takes!
Not that it'd be much better if we die because someone else makes a mistake…
NO, I can't think like that!
I scan the area again and again, reaching out with my senses to try and locate the source of the shimmer, but I can't find anything out of the ordinary.
You're missing something; something has to be out there, LOOK AGAIN!
In the distance the Naruto shadow clones reach the specified area, and begin to search. The clones search the area in detail, looking for something wrong, but I can tell that the clones aren't finding anything. After nearly ten minutes of searching, the clones give up and dispel themselves, disappearing in soundless puffs of smoke hundreds of meters of away.
Naruto's eyebrows flinch in acquired knowledge as the experiences of the shadow clones flood his mind.
"My clones couldn't find anything." Naruto reports to Haruka. "They couldn't feel any bloodlust in the area either."
Haruka looks at me with a look of questioning in her eyes.
"The area is still clear, no enemy contacts." I report to Haruka.
Haruka sighs, shaking her head slowly, breathing in obvious relief.
"All right, we're moving out, fall in shinobi." Haruka orders.
Without another word the four of us go into motion. I keep my attention focused, though a single thought nags at me.
We missed whoever or whatever caused that odd shimmer in the air, and whoever it was somehow KNEW they were being watched and they took off somehow. Although I have no idea how someone could know that I was watching them, especially at over two hundred meters in distance.
We keep moving, the sun climbing in the sky while we move forward. We move for hours, and its 9:30 in the morning before I notice an encampment in the distance. The closer we move, the more and more vivid the image becomes in my kekkei genkai's vision.
"Haruka-taicho, there's an encampment ahead." I report.
She motions for us to stop, and we do so. We each land on a branch and Haruka moves backward, landing on the same branch as I am in a crouch, her shoulders nearly touching mine.
"Details, Hinata." She requests, her voice a low whisper.
Naruto and Shino remain on their branches, cautiously glancing around and remaining alert. The kikai above our group fans out as Shino manipulates them without a single overt movement.
"They're currently two hundred thirty meters away." I begin my explanation. "It's probably a bandit encampment, there are twenty three tents strewn up in a disorderly manner. The people in the encampment are dressed in haggard looking clothing, and none appear to have bathed recently. There are few women in the camp, and there don't appear to be any prisoners. Those women that are present appear to be concubines of some kind. Weapons are strewn about through the entire site, and there are multiple horses tied up in a single area of the encampment."
"Anything else?" Haruka asks.
"The people seem to be rather angry, though their source of their anger is impossible to determine, even with my eyes."
Haruka nods in understanding.
"All right, we're going to ground, we'll move in close but we aren't going to engage." She informs us all.
The four of us leave the trees and go to ground. Haruka motions for us to assemble in a concealed area, and we follow her orders. Once the four of us are together in a relatively concealed location, Haruka keeps her eyes on me.
"Hinata, can you draw a rough sketch of the encampment?" She asks.
I nod once, extending my pointer finger, I begin to draw lines in the dirt. I'm nearly finished when something strange enters into my area of attention.
What in the world is that?
The person and particularly the chakra network he has is nothing like I've ever seen. I focus on the man, and it appears as though he has six arms, and a chakra network that runs through every limb. He wears a uniform identical to the one worn by the four shinobi who accompanied Orochimaru to the Chunin exams, and it takes me a moment to recognize him. It's one of the same four shinobi that erected the flame barrier, only this time there's something different about him. Looking beyond the chakra, there's something different about the seal that rests on his shoulders, it's different than what it was before, glowing orange even though it only rests on his shoulder and hasn't spread like the one on Sasuke Uchiha.
"A sound ninja has entered my vision and is heading into the camp." I report to Haruka and the group.
Haruka's eyes flare at the mention of a sound ninja, and her gaze quickly becomes ice cold again.
"Watch him, and report on what he's doing."
I nod, and I focus my attention on the six armed shinobi as he swaggers into the bandit's encampment. It isn't long before one of the bandits notices the odd looking shinobi, and the bandana wearing bandit glares at the sound shinobi.
"What are YOU doing here?" The man demands.
"Orochimaru-sama has declared you all are to die." He speaks an ultimatum.
Two of his six arms shoot spider like webs from his hands. The webs impact nearby bandits and bind them, wrapping their bodies and pinning their arms to their sides. The men struggle and yell for a few seconds as he leans his head back. A golden metal begins to bubble from his mouth, and the strange shinobi swings his head around over his left shoulder to his right shoulder in a fan formation. From his mouth spews three golden kunai. The kunai impale the three bound bandits through their skulls, and blood spurts from the wounds as their bodies go limp, but are held up by his webs.
"He…" I whisper, watching what's happening like watching a silent movie.
The yells from the now dead bandits draw more of their comrades from inside the tents, and nearly twenty four people begin to rush the six armed shinobi with weapons ready. Chakra concentrates inside his body and he points his arms out in six different directions, and web shoots out from his hands, exploding across the encampment and knocking down whatever is in its way and pinning the bandits to the ground. The bandits use their weapons and hack at the webs, but their weapons don't penetrate the chakra enhanced substance. Once all the bandits are pinned, the strange shinobi jumps up and spits more spider web from his mouth, forming a bridge between two trees using his webs to cover the expanse over the encampment below him fifteen feet in the air. He lands on the bridge, and the mark on his shoulder begins to glow as it spreads across his skin, glowing a strange emerald green color, unlike the orange color Sasuke's glowed when he used it. His chakra network begins to glow brighter and brighter as the seal begins to forcefully extract chakra from his body, causing his supply of useable chakra to nearly quadruple.
Two of the man's hands interlace, and I recognize the hand signs while he breathes in and his chakra concentrates in his stomach. He exhales, and flame spews from his mouth, launching toward the chakra infused webs that cover the encampment. The flames catch on the artificial web and spread like dry kindling. The webs burn and the human beings trapped by it scream in howl in agony as their bodies' burn. The six armed shinobi watches the carnage below with a grin on his face, crossing his top two arms over his chest. People scream in agony and pain, and after a few moments the glowing green vine like seal retracts across his skin to the base of his neck, and his uncrossed arms begin to shake. He looks down and sighs, shaking his head before he reaches into one of his pockets and removes a corked vial of green liquid. The strange man upends the vial and downs the contents in a single gulp. With the contents of the vial down his throat, his entire body seems to settle, and a euphoric expression settles onto his features, in spite of the death and destruction that occurs below. For a long moment he seems to stare off into the distance with a far seeing gaze, his mind nowhere near where he is now, until he blinks twice in rapid succession and his mind seems to snap back to the present.
He turns around on the web walkway and fires a web line from his hand. He swings away from the encampment. I report all of these things as they happen, and Haruka keeps her expression even as I report what I see. The wind blows, and the faint smell of burning meat wafts into my nostrils.
"Well, at least know which direction the village is in." Haruka comments. "And we also know that Konoha's hunch about where the Sound Village is right."
"Shouldn't we do something to put out the fire, maybe save some of their lives?" Naruto suggests.
Haruka looks at him with seriousness in her gaze.
"Maybe, if they were people of the Land of Fire." She responds. "But, those people up there are thugs and criminals, none of them would move to help Konoha if it was in a similar situation." She points out.
Naruto slowly nods, though in his eyes I can see that he doesn't like Haruka's answer, not one bit.
It must be his father in him, wanting to protect the weak and those that can't protect themselves. It's a quality that will make him a good Hokage someday.
"We're going to skirt that encampment, and we'll follow that shinobi until we can find their base with Hinata's Byakugan."
Naruto, Shino and I all nod our understanding, and Haruka motions for us to move out. She takes the lead, and the three of us fall in line behind her. The four of us skirt the encampment, following Haruka as she moves around the encampment. As we pass the still burning encampment, I try not to look toward it, to keep my vision anywhere BUT the scene of the massacre. It doesn't help matters that I don't even need the Byakugan to see the encampment as we skirt it, and the smell of burning human flesh is so thick in the air I have to force myself not to gag.
Deep down, part of me enjoys the smell, and revels in it, and I force myself not to smile.
Even after all this time, the demon in me still has some control over my feelings.
I push the happy thoughts aside, and instead I focus on locating the six armed sound shinobi. Using my Byakugan, I locate the signs that the man moved through the area. I keep us moving and following his trail, the shinobi moving in the same general direction that he took from leaving the encampment. We follow his trail as the sun begins to set in the distance, and we haven't seen hide or hair of the sound village or the shinobi himself.
How the hell did he get away so fast and get out of my sight?
After nearly an hour of chasing the sound shinobi into the night, Haruka motions for a stop. She motions the four of us down to ground level, and we follow her orders without complaint. She leads us to a fallen tree trunk, checking around inside the tree before nodding to herself.
"We'll camp here tonight." She informs all of us. "Set up camp inside the tree, it will provide cover and concealment, and it'll help to keep us dry if it decides to rain."
The tree is rather large, and Naruto again uses his shadow clones to help set up our camp while Shino deploys his kikai to form a perimeter of sentries. We set up camp within an hour, not using the tents and instead just rolling out our sleeping bags and using our packs as chairs. Naruto moves to gather wood together to start a fire and Haruka quickly stops him.
"A fire will draw too much attention." Haruka reminds him, and he nods in understanding.
"Now that camp is set up." Haruka begins. "Grab some dinner."
We all do as we're told, breaking out our ration bars and canteens, eating the horrid tasting food while Naruto scowls at the taste.
"We'll have a guard rotation…" Haruka begins, swallowing a chunk of the protein bar, her eyes shifting to me. "Hinata, you'll again be out of the guard rotation."
"I understand, Haruka-taicho." I acknowledge her.
"All right, we'll continue the mission tomorrow morning at sunrise." Haruka explains to us.
"All right, but I feel bad about not taking a turn in our guard rotation twice in a row Haruka-taicho." I speak up. "I didn't find anything today even though I was fully rested and if one of you falters because you haven't slept enough."
Haruka glares at me with an expression that tells me she doesn't want to hear what I've got to say.
"Hinata, you saw something today before we found that encampment, and while I don't know who or what it was, my instincts as a shinobi tell me that someone WAS there and they were trying to follow us from a distance but somehow knew that we'd spotted them and they took off before we could find them."
"Who could be capable of something like that?" Naruto asks.
Haruka shrugs her shoulders.
"I don't know, but my instincts are hardly ever wrong when it comes to these things."
"Well, that's all the more reason that all of us should get an equal amount of rest, and I can sacrifice a few hours to give each of you a little more rest."
Haruka smiles and shakes her head.
"I appreciate your eagerness, but I'm not going to let you be in the guard rotation, so it isn't open for discussion, and I won't hear any more on this."
I sigh once, nodding in resignation.
Haruka isn't like Kurenai-sensei; she's willing to do whatever it takes to keep us in line.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
I crawl into my sleeping bag, slipping into the bag as far as I can. I pull the oversized sleeping bag up past my eyes, and I settle into the thick insulated bag. As I lie there, I close my eyes and try to drift off to sleep, but my mind travels and I remember an incident during my time spent away from the village.
I wonder if Jiraiya-sensei and Tsunade-sensei have talked to Minato-dono about that time they pushed me so hard I collapsed, and the Kyuubi's chakra filled me. I don't even really remember what happened, but afterward both of them looked like they'd been in the fight of their lives.
Maybe I should tell Haruka about that, and let her know that I wouldn't let something like that happen again, so she doesn't have to worry about physically pushing me. Then again, she isn't really concerned with the Kyuubi getting out and taking control, it's just that our reconnaissance strategy relies so heavily on my Byakugan. If we weren't relying on me so heavily I doubt that Haruka would be so strict with me.
I shake my head, clearing my mind. I try to relax into the bag, slowly drifting off to sleep.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
The next thing I know, I'm lying in the middle of a thirty five meter barren circle in the middle of a forest. I feel mentally and physically exhausted, my back on the ground and my eyes staring up at the sky.
I hear movement nearby, and two familiar pairs of feet land near my head. Looking up at both Jiraiya and Tsunade, both of them have cuts and bruises all over their bodies, and both look physically exhausted, though they have stern expressions on their faces.
I take a deep breath, finding the strength to speak.
"What happened to you? The last thing I remember is passing out from sheer exhaustion."
Jiraiya raises his right arm at the elbow, pointing with his right pointer finger past my feet. I shift and move my arms, pushing my upper body up and managing to get into a sitting position. I look to see a path of destruction twenty meters wide cut through the forest, as though a wave of destruction and violence rampaged through the forest, ripping down trees and tearing up the ground.
"What happened?" I ask curiously, managing to sit up.
"You passed out." Tsunade begins. "Then, you were engulfed in a horrible red chakra that surrounded your body and looked as though you became a small version of the Kyuubi. You took off through the forest on a rampage, and you ripped through everything you saw like a force of nature. It took both Jiraiya and me using our summoning jutsu to call out our strongest summons and fight against you." Tsunade finishes.
"Apparently the Kyuubi can only maintain control for so long before it succumbed to the strength of the seal and shrank back into you." Jiraiya finishes.
For a second, I entertain the thought that the two of them are lying. However, looking at them both I can tell that neither of them are lying, and both are deadly serious about what they're saying.
I look down at my hands, and I see them convulsing at the thought of what I've done.
I duck my head, a feeling of absolute misery welling up inside of me.
"I'm sorry, Jiraiya-sensei, Tsunade-sensei." I apologize to the both of them. "I'll do whatever I have to make this right and I swear I'll never let it happen again." I try to rationalize.
"We'll have to be more careful in the future." Jiraiya says. "For now however the training is over until all three of us can get patched up."
In spite of their words, the memory of the carnage I caused stays with me even to this day.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
"Hinata, wake up." Shino's voice enters my ears.
I open my eyes to see the Aburame boy kneeling over me.
"Hinata, wake up." He says again, and I nod, groggily moaning and sitting up.
"I'm awake, you can go wake up the others." I tell Shino, who curtly nods and walks away.
I get up and go through an abridged version of my morning routine, finishing with rolling up and packing my bag on my pack. Looking around, Naruto and Haruka are also going through the motions of breaking camp and removing any signs that we were even here.
It takes twenty minutes for us to clean the area, and after I check the area with my eyes, Haruka has us move off. She leads us in the same direction the sound ninja went, and I keep my mind of the mission, part of me hoping that the sound ninja didn't bother to change directions suddenly during his trip back.
We travel for nearly half a day before I notice something ahead at the edge of my range, something big.
This might be it…