Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO! If I did Neji wouldn't die, and Naruto and Hinata would be together already! I only own Haibisukasu. the rights go to Masashi Kishimoto
Warning: this story is rated M for language and Lemons in later chapters. Do NOT read if you are going to feel offended. If you continue you are agreeing that I (the author) will not be held responsible for any offense taken.
A/N: So, I finally finished! Yay! No not the fic silly the chapter! I've been working on this thing forever. Seriously just ask my friends they'll tell you about all my nagging. Yes, I nag my friends about my unfinished work. I know that's horrible but for some reason it's the only way I don't slack off. and your probably wondering how three months doesn't count as slacking off, whelp...I'm wondering the same thing. If it wasn't for the flashback in this chapter I probably would have had it up the two months ago, but as it stands this flashback was hell to write, when you read it you'll probably be wondering which part was hell, well I'm telling you now it was all of it. I'm not kidding, someone who knows me tell them I'm not kidding! No? Okay, never mind then, Authors ramble over...
Shout Outs: As always THANK YOU! to those who have favorited, followed, and reviewed thus far! Thanks to... SophiasWorld, Misora Asuka, lillytheeeveee, and cathyscloud9 for reviewing, .Ice, sakura tsukiyomi lefey, KoreanMusicFan, Ninja cucumbers, and Universal Intelligence for following, Kasumi Isumi, and Ne Ne Papa Ne Ne Mama for favorite-ting, and to winx 81, and Riomi-senpai for favorite-ting and following. THANK YOU!...I apologize if i spelled any of your names wrong it'scold and I still can't type.
lillytheeeveee: You Know, I never thought about that, that's actually a good idea I might add it in at some point, thank you.
cathyscloud9: Thank You!
Misora Asuka: I'm neither going to confirm nor deny your statement, I just hope you forgive me.
SophiasWorld: Where to begin? Well first, sorry for the missing punctuation in your name, for whatever reason wasn't letting me save it that way...Your name kept disappearing. Besides that, Thank you for being so excited about my fic, I enjoy it when others are just as excited as I am also I'm sorry I've confused you on the finer points of the Hana's abilities. PM me some time and I'll see if I can explain it better. I feel that trying to explain it here would just add on a whole other 10,000 words...did I mention that this chapter is 10,000 words long? Yeah, it's one of my longer chapters... hence, why it took so long. Also yes, this is my first fanfic I haven't written any others, as you can see from my bio Caged Flower is the only one there. I haven't deleted any so rest assured, although I do thank you for the praise about my writing though I personally believe I have a long way to go, before i reach a level I can be absolutely proud of. Anyway I hope you enjoy the chapter...
ONWARDS!
Inner thoughts
"Speech"
"Flashback"
Chapter 26
Sukasu nearly sprinted down the pristine white hallways that were trademark of the Konoha hospital, till she spotted a familiar figure.
"Tsunade-nee-san!" She called, at the top of her lungs, picking up her speed when she saw the woman stop.
Coming to a whirlwind stop in front of her, she asked the question that had been threatening to rip its way out of her body ever since the two elite ninja had showed up at her doorstep requesting her presence at the hospital.
"What, happened?" She stressed.
Tsunade gazed down at the shorter girl, her face a blank slate. "Come, walk with me," She said, turning back in the direction she had come from.
Sukasu stared at Tsunade's back as she followed her down the hallway. "I'm not going to like this am I?" She asked.
Tsunade's silence was the only answer she needed. Sukasu sighed, "This is about his mission, isn't it?" She asked.
"Would I have called you here if it wasn't?" Tsunade responded, finally.
This time Sukasu was the one to remain silent.
"They ran into some trouble, while trying to complete it."
Obviously, Sukasu thought her face twisting in annoyance. "What happened?" She reiterated.
Tsunade turned around, fixing her with a cold stare, obviously unhappy with her tone, "They were ambushed," she stated.
Sukasu stared up at the older woman, for half a beat everything was silent, then absolute fear overtook her entire person, her blood ran cold. Oh god, "Neji?" she asked.
She didn't wait for the Hokage to respond, before her thoughts got the best of her and she was off, running towards the emergency ICU.
She blew past the nurses' station, wondering for a moment if Tsunade would cover for her, before the thought was quickly replaced with images of more pressing matters.
Pushing past the shiny metal doors blocking the entrance, she flew into the waiting room. Her eyes frantically scanned the area, she had no idea where to look first, her instinct only took her as far as the entrance. She had no idea what happened, so she had no clue as to where he would actually be.
"Sukasu?" Her name rang out like a question, but the voice was familiar.
Sukasu turned around her eyes wide "Tenten?" She responded softly. She knew that Tenten was in the group assigned to Neji from what he had told her, so her presence was both comforting and terrifying.
"Yeah," Tenten responded, changing her stance.
"How are you?" Sukasu asked, kicking herself as the question slipped off her tongue. She's in a hospital after her team got ambushed how well can you be? Idiot.
Tenten however didn't seemed to mind and offered her a small smile of appreciation. "Better than some," she responded truthfully.
Sukasu looked Tenten up and down. She was pretty beat up. There was a cut running down the length of her collarbone and there was a gash over her eye that had been bandaged. Her body was littered with bruises and there were a couple of scratches here and there. Her hand was wrapped up, and she seemed to be favoring one of her legs.
Sukasu didn't even want to think about what the damage had looked like before. She could tell that someone had already inspected her and done as much as they could before they had been called away to attend to people with worse injuries. Which, brought her back to Neji.
"And Neji?" she asked, dreading the response.
"Same as her," a voice said from behind.
Sukasu spun around looking up into his lavender eyes. "Neji, you're okay," she whispered, as the adrenaline left her body and she collapsed, her legs giving out.
Neji reached out an arm to catch her, steadying her body, though she didn't fail to notice the light grunt he gave at the effort.
When she managed to get back on her feet, she gave him a once over. He was just as bad as Tenten. Cuts and bruises littered his arms and neck, and he had bandages wrapped around his forehead. She noticed a particularly nasty gash that had been stitched up, running down his right forearm. The one he just caught you with, the nagging voice in her head decided to add. Sukasu ignored it, continuing her observations.
His left arm was in a sling, probably a broken wrist, Sukasu thought having procured the injury several times herself, she knew what it looked like. She shifted her attention to his legs noting that he seemed to be standing fine and overall, he didn't seem to be in any immediate danger. Though again, she didn't know what he had looked like when he first arrived. Right now he looked okay, tired and beat up, but okay. Sukasu sighed in relief, the last of her pent up anxiety leaving her system.
"You know, by calling me to the hospital and saying their team was ambushed you made me think the worst had happened," Sukasu began, focusing her attention on Tsunade, who had come through the door at the same time Neji had appeared beside her. "So why is it that two of them are standing here, surprisingly not dying?" She asked.
"Well, if you had let me finish, instead of jumping to conclusions you might have known that, neither of them were in any immediate danger of dying. That is not true; however, for the rest of their team," Tsunade answered, her tone flat.
Sukasu huffed, "You still could have gone about it in a better way than you did." Shaking her head she turned back to her boyfriend. "Anyway, I want to know exactly what happened, since Nee-san is obviously against telling me."
Neji sighed. Sure, throw me to the wolves, he thought. His eyes flickered over to Tenten who he could tell was struggling, but trying not to show it. "Let's sit down first," he suggested waving a hand towards the seats lining the wall.
Sukasu's eyes also shifted to Tenten, taking in her discomfort. "Oh yeah, I'm sorry about that Tenten," she apologized.
Tenten shook her head managing a smile, "No it's alright you don't have to worry about me, I'll be fine."
Sukasu inwardly rolled her eyes, of course she would say that, she thought, then she changed tactics. "Well, anyway, I think after all the excitement I've just had in the past five minutes it would be better if I sat down for this story," she said, "Would you mind joining me?" She finished, patting the seat beside her.
Tenten eyed her for a second before sitting, "Sure," she replied.
Sukasu offered her a smile before turning her attention back to the issue at hand, "So?" She asked, leaning forward and placing her elbows on her knees.
Neji, who had sat down on her other side, let out another sigh before beginning.
"They ambushed us the night before, we were supposed to infiltrate…"
Begin Flashback:
"Shit" Tenten cursed, jumping away from her previous spot towards Neji, and turning to face her attacker, or attackers as there were more than one.
Her eyes danced from one form to the other taking note of their differing physiques, one was short and seemed to be female the other was taller and could have been male although the cloaks they were sporting made it hard to tell.
She felt Neji shift closer to her side, a silent offer to help. She glanced over at their three other teammates noting they were in a similar position. So this was planned, Tenten thought focusing her attention back on the two in front of her.
As she studied them she couldn't help but feel that something was off. Why, haven't they attacked us, yet? She wondered checking to see if Neji had noticed this oddity as well.
That's when she noticed the other figures that had appeared around the clearing. "Shit there's more," she mumbled.
Neji nodded, "It seems we're surrounded."
"How many?"
Neji got quiet, his head tilted to the side seeming to contemplate her question. "At least 50, maybe more, it's hard to tell. Their chakra…" Neji trailed off, a disgusted shiver running down his spine.
"Despicable," he muttered, the word and his attention directed at the two cloaked figures in front of them.
"Wha...Neji?" Tenten sputtered, trying to get a grasp on the situation.
Neji spared her an apologetic glance. "These people, if you can even call them that, have all been experimented on with forbidden jutsu."
Tenten's eyes flickered between the two. She gave a slight nod, "I figured as much, but my main problem is why haven't they attacked yet?"
Almost like as an answer to her question she heard a sharp cry from the group to her right and the unmistakable sound of metal against metal.
Tenten turned her head to assess the situation leaving Neji to cover for her should something happen to them.
She noticed that the gigantic cloaked figure in front of the three had barely moved an inch but that they were surrounded by whatever these figures lackeys were.
Whatever had happened over there had brought one of their men down and the other two from their high defensive positions.
Tenten heard Neji's sharp intake of breath and turned back to him with inquisitive eyes. "They got Neako," he breathed.
Tenten bristled. Neako was their medic. They shouldn't have been able to do that, She thought, something's wrong they shouldn't have been able to take out one of our own so quickly. It doesn't make sense, she rambled on before something in Tenten's head clicked.
She didn't want to think about the details, but she knew that their best hope of getting out of this thing was fighting in numbers, and right now they were clearly on the losing side of this battle.
She should have thought of this before. By splitting up they had thought that they could split up whomever was against them into some semblance of a fair fight. Had it been just the cloaked figures in front of them that might have been possible, but they had whatever those things were behind them. Meaning that their search team was sorely outnumbered. It had been planned like this from the beginning, they had meant for them to take notice of the others only after they had been split up and they had taken out their medic. The one person that might've have gotten them through this unscathed.
Tenten let out a string of curses under her breath. "Neji we need to get to the others," She mumbled unsure as to whether or not the two in front of her could hear. They still hadn't moved, and it was becoming unsettling.
The only indication that Neji gave to hearing her was a small tilt of his head in her direction.
"I don't think…" he started, but Tenten was having none of that.
"They want us to be split up to make it easier for them. We have to get to the others," she repeated. Not even looking to see if he would follow, she set off in the others direction.
She didn't get far for the taller of the two figures had somehow moved to get in front of her preventing her from getting through.
"Keh, You think just standing there is going to do anything," she muttered. She jumped up preparing to land a roundhouse kick straight to the figures gut. "Out of my way!" She stated.
Almost as in slow motion she saw her leg come down she saw the cloaked figures hand come up and wrap around her ankle. She felt the searing pain that shot up her leg, and that was all she had time to process before she was suddenly thrown 50 feet away from the clearing and into a tree.
She came down on her toes. The burning feeling in her leg hadn't subsided but she was sure it wasn't broken. She didn't have time to check though because standing in front of her was the figure from before.
He lifted a hand and Tenten prepared herself for another attack. The chuckle that came from the hooded figure, was not what she was expecting.
The figure drew its hood back to reveal a young man not much older than her.
"Oh, no," the man said, voice softer than silk. "You tried to go help your friends. That's not part of the plan we can't have that." He grinned, "Sister would get upset, and there is no cheating in this game."
Tenten took a step back, "Game? They thought this was a game?"
"Who are you?" She snarled, trying to get some information out of him before she pummeled him into the ground. She ignored the queasy feeling growing in her chest.
"Hm," the man tilted his head, "My name?" He asked.
"Yeah," Tenten replied retreating further, hoping to put as much distance between them as possible, before she attacked.
No such luck, the man followed her movements. "Hm, my name, no one's ever asked me my name before," He spoke. "But usually they're already dead."
Tenten bit her lip, discreetly reaching for one of her scrolls as he rambled.
"I suppose it's alright to tell you though, since you asked," The guy continued. "It's Mugoi, San Mugoi and my sister is Moriko Mugoi. Although you don't need to know that because you'll be dead before you meet her."
"Oh, will I?" Tenten muttered, not expecting him to hear her.
"Yes, you will," San answered, wrinkling his brow like he was confused. "They all die before they reach sis."
"And why is that?" Tenten asked, not really caring if he answered her question. She was mainly hoping to distract him long enough so that she could come up with a plan on how to beat him.
San looked down at his hands "Why is that? Why, because everything I touch melts away of course." He laughed as if his answer was the punchline to some big joke. "Master tells me my body is made of acid or something like that. At least I know that my skin acts like acid. It never used to be this way," San continued frowning. "But master seems happy so I'll be happy too," he continued, brightening considerably. "Besides I've learned how to control it enough that I just destroy what I want, and not just on accident like before."
Tenten looked surprised for a moment. He actually answered my question, she thought, then, well that explains what happened to my leg, she thought bitterly, At least I can still stand. Maybe I can get more information out of him? She thought.
"This master you keep mentioning, who is he?"
San shook his head, his brow furrowing in annoyance. "No, no more questions, I've already answered enough. Now if you'd stop hiding that scroll, and manage to hit me, I might answer a few more," He said, lunging forward.
Tenten tsked, jumping back and deftly unfurling the scroll in her hand. If he was made of acid, she decided, she'd just have to rely on her weapons for the time being until she found a way around it.
Meanwhile in the clearing Neji was facing off against the smaller of the two cloaked individuals.
Out of all of them he could tell this one's chakra was the worst. It made him nauseous just looking at its vile, twisted, patterns.
Neji tried to get his mind off the person in front of him by assessing the situation.
So far, he could tell that Tatsumi and Ryuu were holding their own against the forbidden jutsu manipulated bandits. He couldn't sense Naeko anymore which troubled him, and the big guy who seemed to be commanding the others still hadn't moved yet.
Tenten, he sensed, was not terribly far away from the clearing, and she looked to be holding up fine against her opponent. The only problem was that now they were even more split up than before and Neji sensed that wouldn't be a good thing.
He heard a strange sound and turned his attention back to the figure in front of him.
"Oh, look at you," a distinctly feminine voice floated up from beneath the hood. "You look so upset that your team has been separated."
Neji's eye twitched.
"But don't worry dearest," the voice said, lifting its hood back revealing the child-like face within. "You'll be reunited with them soon enough," She tittered, rushing forward, kunai in hand, with a manic expression of glee etched across her face.
She disappeared a split second before she hit him, Neji followed her with his Byakugan, flawlessly blocking the hit intended for his neck.
His left arm came up to block, and his right hand moved to knock the kunai out of hers. The girl quickly retracted her hand rolling off to the side, she tapped one foot on the ground before jumping away to attack from his right.
Tatsumi and Ryuu were having a time of it. They were doing their best to fend off most of the bandits and keep the big guy in their line of sight. Ryuu had tried to go after Neako as soon as she had been taken out, but had been met with a resistance of 50 strong. He and Tatsumi had fought them off well enough but the bastards just kept appearing out of nowhere.
What was really upsetting, Ryuu thought peering through his black fringe to get a better look, Was that the big guy that seemed to be commanding all these bandits hasn't moved an inch since the fight started.
What, does he think we're not worth his time? Ryuu thought. Disarming a bandit and throwing him to the ground breaking his neck in the process. He was immediately surrounded by 5 more to replace it.
Tenten frowned wiping blood off of her face for the umpteenth time. This was getting annoying. Every time she thought she had an opening this guy, San, would counter it.
She had done well to stay out of the way of his physical body. But that didn't stop him from getting near hers. She had realized only a second too late that one of his attacked had been meant to place himself behind her. She had managed to get away but not without the shallow gash now running above her eye.
It would have been fine if not for that fact that if he had wanted to kill her right then and there the only thing he would have had to do was wrap his hands around her neck and let the acid do the rest of the work. She could only hope that it was due to this 'game' he was playing that that wasn't the case.
She still couldn't quell the uneasy feeling she was getting from him that he wasn't really attempting to fight her at all.
Neji's eye twitched again, as the girl-child's crazed laughter assaulted his senses, again. She seemed to be having fun messing around with him, since that's exactly what this was. He could tell her chakra had neither spiked nor dropped in the entire time they had been trading blows. Which led him to the conclusion that she was holding back.
He grit his teeth, as he blocked yet another one of her kicks. "Come on," he muttered, "Stop holding back, didn't you say you were going to kill me?" he taunted.
The girl's face fell as she jumped back, landing in her previous position on the ground, before the smile was back and she tittered, "Why? Are you not having fun?"
"This isn't about having fun," Neji spat back, disgusted. "Stop holding back, it's insulting."
The girls grin grew wider. "Fine, if that's what you want."
She spread her feet an equal distance apart on the ground and clapped her hands, looking away from him. "Okay, everyone, the boy has insisted that holding back is insulting, so it's time to start the real games."
Neji raised an eyebrow "Games?" Obviously, the tampering to her chakra had done a lot more than he thought.
"That's right" she said, turning her grinning face back towards him. "It's time to play."
She flew forward and aimed a kick at his face. Neji brought his hands up to block it, wincing when the impact was more than he thought. The resulting bang that resounded throughout the clearing told him that his gut instinct was right, the girl had been holding back.
Ryuu and Tatsumi paused sensing the vibe in the clearing change drastically. If it was possible the fight which had seemed almost dead before came alive in the moments after the crazed girls announcement.
Bandits flooded into the clearing and the last figure under a cloak revealed itself to be a big hulking figure of solid black rock. The only thing differentiating it from a mountain was the bright shining eyes within its depths and the permanent sneer etched on its face.
Tenten got blown back into a tree as a humongous gust of wind appeared out of nowhere. She looked up to see San laughing.
"What is it now?" She asked.
San clapped his hands. "Sister has just permitted the games to begin. Now I no longer need to hold back."
"Hold ba…"Tenten started, trying to pick herself out of the branches, she couldn't even finish the sentence before San was in front of her, hand latching onto her already burned leg.
Tenten bit back a scream as the burned flesh was once again assaulted.
San had adapted an insane light to his eyes. "Yes, hold back," he hissed "It was fun while it lasted, but I couldn't wait for the real games to begin. Let's see how long it takes before you beg for mercy. Five minutes? Ten?" He asked bring a hand up to wrap around her wrist.
The flesh at the base of her hand began to melt away and Tenten felt tears come to her eyes as she wrenched herself away from his grasp.
She landed on a tree branch a few yards away in the direction of the campsite. Her leg and arm were on fire but she would be damned if she let San see her in any type of pain. After all he seemed to get a kick out of it.
The man in question didn't seem to mind that she had gotten away in fact he took his sweet time getting up and turning around. Tenten took that time to think. If there was some way she could lead him back to the clearing so she could team up with Neji, she had to find it. She had no idea was type of power the sister had but from the way San spoke she seemed to be the leader of the group. Tenten figured if she was able to make it back to Neji they might be able to find a way to beat these two. It would be better to have two minds come up with a plan instead of one.
Tenten didn't have any more time to think on the subject before San was after her again.
Neji spun through another rotation sending more bandits flying than he had time to count. It was one thing fighting against bandits and another fighting against one's that had been exposed to forbidden jutsu. Not to mention the girl-child, he still hadn't gotten her name, was stronger than she looked. When he had said to stop holding back he wasn't prepared of the surge in her powers that came with it. It was becoming too hard to follow her movements even with his Byakugan.
Neji was really against using his Masahaiken Byakugan this early in the game. It was kind of like his trump card and there was no way he was pulling it out now. Although things were starting to look desperate.
Ryuu and Tatsumi were starting to look worn out against the sheer amount of bandits they were bringing down not to mention the big rock guy had entered the mix and whatever he was doing, it wasn't looking well for those two.
Neji sighed as the girl came after him again using the same move she had used the first time she attacked. Do you really think that's going to work? He thought, I've already seen it.
He wasn't surprised when she disappeared again, a rogue taking her place. "Figures," he muttered blocking and going for another rotation.
Right when he was about to spread his arms he felt a searing pain make its way down his right forearm. He saw a quick flash of steely blond hair go past him. It was all the information he needed to figure out what happened.
That little bitch, she'd waited until his guard was down only slightly before making a move
Neji wasn't about to let her get away with thinking she could hit him on a whim. He increased his chakra output sending the rest of her lackeys flying.
The girl chortled. "Upset?" She seemed unfazed by the loss of her men. "Well that's one hit for me, I suppose it's about time to switch with brother."
"You have a brother?" Neji asked inspecting his arm. The cut was deep, but not deep enough to sever any nerve endings, which meant it hurt like a bitch.
"Hm? Yes, he's over there fighting that lady," The girl responded, pointing off in the direction Tenten was in.
"Oh and what's his name?" Neji asked, lazily wondering if she was going to attack again, her stance suggested otherwise.
Neji blinked and he was on his back, the little girl standing above him one boot pressing into his chest, holding him down. "How rude," she stated frowning "You haven't even asked for my name yet and you ask for his? Well I'm not telling, you can figure that out yourself, but my name is Moriko Mugoi, and you'd better remember that," She ended with her trademark manic grin, jumping back.
Neji got up realizing something. "You're still holding back," He accused.
She just grinned in response, before looking up into the trees, "Oh, brother's back."
Neji looked up when Tenten fell through the tree branches landing on her back in front of him, and the other previously hooded figure, presumably the aforementioned brother appeared beside Moriko.
"Tenten, are you okay?" Neji asked.
"Yeah, never been better," Tenten replied picking herself up. San was stronger than he let on and it was becoming harder to stand on her injured leg but she was trying to push through. "How are the others?" She asked.
Neji turned back to their opponents, "For now, they're doing okay, but we can't continue to drag out these fights. We still have to find Naeko."
Tenten nodded. "That's easier said than done. Those two seem to have different plans," She added nodding in the Mugoi siblings' direction.
The siblings in question seemed to be having a conversation of their own.
"So brother, how many hits did you get?" Moriko asked.
"A few," he answered, "You?"
"Only one good one, not enough to make him scream."
"Oh, that's too bad sister. Maybe you should just go all out. They never scream if you hold back."
"Did she scream?" Moriko asked, eying Tenten.
"No," San answered annoyed. "I was hoping she would after I burned her arm and her leg, but she's still standing."
Moriko nodded, "Well it seems neither of us won this round. Would you like to play another game?"
"Like what?" San asked, hidden amusement flickering beneath his eyes.
"Like, let's see who breaks first," Moriko suggested with a hint of excitement lacing her words.
San chuckled, "We always play that one sister."
"Then let's change it up, we fight them together," Moriko added
"How is that a game?" San asked, "I'd be playing with you."
"Well there's still the two over there," Moriko indicated towards Tatsumi and Ryuu. "Let's play against Uchi."
San looked over towards where Uchi was standing. "Fine, that's different."
Tenten and Neji were regarding this conversation with mixed emotions. They could hear everything the two were saying as they weren't doing anything to hide it.
Tenten was flickering between appalment and disgust while Neji was leaning more towards revulsion and loathing.
Tenten shook her head, now was not the time to be judging the siblings mental health, they had to figure out a plan.
"Neji got any ideas for how we're gonna beat them?" She asked, not caring if they heard.
Neji glanced over at her then at the other two fighting 'Uchi' then shrugged. "I don't have much to go on. We don't know anything about them. Our best bet would be to fight them long enough to figure out what their moves are and what works against them, then go from there."
Tenten nodded, "What about the other two?" She asked.
Neji glanced back over at two other ninja assigned to his group. "Hopefully, we can bring the fight over that way and find a way to regroup," he answered.
Tenten sighed, pulling out another one of her scrolls. "Sounds like a plan, just be careful against the brother. His skin acts like acid."
"I can see that," Neji replied, falling into an offensive stance, eying her leg and hand respectively.
Neji debated using his Masahaiken Byakugan for the second time, but again since she was holding back, he still wasn't sure of the extent of her powers and it wouldn't do to put himself out of commission if he underestimated her. He decided to continue using rotation and the 8 trigram palms until he had a better feel of her abilities. He thought advancing towards the siblings Tenten right beside him.
As soon as the first blows met he felt the surge in power. It was accented by the two's matching grins.
He and Tenten had a silent agreement to switch off opponents as much as possible. Hopefully that would keep them on their toes enough to wear them out if only a little.
Tenten went after the sister first, narrowly avoid her overly strong punch to the gut before she was replaced by neji and was once again left facing the brother. San grinned, Tenten huffed. She jumped back out of the way twisting one of her scrolls to assault him with a barrage of weapons. She wasn't surprised when the melted to the ground around him. She switch places with Neji again, continuing their dance of death around the siblings who in turn were dancing around them
Watching from the sidelines was the rock giant Uchi. Uchi had taken to calling all of his opponent's by whatever feature defined them best. As of right now he was fighting, if you could even call it that, against two ninja. One who had a messy flop of black hair with tips dyed varying shades of green and the other who had a starburst tattooed on his left bicep.
Currently Starburst man and the Green guy weren't putting up much of a fight. But that was to be expected. They were tired out. That's how it always was. They could only last so long against his pets. He wasn't even really fighting them as they tried another tag team attack, he was just toying with them. He could bring them down in a matter of seconds if he wanted to.
His attention shifted to his leader and her brother. They were messing with the brown haired boy with the strange pale eyes and the girl that liked to throw weapons. They were putting up a good fight and making headway but it wouldn't be enough. The two were still just being toyed with.
Tenten landed besides Neji panting, it was hard switching between mid-range and hand to hand combat, especially with her injuries. She looked beside her to where Neji was standing. They had been at it for a while but the Mugoi siblings seemed loath to change their fighting style to anything but what they were doing.
"If we want them to show us their moves were going to have to do something different as well." Tenten mentioned to him.
Neji nodded in confirmation his brow furrowed, he seemed upset. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to use this move but it seems I don't have a choice."
Tenten stared at him quizzically "What?"
Neji didn't answer her question choosing instead to ask one of his own.
"Do you think you could take on the brother on your own for a while?" He asked. "This will probably work best if I just focus on one person instead of two." It's becoming impossible for me to keep up with her attacks as I am right now this is my only option.
Tenten shook her head in affirmation slowly. She had no idea what Neji was on about, but whatever it was it was important enough that he didn't want to use it in actual battle.
Neji offered her a small smile in thanks before turning his attention back to Moriko.
Masahaiken Byuakugan, immediately Neji felt his energy reserves drop with the added pressure of trying to maintain the Masahaiken. At least now he would be able to follow Moriko's movements that much better. The only problem would be defense.
Tenten moved towards San debating which of her scrolls to use first. She had fought against him long enough to figure out that what he had said before was true. The only things that burned where what he wanted to burn himself. It's how his clothes remained intact and the ground he was standing on didn't just melt underneath him.
San eyed her with a leer as she skirted around him though it didn't quite reach his eyes. He was growing bored extremely quickly. Despite all the times he had managed to land a blow the girl had never once screamed. She just grit her teeth and moved away to be replaced with the long haired boy. The two were holding out way too long against him and his sister and he was starting to get tired.
He wanted this game to progress a little faster, he thought to himself, as he produced a staff from the inner folds of his cloak. The staff was made of wood, with metal wings that protruded from the top and formed a point where a green jewel was held. The jewel was sharpened to a fine point and the wings had been tempered, each point tipped with gold.
It was a nice staff, the jewel helped to channel his powers giving him a longer range for destruction. It was also helpful in speeding up the game.
Tenten watched as San pulled a staff from his cloak noting that his hands didn't burn straight through the wood.
A plan started formulating itself in her mind as she moved her tired body around him. Mechanically blocking and attacking at a whim making sure to stay out of the way of his body. In her distracted state of mind she forgot to account for his new staff though and was startled when she felt the familiar sting of a blade making its way down her collarbone.
She jumped back landing on a low tree branch, she felt her leg scream in protest as she put more pressure on it. She looked down at her chest to inspect the wound before glancing back up to assess San.
His staff was dripping blood, her blood she thought, from its wing tips, San seemed to be excited by this new development watching her as if waiting for something.
"What?" she asked smirking, "You want me to fall over and die from a scratch?"
San frowned, obviously upset by her reaction. "Why won't you get upset, or scream, or something?" He asked
Tenten raised an eyebrow "You want me to get upset?" She asked, "You want me to scream? For what? I've had worse."
San did not like the sound of that, for his face twisted into that of a child about to throw a tantrum. He dove at her. Tenten tried to dodge out of the way, but she was too slow. He came upon her and landed a hard kick to her stomach that sent her flying. She flew back straight into Neji who was trying to dodge one of Moriko's more ruthless attacks. She slammed into him sending them both to the ground.
She didn't have time to recover before San had picked her up by the neck, and slammed her into the ground once more. She felt her ribs crack from the force though she noted that he wasn't trying to burn her. Obviously under the impression that that wasn't going to get a rise out of her for the time being.
Tenten thought quickly noting that he was able to keep from burning her just by thought alone apparently and she also noticed that he didn't burn his staff either.
There was also the fact that he seemed to pause for a moment before he touched the things he didn't want to burn, like he was consciously retracting the acid. An idea popped into her head. It was a long shot but if he wasn't going to burn her, for the time being, then she would be able to engage him in close range combat.
If she was able to distract him enough to think that she was focusing on using her body to fight him maybe in the seconds before he realized what was going on she could pull out a kunai and slit his throat and the whole thing would be over with.
Tenten brought her good leg up kneeing the man above her in the abdomen. The split second falter that occurred as he was momentarily knocked off balance was enough for her to kick her way out from under him and land in a safer space a little ways away. Her cracked ribs now screaming in protest alongside her leg and hand. But she ignored their cries for rest, focusing instead on putting her plan into action.
Neji picked himself up from the ground, caught off guard by Tenten, he couldn't do much to help her when San picked her up and threw her to the ground again. He was doing as much as he could as it was just trying to dodge and lay in an attack here and there.
Neji winced knowing his stomach was going to be incredibly bruised later.
Moriko was laughing waiting patiently for him to pick himself up. She had that much confidence in herself. It irked him. Here they were doing everything in their power to bring the crazed siblings down and they were barely even breaking a sweat.
He trained his eyes on her noticing for the first time why the flow of her chakra upset him so much. It was backwards. It was twisting in all the wrong directions which would explain why his 8 trigrams 64 palms had been failing so far. He had been going about it the usual way and that had gotten him nowhere. It just added an extra scratch to his name and more laughs as the Morikos hit count went up. He realized what he had been doing wrong. In order to beat her, he had to start from the back and work his way in, so to speak.
Moriko watched in mild interest as Neji advanced towards her again. Wondering what he would do this time. Things had become a tad more interesting after the girl had left, but that was only because he seemed to be able to read her attacks better it didn't change his attacks at all and she was starting to lose patience as this game was quickly losing its fun. She decided to let him get one hit in just for her amusement.
She wasn't expecting his next attack though. When his hands made contact with her skin she felt like something had pierced through her layers and blocked all feeling in her lower arms. She jumped back but Neji followed.
"4 palms."
She lost feeling in her hands.
"8 palms."
Her upper arms.
"16 palms."
Her leg. This was bad, Moriko thought stumbling, still dragging herself backwards fighting the numbing feeling beginning to course through her body. At this rate the boy might actually be able to do something.
Uchi looked up when he noticed the boss stumble. It was unusual for her to lose her balance in a fight. It must be something the boy is doing, Uchi thought. This is bad no one has been able to touch the missus before I must stop him.
Uchi moved quickly leaving the two other ninja barely worth his time behind him. He appeared in front of Moriko.
Uchi grinned when he felt the young boy's wrist snap against his rocky surface. He knew for certain that the boy wasn't expecting him to intervene on Moriko's behalf but that had been his mistake. He watched in silent triumph as the boy leapt back cradling his wrist and eying him with unhidden contempt.
Uchi could tell that whatever the boy was doing was taking its toll as he was considerably weaker than he had been five minutes before. He was breathing heavy and his muscles were straining, but there was still enough life in him for a few interesting moments of combat.
Uchi advanced forward towards the brown haired boy with the strange eyes.
Neji watched as the hulking rock figure moved towards him. The big man was surprisingly light on his feet which did not bode well for Neji. He was pushing his limits as it was and he was aware that his chakra network was beginning to break down under the strain. He felt Tatsumi and Ryuu coming up behind him to offer some support, as he prepared himself for another fight.
Tenten watched as Neji tried to hold his own against Uchi with Tatsumi and Ryuu to back him up. She was worried because it was three to two, but the three were a little worse for wear. Hopefully she could join them soon though she thought as she put her half formed plan into action.
She jumped up spinning for a kick and leading with her bad leg to throw San off.
San watched her already growing bored with this game. "What are you going to try and kick me? Your leg's barely functioning as it is." He sneered.
"To bad," Tenten said flipping around and grinning, "Because that's not what you should be worried about."
San's eyes widened when he noticed the knife in her hand he moved to get out the way, but it was too late to avoid the blow. He felt it as the cold metal slid across his face and over his nose. He couldn't comprehend the burning feeling it left in its wake he only knew that his perfect face had been marred, by this bitch who just wouldn't give up.
He saw her grin in triumph when she landed the hit because it meant he could be touched. They could wound him. Her smiling face upset him. She wasn't supposed to smile she was supposed to be screaming in pain. Writhing, begging for mercy under his acid hands, and she was smiling. This was unacceptable.
His thoughts boiled over into a sea of red. No more games. She was going to die.
San twirled his staff around and screamed in rage and defiance.
That's when all hell broke loose. In a matter of seconds both Tatsumi and Ryuu were brought down and Neji was sent flying his head slamming into the base of a tree before he landed on the ground unmoving.
Tenten didn't have any time to react before San was upon her stabbing through her stomach with the tip of his staff. She was lifted up in the air by the point of the staff, causing her to cough up blood as it flooded her lungs. She was tossed like a rag doll to earth below landing on her back with a thud. She gasped for breath the wind having been knocked clear out of her system.
She felt San's presence beside her as he came into her field of vision the ground beneath his feet smoking as it melted away.
"You'll pay for that, you bitch," San sneered wiping blood off his face and moving closer. Tenten could clearly see the knife wound she'd dealt running clear across his face. She was upset because she had missed her mark, but excited because her plan actually worked. Now if only she could do it again.
Tenten tried to get up it found that her body wouldn't listen to her. All her limbs were like lead they stayed on the ground where they had landed.
San moved his staff poised above her arm, the closest body part to him. "I'll make you suffer," he continued, "I'll impale every limb, I'll make you scream for mercy. I'll avoid your vital organs though I don't want you to die too soon after all, but I'll make sure that every other square inch of your body will be grinded to a bloody pulp. You won't even recognize yourself by the time I'm done and then I'll carve out your heart and keep it in my collection as a trophy. Maybe I'll gouge out your eyeballs too, and set them up across from you heart so you can see it in my possession for all eternity." San's whispered threats had risen in volume until he was screaming at the girl beneath him. He raised the staff to bring it down on the appendage before his sister's voice stopped him.
"Stop" came the command "We are being summoned brother, it's best to leave her, you don't want another scolding do you?"
San glared down at Tenten, "You are lucky that master chose this time to call us," he spat at her, before slowly backing away to follow his sister.
"Come," Moriko demanded, "Stop moving so slow, we can always come back later, none of them will be able to get very far in the states there in," she said, dropping her gaze to land on the others surrounding the campsite. "Besides, we've already got their medic," she added, disappearing back into the foliage, her brother close behind.
Tenten let out a stuttering breath, struggling to sit up on her knees. Her attempts only landed her on her back, staring up at the sky. She coughed up blood, turning her head to spit it out to the side. Her erratic movements had only succeeded in aggravating her injuries. Her cracked ribs were screaming in protest, she felt like she was going to pass out from the pain. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew she should probably try and stop the bleeding in her abdomen. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew she should try and see if the others were okay, but she could do that later. All she wanted right now was to rest. After all she had just had to fight those two insane siblings, she deserved a moment of peace.
Tenten stared up at the pale sky, her vision fading in and out. She listened to the birds that had been disturbed from their roost during the fighting earlier, slowly return to their nests. It was peaceful till she remembered what the crazy sadistic sister had said before she left, "We can always come back later...besides we've already got their medic." "Fuck," Tenten muttered, there were others that were worse off than she was, she could deserve to take a break later. Preferably far away from the Mugoi siblings and their sadistic games.
Tenten struggled to sit up, almost blacking out in the process. "Okay," she murmured to herself several deep breaths later, "Maybe that wasn't the best idea," she conceded. "Let's try this again, a different way this time."
She flipped back over to her stomach, more carefully this time, still wincing at the pain it caused her, and shuffled onto her knees. Wrapping one arm around her abdomen to keep pressure on the wound, she managed to get to her feet and nearly fell over again.
She wobbled, catching herself on the tree trunk near where she had landed and cried out at the feeling that shot up her arm, her one open eye slid over to the arm in question, taking note of the burn covering her hand and wrapping its way up the limb. She huffed, too many injuries to keep track of, I really just want to fall over...No, I have to make sure everyone else is okay, first.
With just that thought she pushed herself over to where she had last seen Neji. She found him borderlining on unconsciousness, "Neji," she called out to him, checking over the damage he had sustained as best she could.
His right arm was covered in blood and she knew from the hit he had taken before that his left wrist was probably broken. There were a few cuts along his neck and she knew that blow to the ribs had affected them both, but she also knew the real problem would be that head injury he had sustained during his last fight. "Neji," she called again, her voice barely above a whisper. She had found earlier, that trying to speak above a whisper only ended up bringing up more blood.
"Neji, hey, how're you doing? Can you stand?" She asked, once she saw him stir beneath her.
"Yeah, give me a moment," he responded, after a moment of silence. He seemed to have less trouble getting to his feet than she did, but then he didn't have acid burns on his leg and stab wound to his name either.
When he was finally standing, he looked her up and down, judging her injuries for himself. "How are the others?" he asked after a moment.
"Not good, those bandits really did an number on them," she responded shifting her gaze over to the two other ninja lying on the ground that she had passed on her way to Neji, "they have a couple of hours at best, they've lost a lot of blood. I'm sure there's a lot of internal damage too, not to mention possible poisoning. And I have no idea about…"
Neji grimaced, following her gaze, "Yeah I would try and go after her, but at this point…" he didn't finish his thought, but Tenten knew what he wanted to say.
At this point it probably wouldn't do much good, besides we don't even know if she's still alive.
"Yeah," she responded looking away, "Any chance we can make it back to the village alive?" She asked switching the subject back to the issue at hand.
Neji made a face, "Us, maybe, them, not so much," he replied, waving his good hand towards Tatsumi and Ryuu.
"Think we can try?" Tenten asked.
Neji was shaking his head, "We don't know the extent of the damage done to their bodies. If we move them now it might make things worse. But," he continued when he saw Tenten start to speak again, "On the other hand, we don't have much of a choice. If we stay here and wait for help, those two will probably come back and we'll be sitting ducks.
"So what's your plan?" Tenten asked.
"Make it as far as we can, before sending out a distress signal. Hopefully, someone on our side will be within range."
Tenten nodded, "Sounds good. So, what do we do first?" she asked, looking around at all the destruction they had caused.
"First," Neji said, assessing their injuries again, "We clean ourselves up, then we check them and figure out what the best course of action for moving them would be."
"Then, we get the hell out of here?" Tenten threw in.
Neji paused then nodded, "Then we get the hell out of here," he repeated.
Ten minutes later and Neji had wrapped Tenten's hand and leg and had cleaned the cut over her eye as best he could. She had done the rest, wrapping the stab wounds at her waist, and somehow managing to stabilize Neji's wrist. She also wrapped his head, before she cleaned the blood off his arm.
"There's not much I can do about this gash. You're probably going to need stitches," Tenten said after taking a closer look at the wound.
"Just wrap it as best you can," Neji responded. "I'm more worried about the other two at the moment, we're running out of time."
"I know," Tenten said, looking for a big enough piece of cloth she could use to wrap the cut.
"Come on," Neji said, when she finished tying off the knot, "Let's get going."
"Right," Tenten said, making to follow her captain.
End Flashback:
"So in the end, we had to carry Ryuu and Tatsumi on our backs, but we didn't have enough chakra to make it that far and ended up passing out about 3 miles from the village."
"Luckily there were some other leaf nin around who saw our signal and were able to transport us back," Neji finished.
Sukasu had been surprisingly silent for the duration of his story, and he glanced over to see her leaning forward, staring at nothing in particular.
When she realized he had finished she sat back in the chair. "That," she began, "was a very interesting story. It's not unheard of for ninja to get ambushed while on a mission, but what's really getting to me is the nature of the people who ambushed you." Sukasu continued, finally facing him, her eyes ablaze with untamed fire. "What was the name of the village you were supposed to be infiltrating again?" Sukasu grit out, her eyes daring him to lie to her.
Neji back tracked over what he had just said wondering what would make her so incredibly angry until he realized it. He'd accidentally let slip exactly who had ambushed them during the story, which had just clued her into what they had been up to. Shit
"Neji, I'm waiting," Sukasu said, her voice quiet with barely contained anger.
"The name of the village was Ushinatta," Neji finally replied, with an apologetic stare.
Sukasu let out a long slow sigh when she heard the name, her eyes trained on the Hokage.
"Suka…" Neji started.
Sukasu silenced him with a glare, "Excuse me for a moment, Neji, Tenten, I think I need some air," she bit out standing up and marching towards the door with a pointed look on her face.
Neji, glanced towards the Hokage as he watched his girlfriend stalk towards the metal doors.
"Do you think she mad at us?" Tenten asked.
The Hokage and Neji both let out short sounds of mock amusement. "Oh no, she's pissed," Neji replied.
"Are you going to follow her?" Tenten asked, directing her attention to no one in particular.
Neji watched on in interest. There was no way he was jumping in on this one. It was Tsunade's call not his.
Tsunade seemed to read his thoughts as she stood from her chair slowly, "I suppose I should," she said making to follow the shorter girl out the door.
"This won't end well," Neji commented as they watched her exit.
When Tsunade exited into the hallway she found Sukasu waiting for her arms crossed, and face looking like she was ready for battle.
"Why? Why did you decide it was a good idea to send him out there?"
"Because despite your misgivings he is an elite ninja, he's entitled to a few S-ranked missions, every now and then." Tsunade replied, noncommittally.
Sukasu glared at her, "Let's get one thing straight first, I never said I had misgivings about his abilities, in fact I don't. What I do have a problem with however is the fact that you sent out a team that had no idea what the hell they were getting into."
"I debriefed them properly, are you implying that I can't even do my own job?" Tsunade bit back,
"I'm sure you did, but that's not my point. They didn't scout the area, they didn't spend months on end spying on this army. Those missions were assigned to me in the past. I was the one who did the scouting. I specialize in infiltrations and assassination, not him. It was my responsibility, I know the risks. It's not like this was just some random band of misfits and outlaws, where you can go in and take out them out with no difficulty. This wasn't just some simple mission, people will die, hell, from the sound of it one already has."
"And then of all the people that had to come after them, the Mugoi siblings. They're the highest ranking under Kisuge and he's right under their leader! And they don't come out and 'play' for no reason. They knew they were coming and that just makes this whole thing even worse!" Sukasu's voice rose steadily as she spoke, till she was almost screaming at the woman no longer able to control her anger
"I know that," Tsunade bellowed back. "Do you think I didn't plan this out you think I didn't realize that as soon as I heard? It's impossible to think they would appear for no reason, and as for you, you know exactly why I couldn't send you," She snarked, Staring pointedly at Sukasu's stomach.
Sukasu drew back, placing a protective hand over her belly, "You knew?" She voiced icily.
Tsunade rolled her eyes, "Of course I knew, I'm a trained medic, I know the signs when I see them. But at the time it didn't seem like you were aware of it at all, and it looks like the father still isn't."
The fire that had previously died down with Tsunade's revelation lept back up with a vengeance.
"Well of course he doesn't know," Sukasu replied her voice dripping acid. "I didn't even know until he was sent out on this mission that I conveniently didn't know the details of. And of course I couldn't tell him when he got back because he's in the fucking hospital. Why? Oh yeah, cause he almost died."
"He's not dead though," Tsunade muttered under her breath.
Sukasu caught it and rounded on her, "But he could have been, he could be dead! Tsunade and where would I be then? I'd be even more of an outcast then I already am! I just started peace treaty talks with the Hyuuga I just made significant progress. But where would I be if he's dead after going on a mission that was meant for me and I'm conveniently knocked up with his child. Everything I worked for up until now would be null and void. They would never believe me that I didn't know. They would never allow me and my child to live after that. I would be living in hell all over again. But I guess you didn't take that into account when you were planning this mission, did you?"
"And what would you have had me do?" Tsunade retaliated. "Send you out instead? In the condition you're in? You could be worse off than them," Tsunade said indicating the waiting room down the hall. "And then what? What about Neji?"
"And then what!" Sukasu repeated "And then what! Tsunade I'd be dead either way. I'm fucking expendable to them. The council would love to be rid of me one less problem to deal with. I'm not a person to them, I'm a tool! They don't care! What about Neji, You ask? I just spent the last hour thinking he, the person I love, the father of my child, might be dead or dying, and come to find out it would be something that had to do with me. That could have been prevented if you had sent me. But why not, because of my health? Because of my baby? Because you don't think I'm strong enough? Because you don't think I'll make it out alive?"
"At this point, no you wouldn't make it out alive, you're not strong enough, you have other things to worry about besides this failed mission, and at this point so do I. I now have to think up another plan to retrieve the master stone before this gets out of hand, and standing here arguing with you isn't helping," Tsunade ground out making it clear that that was the end of the discussion. Turning around she started making her way back to the waiting room.
She expected Sukasu to return with her but she didn't. Instead Sukasu stood in her position unmoving and incredibly pissed off, thinking on what Tsunade had said.
She wouldn't send her out on this mission because of the risks involved. But if there was a way for her to complete it fast, without having to worry about her strength, a way where she could retrieve the stone, destroy the higher ups, a way where everything would work out...Sukasu thought her mind reeling.
"That's it," she whispered to Tsunade's back.
"What's that?" Tsunade asked.
Sukasu looked up, "The seal. I want it off, now"
Tsunade whorled around "What? Are you insane?"
Sukasu shook her head, "No I want the seal off. I can't wait for you to think up another plan to be botched. I'm going to complete this mission, by myself the way I was supposed to and in order to do that I need the seal off."
"That's crazy," Tsunade stated shaking her head, "No, I'm not going to do it."
"To bad, you don't have a choice, that's the price for not telling me remember? The seal comes off when I say it does." Sukasu didn't wait for a response before she turned around to walk down the hall
Tsunade was shaking her head "And what happens if you die?" She called after her.
Sukasu stopped turning her head so that Tsunade could see her eyes. They were angry, angry and confident, a deadly combination. "I won't."
Tsunade sat back on her heels there was no way she could fight this. The girl's mind was made up. it was a crazy suicidal plan and there was no way she'd make it out with no repercussions she could force her to stay but she knew it wouldn't do any good, "They'll know you're coming," she said.
"So what," Sukasu responded under her breath, "Let them see me, I'll destroy all of them anyway," she ended stalking out the building.
Tsunade walked back into the waiting room, pissed and a little worried. "There's no way she'll be able to take the seal off and not suffer the consequences. She's not thinking straight. The whole idea is insanity."
Tsunade sighed rubbing the bridge of her nose hoping to relieve some tension. I'll send some ANBU out after her hopefully they can calm her down and get her back here before she harms herself, she thought, her eyes falling on Neji, or her baby. Tsunade sighed again.
Neji looked up, "How'd it go?" He asked.
"What do you think?" she asked.
"That bad?"
"You couldn't hear the screaming?"
"Yeah," he replied letting his head rest in his hand, "I heard it, but then it got quiet. I thought you managed to calm her down, but since she's not walking back in here with you I'm assuming that was not the case?"
Tsunade was shaking her head before he even finished. "No, I didn't calm her down, actually I think I made it worse."
"How so?" Neji asked.
Tsunade eyed him debating whether or not she should tell him everything. In the end she decided against it. It was Sukasu's decision not hers. Tsunade sighed, "I'm afraid she's about to do something stupid."
A/N: So uhh...Comments, questions, concerns?...Yes the big reveal Sukasu is pregnant! Oh my! Don't worry I am going somewhere with this...just think of this as a plot twist to begin plot twist, hehe I'll let you thin k on that one. Umm other than that yes this was one of my longer chapters, I don't know if any later chapters will get as long only time will tell but keep you fingers crossed I have passed over the proverbial hump in my writing and will have smooth sailing from here. No that does not mean this was the climax, kind of sh**ty climax if it was one don't you think? maybe that's just my opinion but Anyway pray for me or whatever and maybe I'll update faster (whispers: I'm praying for myself too) As always thank you and please review!