*~~*
Ice ran through Naruto's veins. Hinata felt a rush of dizziness but pushed it back.
"Let's go!" he yelled, already running ahead. Hinata followed. Behind them, their masks lay upturned on the flowers, gazing at the moon.
It was only a two minute run back to the festival, but it was still too much time for the both of them. It took every bit of training they possessed to fight back the anxiety. Ninja did not generally suffer bomb attacks, which this most obviously was. Bombs were not weapons they could fight. They were not something they could defend their friends from.
And now, they had no way of knowing which of their friends might lie dead, pieces of bloody meat on the festival pavement.
Naruto did a quick weapons inventory. He was only carrying a handful of kunai. He cursed and asked Hinata to do the same.
Hinata was similarly prepared. They hadn't been expecting anything like this at all.
They rounded the last corner of the dark alley they had left through, which was now lit up like a bonfire. They felt shivers run down their spines as they looked on over the chaos.
The entire stage was burning, large flames licking up the curtains and into the streets. Corpses littered the pavement, some of them burnt or burning, indicating death from the explosion. Others were furthere away, covered in blood, their animal masks staring up in a macabre mockery of death.
All over, Destruction ninja and Guild ninja were fighting. The pair could see, now, that not all of the bodies were Guild victims. Some of them were dead Destruction-nin.
Naruto felt his blood boil worse than ever before. Worse, even, than the times he'd fought Sasuke when the idiot thought he should go to Orochimaru. Worse, even, than the times he'd fought Orochimaru himself.
This kind of merciless slaughter was against the rules.
Fine, he thought. Fuck the rules.
"Hinata," he looked over at her, his face stern. She looked back, and he could see she was braced for battle. Nodding, he handed her all of his remaining kunai. When she looked at him quizzically, he ripped the sleeves off of his yukata to reveal his silver bracelet on his thin, tan wrist.
"I want you to get everyone you can out of here," he told her, the anger simmering under his skin. She nodded, and turned to go. He reached out and caught her arm, spun her around.
"And make it back safe," he rasped, his eyes somehow bright with concern and dark with anger. "Promise me."
"I promise," she whispered. He nodded, kissed her on her forehead and turned, disappearing into the fray.
Hinata blinked once, then ripped the sleeves off her own yukata, throwing them down alongside Naruto's. She ripped off the bottom as well, re-adjusting the sash so that the remaining fabric was covering her, but also unrestraining. Then she, too, dove into the fight.
*~~*
Bodies. So many bodies. Hinata forced back her anger, her disgust, her fear. She leapt around the dead, looking for survivors.
To her left, an unknown Guild member was trying to fight off a Destruction-nin nearly twice his size. Without thinking, she took out a kunai and threw it straight into his spine at the back of his neck. He fell, an instant death. Unflinchingly, she went and retrieved it, ignoring the popping noise that she made by removing the instrument of death. The Guild-nin gave her his thanks and disappeared to engage another Destruction-nin in battle.
Hinata gripped the bloody kunai tightly, flinging it at yet another Destruction-nin. Hitting yet another vital area. Delivering yet another instantaneous death. This was not a time for mercy. She had seen it in Naruto's eyes, as clearly as if her Byakugan had shown it to her.
This was a time of death.
She could not forgive them.
*~~*