Jizouko looked down into the arena at the fight that had just begun. She had to admit, she did not envy Sasuke right now, not with his opponent…
She felt a chill run down her spine as she remembered walking past him in the hallway. She was almost certain she was going to die, he had killed those two ninjas that had tried to talk to him, shat was stopping him from doing the same to her?
She gripped the railing tightly as the cork shot out from the gourd on the red head's back and sand began to flow out of it.
I don't think I can ever go to the beach again…she thought as the color began to drain from her face.
"You don't look too good, Ji-chan," Takashi said as he placed a hand on her back. "Do you need to see a medical nin?"
"Maybe," she said as her arms began to shake, she was starting to feel the side effects of the jutsu she had used…
"Come on," he said as he gently tugged at her shoulder, pulling her from the railing. "Let's go."
She continued to watch the progressing fight over her shoulder until the dark hallway swallowed her vision.
"So this is Konohagakure?" a brown haired man asked softly as he looked up at the tall walls that went far above the tree tops. "Can you smell her, Makoto-kun?" he asked the large white dog next to him.
The dog lifted his long snout into the air and sniffed before barking in confirmation.
Found you, the man thought as his gold eyes glittered in excitement.
A hooded figure stood from its seat silently when it had seen the girl with purple streaked hair leave the competitor's box with a boy with medium brown hair. It had seen what it had come here to see, and now it had someone she needed to speak to.
When the figure left the stadium and was out of eyesight of the guards at the entrance it pushed back its hood, revealing a pair of ruby eyes set into a woman's lightly tanned face framed by white hair layered over midnight black.
Oh how you've grown, Ji-chan…
Jizouko was having trouble walking straight, shoot, she was having trouble even standing without falling!
"If I'd known that jutsu would make me so tired, I wouldn't've used it!" she muttered sleepily as she leaned heavily on Takashi.
"Just keep that in mind for the future," he grunted as he adjusted her weight on his shoulder. "What was that thing even called?"
"Maka…" the rest of the name was slurred beyond recognition as Jizouko started snoring softly.
"Truly, you are an idiot," he sighed as he shifted her onto his back so he could carry her the rest of the way to the infirmary.
"What's going on?" Jizouko demanded frantically when she was jolted awake by the building shaking from its foundations. "An earthquake?"
"No, giant snakes," Takashi corrected her as he looked out a nearby window.
"That was my next guess," she said as she watched the medics run around checking on the other patients.
"Can you stand?" Takashi asked as he dug around in his weapons pouch.
"Uh… No," she said after she fell back to the bed when she tried to stand.
"Eat these," he ordered as he gave her a handful of soldier pills.
"Ah, my favorite meal," she sighed jokingly as she swallowed all the pills on one go, feeling energy return to her exhausted muscles almost immediately.
"Where did Yamakaze-san go?" one of the medics shouted when they came upon the empty bed where Toshiro had been lying just before the snakes appeared.
"We'll find him," Jizouko declared as she jumped off of her bed and ran out of the door before any of the medics could protest.
"Are you sure you can sense his chakra?" Takashi asked as he followed Jizouko through the empty streets of Konoha. "I can't pick up any signatures other than ours…"
"Yeah," she said as she turned another corner, "I did just fight the guy and all…"
"I'm just saying," he said defensively. "We are just Genin…"
"And have been for the past two years," Jizouko cut in.
"And we haven't been trained to located chakra signatures," Takashi finished, ignoring her comment.
"Just trust me on this," she sighed as they came into an open area with a fountain in the center. "See? Told you so!" she declared when Toshiro stumbled into the intersection as well.
"Uh, Ji-chan," Takashi said nervously, "I don't think we're the only ones looking for him…"
A white and black haired woman walked calmly after Toshiro who was still trying to get away.
"Hey!" Jizouko shouted, drawing both Toshiro and the woman's attention. "Who're you?"
The woman grinned as she pulled a dark hood over her face before she turned and left the clearing.
"Get back here!" Jizouko shouted as she chased after the hooded woman.
"Ji-chan! Gah!" Takashi groaned at his team mated before turning to Toshiro who was trying to escape unnoticed. "Oh no you don't," he said as he grabbed the collar of the escapee. "You've got some explaining to do."
Jizouko followed the woman through the empty street as fast as she could, but the woman was still able to keep at least a block ahead of her. She followed the woman towards the east end of the village and had to dodge falling debris in a thick cloud of dust.
"Woah!" she yelled when a large tail came crashing down on her through the nearby houses. We must be near that giant snake! She decided as she took shelter under a fallen roof.
She curled up into a protective ball as more debris came raining down around her, maybe staying in one place wasn't the best idea…
Her eyes widened when she felt someone grab her thick canvas belt and drag her out from beneath her shelter. Her eyes grew even more when a large chunk of a building crushed where she had been not seconds ago.
She looked up at her savior and saw a man with gold eyes and something clicked in the back of her mind.
"Get her out of here, Isamu!"
Jizouko winced and clutched her head as she felt a headache coming on, the world going dark around her.
"It's okay, Jiyuudo-chan," the man said as he picked her up and her against his chest. "I'm here now."
"If that woman is here then that means he is her too," Toshiro said with his back pressed against the brick wall of someone's home.
"Who?" Takashi asked, pointing a loaded bow at the golden eyed teen.
"But he hasn't come off of that mountain in years, why would he be here?" Toshiro frowned to himself.
"Who?" Takashi asked again impatiently as he drew his bow tighter.
"Yamakaze Isamu," Toshiro said finally, locking eyes with Takashi.