Artes animi.
Disclaimer :I don't own Naruto.
Chapter 23.
The fire crackled as it burned the wood in the small chimney, the red and yellow flames dancing marrily, spreading their warmth to the entire room.
Seating behind a small table two people were enjoying a warm cup of tea, the steam rising from the cups.
"So Ichirou" the brown haired woman drawled as she yawned "How was your training today?" she asked her hand moving to remove a strand of hair from her eye.
Said boy held the warm cup tightly, enjoying the heat emitting from it.
"It was tough" he said "it always is before a mission" he stated his right hand moving toward the wolf mask lying on the ground beside him.
The woman chuckled lightly "Honestly you're one hell of a kid" she said grinning as she punched him lightly on his shoulder "I remember how you told me you were a hunter. That was one hell of a shock".
Sakurai nodded lightly, closing his eyes for a moment. He remembered how he was ordered to reveal his identity to at least one more person aside from the higher ups.
"For psychological purposes" as Crane put it.
Sakurai chuckled "Yeah, I can only imagine" he said opening his eyes "I can't believe that more than five months have passed since I've arrived here" he shook his head in amusement "It feels like it was yesterday".
The woman nodded sagely "Yeah.. Those five months were quite the Rollercoaster don't you think? We have been attaining victories on every front.. Maybe the war will even end until the end of the year" she said wistfully.
The boy nodded before his face turned serious "Ikumi" he started only to be interrupted by the girl.
"Oh? Is this the part where you confess your love to me?" she teased him causing the boy to flush red "Sorry to dissapoint you kiddo but while we are freinds I am not into little kids" and for emphasis she flashed her tongue out.
Ichirou still flushed from her comment shook his head in annoyance "Can you please not interrupt me please?" he asked, irritated.
Ikumi lifted her hands in surrender "Calm down, I was just joking.. Sheesh no need to get all angry with me".
The boy said nothing before getting up and approaching the window his hand touching the cold glass.
The blizzard outside was raging, the snow falling from the sky furiously.
"Ikumi" the boy now once again calm started speaking again "I just wanted to thank you" he said "If it wasn't for you being here providing with this little warm nest I am not sure I would've been able to survive this long.. And for that I wanted to sincerely thank you" he said his back still to her.
The girl's eyes reflected her surprise at the usually stoic boy's words.
"Ichirou.. What brought this on?" she asked.
The boy turned around his eyes on hers "You know the mission I am going on tomorrow, you know how dangerous it is" he sighed deeply "I don't know why but my gut tells me that we won't have a chance to talk like that again" he told her making the woman's eyes to widen.
"Don't talk like that Ichirou!" she said harshly "You will be alright! I am sure you'll survive it!" she said vehemently.
A small smile appeared on the boy's face at her words.
"Thank you Ikumi" he said smiling "You're right.. I'll definitely return" he promised, more to himself than to her.
Seating behind her desk the redhead leader sipped lightly from the steaming cup on her table while signing yet another document.
A soft knock on the door before it was opened admitting three people in.
The mizukage looked up at the three, her eyes lingering for a moment at the masks two of them were wearing.
"Welcome back" she said taking another sipp "Ao, Crane, Dolphin" she acknowledge the three "What have you to report?".
Ao's face morphed into expression of frustration "Still nothing" he replied gritting his teeth "We still were unable to identify the traitor" he clenched his hand until it became white.
"On your front?" the redhead leader asked the two hunters who just shook their head solemnly.
"We were unable to confirm anything as of yet.. For all we don't have a traitor at all... It might just all be a coincidence or we are being observed or if there is a traitor it might be someone from the Daimyo's palace or one of our middle men" the hunter commander said her voice laced with fury.
Dolphin simply stood behind her and nodded in agreement.
Mei sighed deeply "Than we aren't any closer to the answer than what we were a few months back" she muttered her hands clenching the cup causing it to crack.
The three said nothing, waiting for the woman to decide what to do next.
Finally after a moment of silence she looked up "I guess there isn't much we can do about it, and in any case we are winning this war so while this is definitely a hindrance, we can continue working on" she decided drawing nodes of understanding from the three.
"That being the case Dolphin your mission tomorrow will continue as planned, while Crane you'll continue the surveillance.. Maybe you'll have better luck" she said.
The two mentioned hunters nodded.
"Yes ma'am" they saluted in unsion.
"Good, dismissed" she ordered.
The two complied as they left the room, leaving the leader with her head advisor.
"Ao" she said quietly when the two left "I can see there is something you wanted to discuss with me?".
The man smiled lightly his hand moving to stroke his chin "You know me so well milady" he said "I do indeed have something I wanted to talk about".
"Speak up, time is of essence" was her reply.
"Very well milady, while it's a suspicion only but isn't it weird that the first time we noticed a traitor was amidst us was after a certain young man joined us?" he asked.
The mizukage narrowed her eyes "You don't mean Sanda now do you, Ao?" she asked darkly "We've been over this.. We checked him as much as humanly possible."
The man nodded "I agree" he said "however you would agree with me that this is too weird to be a simple coincidence" his only visible eye narrowed.
The woman nodded "You're right as always.. However it could also be that the traitor just used the opportunity to frame someone with ease.." her fingers crossed.
The man nodded "You're as always right milady.. All I am saying is that we must be careful and keep open mind for any possiblilty"
"Very well" she replied "I'll take this into consideration.. Is that all?".
The man nodded.
"Fine then, you can return to your duties" she instructed him.
The blue haired man nodded before leaving the room, closing the door carefully behind him.
The darkness covered them, their dark clothes blending perfectly with it, hiding their futures.
Sakurai moved carefully behind his teammates, his ears and nose taking in every last detail they could.
Their mission was simple yet important, they were going to strike at one of the enemy's outposts and to clear the way for the hauling team to take all the supplies which included a huge amount of medicine and weapons.
They arrived near a single old tree were they stopped for a moment before they split up into three groups two consisting of two of while Dolphin went by himself.
The outpost had two watchtowers one on each side with sentries carefully looking watching the perimeter ready to raise the alarm at a moment notice.
Aside from them there was a small patrol unit of three shinobi patrolling the area, they were the leader's targets.
Sakurai moved quickly behind viper as they circled the outpost toward the second tower.
Arriving to the tower Viper didn't wait a second, she just ran toward and up it.
Wolf was right behind her his eyes carefully looking around to make sure they weren't spotted.
Reaching the top of the tower the crouched as they looked around for their targets finding them after a moment.
They were two shinobi both seating in the far corner of the tower behind a small table, a small stack of cards in their hands abs a few bottles of some kind of alcohol lying under the table.
A small smirk spread on viper's face under her mask "What a bunch of idiots" she muttered toward her companion "So overconfident".
But something made him uneasy , he couldn't put his finger on it but his gut was telling him they were in danger.
Gritting his teeth he spread his consciousness reaching toward the minds of the two enemies only to freeze.
Their minds.. They were clear! Not like those jumbled surface thoughts of drunk people.
His gaze moved toward the alcohol on the floor and fear clenched his heart.
There was no way for anyone to drink that much and still be sober which could only mean...
He turned to warn Viper only to see her moving silently toward the two ready to strike.
He jumped forward knowing his only choice is to help her only for one of the 'drunk' to turn around toward the woman and throw a senbon at her.
Taken by surprise the woman was unable to dodge the small projectile, greeting her teeth as the projectile pierced her leg.
Jumping right into the action, Ichirou sent a water bullet right at the second shinobi who was about to attack Viper.
The now distracted shinobi jumped out of the way and moved to strike the hunter only for Wolf to accelerate and kick him in the face before jumping over the disoriented man he fished his kunai out and stabbed the weapon into the man's neck.
The shinobi toppled down gurgling and the hunter turned around just in time to see his team mate disposing the other shinobi.
"We've been compromised! " she told him anger boiling in her voice before she suddenly fell to her knees, her hand moving to her lungs.
Her eyes darted to the wound caused by the first senbon and a curse escaped her mouth, the area was swallen purple and dark veins spread over from there up.
"You've been poisoned!" Ichirou rushed toward her, crouching down beside her.
"Congratulations for stating the obvious Sherlock" she hissed toward him "There is no time to treat it.. You should retreat and regroup with the others" she said biting back a pained hiss.
Quick footsteps resounded in the silent night before two more shapes appeared on the tower.
"Crap!" Viper cursed as she shakily got up "Go! I'll cast a Genjutsu on them to buy you a few seconds! Go!" she screamed at him.
Under his mask the normally stoic boy was gritting his teeth, he did not want to leave her alone where she would surely die. But on the other hand he knew she was right, there was nothing he could do to help her.
Biting his lip he nodded at her "Thank you" he said as she finished the last hand sign.
The moment the two new enemies froze he moved to escape.
Spreading his consciousness as he jumped down he touched the surface thought of the two hoping to learn anything he could from their mind.
When their thoughts swarmed him he nearly lost his composure and smacked face first into the ground, only regaining his composure at the last moment flipping around to land on his feet.
"Their thoughts" he mumbled as he was running "This were not only their surface thoughts".
However right now he didn't have time to think about how or why he was able to read deeper into their thoughts.. Right now he needed to survive!
A second latter and explosion ertuped from the watch tower causing the boy to bit his lip.
"Farwell.. Viper" he said as he vanished into the night.
End of chapter 23
Hmm can't say that the chapter went smoothly, but hopefully the next chapter will work far better.
I wonder who might be the traitor?
Guess we'll know next chapter.
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