I feel like I should have something weirdly symbolic here...
I don't.
Without further ado, this chapter contains best boy.
Chapter 43: An Encounter Lit by Candlelight
The fight between the twenty or so members of Root and the dozen-ish Leaf Ninja was, in some ways, the most outclassed Sakura had ever felt.
Jutsu the like's of which she'd never seen whizzed by her, narrowly avoided by other's diverting their courses, or stepping in front of them, or cancelling them out with even bigger, more powerful attacks.
It was clearer than ever the difference between them, she and the sound trio, and the rest of the ninja there, all of whom were experienced Jonin who'd been handpicked for this operation.
It was clear that they didn't belong here in the slightest.
"CAREFUL, KID!"
The voice of the elder Inuzuka, who's name was apparently Tsume, called out, and Sakura barely had time to register that she should probably duck, dodge, be aware of what was even about to hit her, before she'd been ensnared by Shikaku's shadow possession, and forced to dodge a Root member's shuriken, one which had curved in such a way that she hadn't even seen it until it passed over her head.
"Th-Thanks!" She shouted back, trying to find somewhere where her abilities might be needed. "I-I-"
"Worry about that later!" Tsume called back to her, dodging underneath an elder Root's Tanto, before embedding her elongated nails into his chest, and cutting across.
It wasn't as gruesome as Sakura had expected, largely due to the man's chest armor, but it still wasn't a pretty sight to watch him stagger backwards, gripping his chest and trying desperately to stem the bleeding as the Inuzuka charged back at him, dodging into his guard and sending him flying back.
He didn't move from where he'd landed on the ground.
Sakura looked back towards the sound trio, where the three were clustered around each other, taking a fairly simple manji formation, where, instead of protecting someone in the rear, they instead stood with their backs against the outermost wall, using it as protection from anything that could threaten them.
She couldn't help but feel that moving around might keep her, at the very least, a tiny bit safer from her opponents abilities, and so she made her way towards them, watching around her as multiple ninja seemed to dart from point to point, crossing kunai and blades as they fought.
Zaku spotted her, offering her a small nod as he kept on the lookout for anyone approaching them. She didn't want to ruin their formation, and so she too put her back to the outer wall just beside them, Watching the battle before her.
"Decided to party it up with us, Princess?" Kin shouted at her, smiling, but not turning away from the action.
"Well, I couldn't much stay in the middle of that, now could I?"
"I get you." Zaku agreed with her, wincing as a particularly brutal hit landed on one of their own ninja, sending him spiraling to the floor. "By the way, didn't you say you could heal earlier? When did you learn to do that?"
"Sort of a growth spurt." She admitted honestly. "Gained the ability through… a bit of an odd method. Hard to explain."
"Desperate measures?"
"Pretty much." She spoke, looking back towards the man and noticing a definite limp to his step as he staggered out of the middle of combat. "I… I think I'm going to try and help that guy."
"Well…" Dosu spoke at last, turning towards her from his position the farthest away from her, on the opposite side. "Good luck with that."
"No help?" She asked, not really expecting any, but kind of hoping for some. "None?"
"Doesn't seem like it, no."
"I could-"
"Shut it, Zaku."
"Right. Sorry."
"So, yeah," Dosu spoke, turning back towards the battlefield. "No help."
She glared at the back of the man's head, but clearly he didn't much care for any response she might've made to his statement, for he'd already gone back to watching the action around them. She couldn't really blame him for that, either, given that they were in a life or death scenario.
She gave up on getting their help and turned back around, to where the downed ninja had managed to push himself to the side, and was administering first aid to his own ankle. It didn't look particularly bloody or anything, but it was definitely bent in a way it shouldn't have been, rather clearly broken.
Can I fix that? Sakura wondered idly. I never really thought about it… but I have no idea how an ankle works or looks.
"You fixed Anko's heart without ever knowing how it worked." Her inner self seemed to argue back. "Just try it. What's the worst that could happen?"
I could always end up permanently damaging something. She couldn't help but think.
"Well… just avoid doing that."
Great, thanks for the amazing advice, me.
She approached the man quickly, but deliberately, announcing her presence from the way she allowed her footfalls to sound. He looked over towards her and, seemingly, recognized her from inside the tunnel. He smirked in a good-natured way.
"Here to fix me up, little missy?"
"That's the plan, I think."
He laughed suddenly, much to Sakura's chagrin.
"Not exactly the most inspiring bed-side manner, but I respect the honesty."
She kneeled down next to him, looking back towards the battle behind her just to see if there were any immediate threats.
"Don't worry about that." The ninja she was attending to spoke, shooting her what the man must've thought was a winning smile. "I'll protect us, you do your thing. I'm just about as effective on the ground as I am on my feet."
She wondered what style of Jutsu he could use to make that particular statement true, but decided not to question it, instead working on drawing out her curse mark while keeping it contained.
It flowed across her skin like flame, as it always did. By the time it reached an appropriate point on her left arm, she was already controlling it. Another moment, and she had it penned in exactly as she wanted, and set to work reaching out for her newfound healing ability.
It was… awkward at best. The absolute panic and heat of the moment rationality of Anko dying had forced her to make a hundred different decisions, decisions that she couldn't quite remember now that she was mostly calm.
She decided to simply try her best to find that power, reaching within her stomach to where she last remembered feeling it. Though, even now, her memories of the incident weren't exactly coming naturally. She sighed as her first attempt fizzled out, a complete dud.
"S-sorry!" She shouted just a tad too loud, cracking her neck back and forth as she reached down. "I'll try once more."
The man she was treating eyed her oddly, a mixture of amusement and confusion on his face. She couldn't help but quail under his attention ever so slightly, but that also didn't me she could stop. He really was at risk if she couldn't heal his leg.
She made a second attempt, breathing in as she let the power flow into her palms. It was the same as the wood style she'd tried to use before, but now, she hoped that pumping in a bit less into the area would mean her hands wouldn't be absolutely riddled with thorns.
Adrenaline had carried her through that particular pain the first time, she had a feeling it wouldn't be helping much if it happened again.
Still, as she focused hard, she did notice a slight green glow surrounding her hands. It was far fainter than it'd been when she'd healed Anko, but it was obvious at the very least that she had found a way to activate the ability, at least on a more technical level.
Now came the hard part; Actually using it.
She focused hard on the bend in the man's ankle, trying to force it back into shape. She ran into a problem fairly early on in her attempt, however.
She didn't actually know how an ankle worked, nor, really, how it should look or be healed. What bones was she connecting to where, how should the muscles be reattached, should she worry about blood vessels that may've ruptured because of the break? It came to her attention that she had no real idea what she was doing.
"You alright there, little missy?" The man asked, wincing slightly as she took the healing aura off of his ankle for a moment. "Can't say you look terribly confident."
"Er… I just kind of realized I don't know how to heal an ankle, basically."
"Well did you know how to heal a heart?"
She groaned at the man's words, hearing her own inner-self's words mirrored back at her, that she hadn't known how to heal a heart, was mildly annoying. Perhaps the fact that she had managed to heal Anko's heart anyways, despite any experience, meant she could rely on her own natural ability?
"I'm just not sure, though." She answered honestly. "If I think back to that time, my brain was just… kind of going crazy. I took a lot of risks because I didn't have anything to lose, I mean, there's a chance I could heal you wrong, and then you're permanently damaged or something, and-"
Her voice was cut off by the man's boisterous laugh.
"Kid, no offense, but I don't think your healing's powerful enough to fix this," He slapped his own broken ankle, and then still managed to look surprised when he winced in pain. "In just a few minutes. Not even someone like that Slug Lady could manage something quite that fast."
Sakura felt herself grow a bit self-conscious at that, as the man looked towards her with a single eyebrow raised.
"And yet, somehow, you managed to restart your master's heart, yeah?"
"…Y-yes sir."
"No thank you on the sir, but I'll ignore it this time. Basically, you're pretty good, so don't worry about it. Trust your own ability" The man smirked. "Though I'm getting the feeling from your bored expression that you've heard a few people tell you this already."
"You'd…" She trailed off for a moment, remembering the numerous people who'd told her to take things slow, or trust herself, or believe in herself in the past few weeks. "You'd be right on that."
"And why won't you listen to them, then?"
"Well… I-"
The man blocked a kunai headed towards his face like a normal person would've swatted aside a playful slap. He made the motion look effortless, barely taking his eyes off her for a moment.
"You can keep going."
She nodded a bit dumbly, feeling like this was perhaps the wrong place to be having a conversation like this.
"It's… my teammates, I guess." She began speaking, before looking back towards the man with her eyebrows drawn down in annoyance. "Wait, why am I telling you this? I don't even know you."
"It's can be easier to tell someone you don't know, actually." The man said. "Sometimes you'll just see the person across from you as a way to vent your feelings, and hey, if they offer up some useful advice as well, then that's just great, right? Why don't you try healing me while you talk. Who knows, getting your mind off doing it might make it easier for you."
She couldn't fault the man's logic, even if she maybe wanted to. Instead, she sighed, and continued speaking.
"My teammates are… just about the fastest growing people I've ever met." Sakura began to explain as she focused her hazy green aura on the man's ankle. "I know everyone tells me to slow down, but… they never say those things to the two of them. They're constantly learning new Jutsu, or gaining powerful summons, or advancing their abilities, and I'm… I'm just stuck in the corner, not doing anything."
"And you do realize you're doing something, right?"
"Of course, I do!" Sakura shouted out, feeling mildly annoyed. "I'm not dumb! I'm just…" She sighed, trying to ignore the way the battle seemed to be slowing down behind them. "I just feel like… compared to them, I'm nothing."
The man nodded, pushing his hands together in a standard seal that had no noticeable affect to Sakura. She chocked it up as some odd ability, and ignored it.
"I can't say I understand your feelings." The man smiled almost teasingly. "But don't you think you're being just a bit hard on yourself?"
"Yes, yes." Sakura sighed. "I do get it."
"Then maybe… I don't know… get it?"
She paused her healing for a moment, glaring at the man indignantly.
"…You're a bit rude, you know that?"
"I think you've had nothing but people too kind to tell you that this is a 'you' problem." The man smirked, raising an eyebrow. "If I'm wrong, feel free to tell me, but I don't think I am."
She sighed, standing up and looking back over to the battle. The remaining root soldiers were falling back, leaving behind those who'd been captured or, in the case of an unlucky few, killed.
She pushed down on the disgust that welled up from within her, thinking back to Shikaku's words.
Until I can afford to worry, I can't let this affect me.
"I appreciate your advice." Sakura turned back to the man behind her. "I'll take what you've said into consideration."
The man had the nerve to laugh.
"Right, OK." He gazed down to his injured ankle, and, after giving it a small smack, nodded appreciatively. "Hey, you actually did a pretty good job, too."
"Huh?" Sakura looked down at the limb, which, while still bent, didn't look nearly as inflamed as it'd been before. "Oh… I didn't even notice."
"Well, it's still broken, obviously, but at least it doesn't hurt as much!"
She glared at him for his unhelpful assessment.
"Oi, Homer!" Anko walked over towards the two of them, shooting the man on the ground a harsh glare. "Don't make fun of my student."
"I wasn't, I wasn't!" The man had his hands up in surrender. "Honestly, I was just giving her some friendly advice."
"Yes, I'm sure it came across as incredibly friendly." Anko muttered. "You alright, Sakura?"
"Yeah, I'm…" She shook off some of the fatigue she was already starting to feel, the food pill's hyper energy beginning to wear off just a bit as the adrenaline faded. "I'm good. Yeah."
"Lots of 'yeah's'."
"Don't you start too, Sensei."
"Alright people, Attention!"
All chatter in the room died as Shikaku stepped forward, as commanding a leader as their ever was, he immediately demanded respect.
"We've repelled their scout force, but that's not a combat regiment. Danzo has, if I were to guess, five major squads. He's mobilized perhaps two or three to deal with the first assault team, which means that we'll be dealing with the other two. The intelligence team is, likely, contacting the first assault team to link up with us, but sometime during our trip down the tunnels, they cut off our communications." The man held up his earpiece and, just to show that it wasn't working, turned it on full blast. Sakura could hear the blank static from where she was standing a few feet away.
"That's another reason why we've brought analog communication. Obviously, they won't be able to get any of the hawks down to us, but they should be able to set up a line with first team. It's up to us to anticipate our own men's movements, and act accordingly."
There was a general murmur of acceptance to that, and the man continued.
"We'll be heading into the main hallways outside. They are, If I know anything, trapped from top to bottom. Expect fierce resistance, we're diving into the belly of the beast here. Once I've been able to establish our location, Inuzuka will lead us to where Danzo resides. We will place the man under arrest and win the day. Understood?"
"Yes sir!" Sakura shouted, along with a few others. It seemed the team leaders, and those who'd known him for longer, merely nodded.
She felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned back around to see Zaku smiling at her, with Kin and Dosu close behind. He'd taken some damage to his chest, where there was a razor thin cut, but other than that, he looked fine.
"Oh, this?" He spoke as she pointed out the wound. "I just barely dodged a shuriken someone threw. But barely is all that matters, so I'm fine."
"Heh, truer words." Kin joked, looking towards where Shikaku was discussing something with the female Inuzuka, stood side by side with a massive black canine that resembled a wolf more than a dog. "That thing's…"
"A bit intimidating." Sakura confirmed. "It's larger than me, and by a lot, too."
"I… I hate dogs." Kin admitted. "Dogs were like… half your competition as a kid on the street. And the really powerful guys always employed em', too. If they caught you…" The girl actually shivered, and Sakura had the sudden urge to hug the girl before her, one she acted on the moment later. "H-hey! Get off of me!"
"Don't resist." Sakura muttered into the girl's shoulder. "It is futile."
"Futile my ass!" Kin lightly punched her stomach, forcing her backwards as she giggled at the girl's flustered expression. "Don't just go… hugging people. It's weird."
"You're weird." She fired back. "How about that!?"
"What's gotten in to you?" Kin asked, giggling slightly but also seeming a bit concerned. "You good?"
"No clue what you're talking about." She slurred out, aware of how the world was spinning just a bit. "Oh, wait… I think… Food pill… wearing off soon…"
"Oh." Zaku helpfully supplied. "That's probably quite bad."
"I take it offering another food pill is the improper response in this situation?" Kin asked, reaching into her bag and pulling out a far smaller pill than the one Anko had given her. "I mean… it'd keep you awake."
"And probably give her some very nasty symptoms around this evening." Dosu spoke up, closing the girl's palm around the pill with a casual air. "So no. Now come on, we're moving."
They followed the boy's steps, and noticed that the Jonin were, in fact, finishing up their quick planning meeting. Judging from the expression on Shikaku's face, they'd found out where they were, and the plan they'd come up with was a strong one.
I just hope nothing goes wrong. Sakura couldn't help but worry. We're not exactly in the best position right now.
If something happened…
Well, no one was coming to save them any time soon, that was for sure.
"Alright, same as before, Mitarashi, Inuzuka, clear the hallway first, sniff out any traps you can with your noses and snakes. Genin, you're in front of me, Homer, hold up the rear."
The man in question had put his injured foot in a temporary cast, walking with the help of a wooden cane that Tenzo had manufactured on the spot for him. He seemed in high spirits, despite what must've been at least a decent helping of pain.
Sakura followed alongside her fellows as they stood in front of the team's leader. He signaled silently for Anko and Tsume to advance, and they entered into the hallway. The older woman's dog-wolf-thing sniffed the ground, then turned back towards it's master.
"Quite a few traps, located inside the walls at five, fifteen, and eighteen feet to the east, and ten, twelve, and forty to the west." The dog sniffed the ground once more, turning up again. "There's also one in the floor a few feet past those, I'd say around 10 more."
"Thanks, Kuromaru." Tsume spoke, turning back towards Shikaku and nodding her head. "I'm picking up the same signatures. It seems they've tried to completely isolate this hallway."
"Got it. Mitarashi, can you confirm that?"
"Yeah, one sec."
There were a few noises that, to Sakura, resembled hissing emanating out of the walls around them. Anko turned back towards them, nodding towards Shikaku in a way that seemed to further confirm the traps placements.
"Right then. Tenzo, dig them out."
"Right away." The man spoke, walking out into the hallway and putting his hands on the wall before him. He seemed to push especially hard for a moment, and then focused hard on what Sakura imagined was controlling the roots or vines flowing out from his hands and into the stone and dirt. "The first explosion should go off in around five seconds."
"Don't make a fuss, Genin." Shikaku spoke to them. "We want them to think we got caught in it, maybe they'll send their scouting party back here."
"Do we expect that to work, sir?" Kin asked, looking rather unconvinced.
"Oh, most assuredly not." Shikaku admitted as a loud bang went off some five feet down the corridor, and then another perhaps ten feet beyond that. "If anything, this'll just cause them to further trap the upcoming corridors, but that doesn't mean we can't do it. If I had the choice, I would've liked to have one of the seal-masters from the first assault team, but we don't exactly have a ton of options at the moment, so we're working with what we've got. If we could've done this silently, we would've."
Kin nodded at that, at the very least provided a reason for the actions of the team's leader. Sakura, herself, couldn't help but admire the way Shikaku was able to quickly adapt, turning a method for getting into and out of the base as a way to activate traps from a distance, using a tracker's keen nose to search for enemies scents on traps…
Yeah. Sakura smirked as she thought silently to herself. If only to see how senior ninja operate, this whole missions' been pretty cool.
Another loud bang, and Tenzo turned back towards them.
"That's the last one to the east."
"Excellent." Shikaku walked forward and into the hallway, where Tsume and her dog were already scanning the area up ahead. "And I see you limited the damage as well."
"Figured we'd probably want to use the path as well."
"Hey, look at that," Shikaku smirked, apparently finding the man's words funny in some way. "Seems this place didn't kill your sense of humor after all."
"Yeah, well, believe me, they made an effort."
Shikaku laughed, before turning back to them and gesturing for them to move forward.
"Genin, same formation, Homer, don't be afraid to shout at the slightest sign of movement."
"Got it, sir."
"Let's move!"
Their trip down the corridor was rather uneventful. It would've been much more eventful, had they not had Anko and Tsume, along with the woman's dog, Kuromaru, to check for traps so easily and readily. The pair found more than fifteen on their way to the eighth level's central hall, and Tenzo disarmed them all without much hassle.
Really, it only served to get Sakura more worried. Their trip was quiet, far too quiet from how it'd been just a few minutes prior. It felt like something was bound to go wrong, like something had to go wrong.
She remembered Anko's words about normal ninja missions being rather simple things, but she couldn't shake the feeling that, with her luck, things wouldn't exactly go that smoothly.
Finally, as they crested a rather sharp turn in their offshoot hall, they emerged into a far greater one, almost chasmic in scope. It was a wide and open area, and as they walked onto it for the first time, Sakura was able to gaze off to her sides to truly take in the space.
The room was massive, and the walls that made it up, forming a near perfect square, were set around fifty feet out. Really, it was the absence of floor around them that made the room seem so large. Their walkway overlooked a massive drop that seemed to span into an eternal darkness beneath them, and the wooden fencing that kept them on the platform seemed to be just a bit too short, almost inviting one to take the plunge.
Idly, Sakura wondered if this entire space had some odd Genjutsu cast upon it. It seemed almost… ethereal in nature.
They made it to the center of the walkway, and Sakura finally realized that the wooden catwalks they were standing on made up a giant 'X' shape. In three of the four cardinal directions, a hallway had been carved into the wall's around them, and wooden catwalks connected into them to meet in the center. Due north, just in front of them, an ancient looking structure, no bigger than the average apartment, stood in the center, commanding an ominous presence that could've no more obviously stated itself as being their target.
"This is the spot Inoichi gathered from that boy." Shikaku spoke, walking forward. "Anko, Tsume, anything?"
There was a brief pause as both seemed to reach out with their respective Jutsu, but what they received back seemed to be nothing at all, for they both walked back over, looking almost concerned.
"Nothing."
"Negative."
Shikaku's eyes widened very briefly, the only show of weakness the man had given in his entire time as their leader. He sighed out a moment later, turning back towards Homer and gesturing for him to move up.
"If you can, set up a defensive grid. I don't want anyone following behind us without knowing about it."
"Understood, sir." Homer spoke, turning to Sakura and giving her a small wink as he brought his hands together, and then pulled them apart. "I'll get it set up."
Sakura watched with interest as a blue sort of cord appeared out of the man's hands, spreading oddly as he pressed several pieces of it around the gates as they walked ahead.
"Uhm, Anko sensei?" She asked her teacher before their infiltration was set to begin. "What exactly is that type of Jutsu?"
"Ah, you don't recognize it?" She asked, smirking slightly. "You've actually seen a rather simplistic version of it before, during the Chuunin Exams."
That had her scratching her head for a moment, but she remembered just a second later, her eyes lighting up as she made the connection.
"That's the puppet-master Jutsu that Kankuro guy used!"
"Yeah, it is." Anko patted her on the back. "Technically, it's just called a chakra thread. It's most commonly used by puppet masters, sure, but they can be used by just about anyone, provided they've got the control for it."
She looked back towards Homer, who had seemingly finished creating his web of threads, tying them together and walking forward.
"Impressed, girlie?" He asked with a teasing smile. "I learned all this while I was apprenticing in the-"
"No one cares, Homer." Anko sighed. "Please, stop trying to tell everyone who'll listen about how 'endlessly cool' you are."
"Hey! Sakura looked interested!"
"Cut the chatter." Shikaku called from in front. "Mitarashi, Homer, Haruno, retake formation. We're infiltrating the central room in thirty seconds."
They all became serious in but a moment, moving back into their formation's without a single complaint. Sakura couldn't help but gulp down on a bit of spit, feeling the nerves she'd thought were gone flood through her once more.
Shikaku held up his hand, then slowly subtracted fingers by the second. Upon dropping to one, he brought his hand down, signaling for the front-most line to advance.
Stepping into the central room was an odd affair. Sakura had expected flaming traps, or pits of giant alligators, or giant buzz saws. Instead, she'd been given a simple hallway that led into a mid-sized room.
The floor was set with tatami mats, and it crunched down in a rather satisfying way as Sakura stepped down upon it. The walls were lit with candlelight, the waxy objects hanging off of metal ornaments set in the walls. She couldn't quite help but feel relaxed as she stepped into the space, despite how horribly worried she'd been before.
It feels like… I'm melting away into–
"High-class Genjutsu." Homer called from the back. "It's a rather simple enchantment, but it's strong. It's already affecting the Genin."
Sakura bolted back into consciousness, just now realizing she'd been being lulled asleep by… something. She turned back to look at the sound trio, and found them in varying states of exhaustion, though Kin looked almost completely fine.
"Can you pinpoint the source?"
"Hmm… given enough time, I could, but it'd take perhaps five to ten minutes, and I'm not even sure I could deal with it if I found out where it was coming from, either."
"A-Actually!"
Everyone turned towards Kin, whose voice sounded shaky, but had a feigned sort of confidence to it that seemed to reflect the girl's nerves.
"I-I might be able to deal with this. I'm pretty sure it's a Genjutsu based in vibration…" Kin swallowed on nothing, before looking back up, this time, her eyes were filled with a real confidence. "That's my specialty."
"Oh?" Shikaku smirked a bit teasingly, patting her on the shoulder. "In that case, what's your plan?"
"I-It's not that amazing… but… I could counteract the Genjutsu with one of my own creation." Kin reached into her back, pulling out a bag filled with perhaps a dozen small bells. "I'll tune these bells so they vibrate at an opposing frequency to the ones around us… and that should work to cancel both of them out."
"Fighting fire with fire, ey?" Homer nodded as he seemed to consider the girl's plan. "Well, it's a much faster method than mine, and we can probably keep moving while we do it."
"You're sure you can manage, kid?" Shikaku asked Kin once more. "If you're at all concerned, there's no shame in-"
"No, sir." Kin sighed, letting go of the last of her hesitation as she stepped forward. "I can do it."
The elder Nara smiled.
"Then by all means."
Kin smiled widely, puffing out her chest just a bit as she allowed herself to become slightly overconfident. She walked to the edge of the room and, after a small moment of concentration, put her head to the wall beside her.
She listened silently for perhaps fifteen seconds, and then brought out one of the bells from the bag, gripping it with her thumb as she brought her hand up in a rather standard activation hand-sign.
The bell began to ring a moment later, and for a good few seconds, Sakura was nearly overwhelmed by the effect of the two Genjutsu working away at her mind at the same time. She found herself forced to the floor, not quite collapsing, but very nearly doing so. It was Zaku who helped her stand, though it was clear from the wince on his face that even he, probably semi-immune to the girl's Genjutsu from having worked with her for so long, was having a rough go of it.
Kin held the bell up to the opposite ear as the one still touching the wall, as if trying to play a separate sound in each. A moment later, she scratched her nail against the side of the tiny instrument, and the sound coming from it began to subtly shift. Sakura wasn't very skilled in music, so she had to admit she had no real clue what was happening with it, but whatever it was, it seemed to only amplify the effect the Genjutsu were having on them, for even Zaku fell, carrying the both of them to the floor.
And then, a moment later, like having moved from the strongest part of a hurricane to the eye in the center, the mist clouding her mind seemed to halve.
"Found it!" Kin shouted, turning back over to them with the bell still vibrating in her hand, and a victorious expression on her face. "Perfectly opposing vibration. I'll tune one for each of us, and that should act as a perfect counter to the sound."
Shikaku took the bell, holding it up to his ear, and smiled as his eyes widened.
"Hah, you actually did it." The man walked over to Sakura and Zaku, reaching down and offering the small object to the two of them. "Here. You two look like you need it the most of anyone."
Sakura took the bell gratefully and found that as she brought it closer to her, she was almost instantly freed from the oppressive feeling that'd been plaguing her mind. Zaku seemed desperate to escape the feeling as well, and so she brought it to rest between them, letting it's melody wash over both of them.
The next two or so minutes were spent waiting for Kin to finish tuning the remaining dozen or so bells the rest of them would need. By the time she finished, the entire group looked better off, and their morale's were up as well as they each took the time to compliment Kin on her ability, patting her on the back, or offering to take her out drinking when she was older.
Kin, for her part, seemed to shrink at the praise, smiling more than Sakura had ever seen from the girl.
The celebration was a bit short lived, as Shikaku brought them all back to reality, pointing out that they were still in an enemy compound.
"We're moving forward into the back room." He gestured towards a black door on the wall, set between two identical scrolls that hung from hooks, and offset by identical potted plants that sat just outside those as well. "We should expect heavy opposition. Danzo's personal chambers are just beyond this."
The mood became serious once more, their group of perhaps fifteen stepping forward. Homer, as per usual, held up the rear, his cane making virtually no noise as he stepped on the soft tatami below them.
As the two women cleared the door, and Kuromaru filed in just after, the rest of them followed and saw just what it was they were dealing with.
"It's…"
"Yeah." Anko spoke, laughing in a completely mirthless way. "It's a tunnel. Question now is where does it lead?"
Shikaku stroked his goatee, evidently thinking hard on what to do now that they'd found this.
"If this is an escape tunnel, then it may already be too late to capture Danzo. Alternatively, if he is gone, then we have no need to oust him from the Leaf Village. We'll instate Tsunade as the fifth Hokage and move on with our lives." Shikaku grimaced slightly. "I just have this bad feeling that bastard wouldn't make it this simple."
Sakura felt an almost insidious panic crawl out from the depths of her mind as she watched almost everyone there nod their heads along with the man's words. Evidently, they hadn't expected this part of the mission to go this smoothly, and it had everyone on edge.
"So what, we going down or not?" Tsume spoke up, looking down into the tunnel with her head and sniffing the air. "Because I feel the need to be honest… it doesn't have a smell."
For some reason, that seemed to be the most shocking piece of news Shikaku had received today, for his head turned almost immediately towards the Inuzuka woman.
"You're sure?"
"Do you honestly doubt me, Nara?"
"Hah." Shikaku let out a sigh, one rife with years of exhaustion. "No. If you say that, though… then…"
"Then he's covering his tracks quite profusely. It's generally almost impossible to completely erase one's scent…" Tsume looked towards Kuromaru. "You getting anything?"
"Only the same information as you." The wolf spoke. "Whatever he's done to hide his scent… We've encountered similar techniques before, but this particular technique is far stronger than any we've seen. For him to take such precautions in the first place, however, means he must've known that those with a keen nose would be tracking him."
"So he must've had recording devices of some kind set up outside the encampment, even past the one's we caught… But then why haven't we encountered more resistance? Why is he seemingly pulling all of his troops back…?" Shikaku clicked his tongue against the top of his mouth, but kept a level head as he turned towards the rest of them. "We're going to investigate that tunnel, and find out what lies at the bottom. Tsume, I assume he hasn't blocked your sense of smell, he's just erased any smells, correct?"
"Yeah." Tsume confirmed. "I can still smell behind us, and this room we're in still smells of the old bastard, so he's been here, at the very least. The problem is his scent just… stops around fifteen feet down the stairway."
Shikaku walked up, drew a kunai out of his bag, and wound his own shadow into the hole on the end of it. Just like that, he guided the kunai down into the hole, to around the fifteen foot mark.
Nothing happened.
"I'm going to throw it in." Shikaku announced. "Everyone prepare for an explosion, just in case."
"I'm so tired of explosions." Sakura voiced her opinion as she stepped backwards. "I'd honestly prefer to just fight some people than be exploded again."
"That's fair, I guess." Zaku nodded.
A moment later Shikaku loosed the blade, sending it flying into the black chasm stretching out into the earth.
And once more, nothing happened.
"Well then…" Shikaku spoke, cracking his neck with one hand and letting out a titanic sigh. "Once more, I'm left with the conclusion that he must've fled, and yet…"
"It just seems suspicious." Anko summed up. "A bit too suspicious."
"Especially since they did take the time to trap this room." Kin pointed out. "Why trap the room if they were planning to run away. Just to prevent us from following as quickly?"
"Exactly, there'd be no point." Homer spoke. "It would've taken them at least fifteen minutes to set this up, and it only took us a few minutes to deal with it. They would've known that while setting this up, as well. It's like they intended to defend this place to the last, but then…" The man actually stopped, and took a deep breath. "Something happened that gave them no choice but to run."
"Hmm…" Shikaku tapped on the wall with one hand, a spot where a particular black mark was etched into the wall, as if something had exploded out of it. "More traps here, too, and they've already been set off…"
Everyone in the room stood with baited breath, waiting to see what Shikaku's orders would be.
"I don't like this… not one bit… But we're left with no alternative." The man turned back towards the Genin. "I'd love to be able to send you back to the first assault team, and have them escort you out of here, but unfortunately that's not an option right now. You're in with us for the long haul."
Sakura gulped at the man's words but couldn't exactly fault them. There was nothing to be done.
"Understood, sir." She nodded, biting back the fear in her voice. "Uhm… does that mean we're following him?"
"It does indeed." Shikaku spoke. "Same formation. Mitarashi, Inuzuka. Front. attack group second, then Genin in front of me, Homer, you're the rear."
"Aye-aye, sir."
"Alright…" Shikaku spoke, walking towards the mouth of the cavern that led down into the depths of the earth, leading to a place none of them knew…
"Let's move."
The trip down into the tunnel was nerve-wracking for Sakura. Even the adults, whom she'd grown to rely upon heavily, seemed somehow disturbed as they took the steps bit by bit, never once easing up or relaxing. It was clear to her that whatever it was they expected to find at the bottom, it was serious.
Light eked out from the bottom of the chasm, in a way that seemed so horribly out of touch with reality, given that they'd already walked what felt like half a mile into the center of the earth. Kuromaru was the first to notice something, but instead of alerting them casually, as he might have normally done, a growl escaped his maw, followed by the words "Be careful."
He and Tsume exited out first, and even from her spot on the stairs, Sakura could make out the way they stilled as they reached the room below.
The space glowed ominously with candlelight, making the shadows dance across the ground and the walls as the flames flickered on endlessly. There were voices coming from inside, and as Anko stepped down into the room, Sakura didn't miss the way her eyes widened.
"Move, but don't make a sound, and don't draw attention to yourselves." Shikaku spoke without a hint of mirth for perhaps the first time that day. "Go."
She and the sound trio both nodded, but she couldn't help the small shaking in her legs as her soles touched the dirt beneath, and she could see the full breadth of the space for the first time.
She could also see the three figures who hung at the back of the cavern.
Though, perhaps it was more accurate to say two figures, given that one of them was merely a corpse.
"We have guests." One of the shadowy figures spoke, standing to his full height and easily towering over everyone else in the hollowed-out lair. "Are you about finished?"
"Almost done, almost!" The other man sounded excited as he fiddled with something on the corpse. "Just give me one more moment, I've almost– Ahah!"
There was a sickening squelching noise as the man pulled a small orb from the corpse below him. It took Sakura maybe a moment to realize that it was one of the dead man's eyes, and in that period of time, she felt a fear and disgust quite unlike anything she'd experienced in her life.
"I've got it!" The excitable, almost boyish presence held up his prize to his partner, waving it around in the air with a strange sense of pride. "Don't you see, I did it!"
"Yes, yes. Well done, I suppose."
"We don't have time to be playing games." Another voice sounded out, seemingly belonging to a third person. "Enemies are directly before us."
"Gosh, you're always so cold, blacky!"
Anko and Tsume both shifted, taking slightly different stances as Shikaku walked forward, drawing a weapon into his hand and bringing it to bear in front of him.
"Identify yourselves!" Shikaku screamed, far louder than he'd been for the entire rest of the day. "Just who the hell are you… how and why did you kill Danzo Shimura!?"
Sakura looked towards the fallen figure once more, seeing the truth of the matter. The man on the floor was Danzo, though she understood now why she hadn't initially recognized him.
His bandages, which he normally wore all over his body, were missing. His face was entirely exposed, and his hair was wild and spiky as it stuck up in odd places. His body was, in some spots, badly charred, and his entire right arm seemed to be… off. She'd never seen it before, but it was covered in oddly shaped bumps and bruises.
There was also a gaping hole in his chest, just around where his heart should be.
"Oh… Can we give our names!?" The energetic one asked, bouncing up and down with excitement as he turned towards his partner. "I'd really love to give my name, I've always wanted to get to respond to the whole 'Identify yourselves!' thing!"
"Sure, if you want to." The other man's first voice spoke up. "It's not like it matters anyways, you're wearing a mask."
"Oooh boy!"
The man stepped out of the shadows, swinging his arms at his sides with near reckless abandon. Despite his cheerful vibe, he gave off an incredibly intimidating aura, thanks to the human eyeball that he carried along with his left hand.
"I'm a member of the Akatsuki!" The man pointed to himself with his right thumb, looking awfully proud, even past the orange, spiraling mask that he wore upon his face.
"My name is Tobi!"
End Chapter 43
Oh hey, things are happening.
I actually love the shit out of Tobi's persona, so getting to write some of him as 'Tobi' and not his actual personality (Which I like just as much, but it's certainly a different mood) is a lot of fun.
The other figure possesses two voices, is taller than anyone else in the room, and Tobi calls one of the voices 'blacky' so, y'know, I'll leave that one up to interpretation.
So yeah, shit's getting serious.
Anyways, that's that. See you all next week!
