Chapter 42: Killers

Weeks passed without incident. Instead of driving themselves crazy about Root, the girls had decided to take the break as it was. Training. If they wanted to be effective, they would need to get stronger. Sakura went off into the mountain, and Hinata stayed in the camp practicing her taijutsu like always.

Ino practiced her own jutsu in her tent furiously. She specialized in ninjutsu with an accompaniment of genjutsu, but the genjutsu just wasn't there. All of her battles had been intensely physical. After seeing Sakura completely outclass her with genjutsu, Ino decided to go all-in on ninjutsu and taijutsu. Maybe she'd lose to Shikamaru in the end, but she'd kick everyone else's ass!

"Hnnn!" she hummed impatiently at a stupid blade of grass. It wouldn't burn! It had been over an hour with absolutely no progress. She threw it down and left her tent. "I'm going into town."

Ino blinked as fresh sunlight from outside the tent hit her eyes. Hinata wordlessly practiced katas and dragged her feet along the grass next to her tent. After weeks, the grass had died around where Hinata practiced. When Hinata noticed Ino, she got out of stance.

"Ino," she greeted, "Umm… is it possible you might get some soap if you're going into town? I'm all out."

# # #

Ino walked around the stalls and shops, thinking of what they needed. Rude miners walked right in front of her without even the slightest consideration. At this point, she was used to it. They lived a hard life, and had no respect for 'uptight brats', or women. The shops appeared weirdly empty.

"Maka-san," Ino called out to the general store vendor. She was a giant of a woman with hard eyes, long green hair, and huge biceps. She was reading a ledger with a small pair of glasses, made to look comical in comparison to her size. The important thing was, nobody fucked with Maka. Maka had become her friend after shooing away some pests. Ino was only a step away from giving them a scare herself.

"Ino-chan! What can I do ya for?"

"Soap?"

"Ah, shit," Maka cursed. "I've got nothing. Only some food. It's like all of the trade from Takigakure has frozen up. I made an order with a place in the land of Fire to replenish stock, give it a day?"

"That's weird," said Ino, "Why would the trade stop?"

"Who knows? Always some secret or another." Maka shrugged before going back to her ledger.

# # #

Soap was the last thing on Hinata's mind. The second Ino disappeared, she went searching for Sasuke. If what they said was true, and maybe they believed it, then the Sasuke she thought she knew was dead.

She had to see for herself. If he could be talked to maybe—or maybe it was all a misunderstanding. She wrote a note for Ino just in case and began to sprint in the direction Sasuke went to train.

Hinata ran up the hill Sasuke normally passed over, and followed his tracks, speeding along the ground. Each step she found becoming more and more worrying. If Sasuke wanted to train, he was going very far to do it. In this environment of soft rolling hills, the Byakugan could see amazingly far. Up one hill, down another, until she reached the top. Turning left and right, she peered around until his tracks appeared again but…

The Byakugan's trail ran cold, straight into a large creak. It only meant one thing, Sasuke did not want to be tracked, and he made precautions not to be tracked. Hinata ran right up to the bank and stared disbelievingly. Sasuke had been weird ever since his loss to Naruto. Sasuke had been weirdly distant, and then weirdly present. His face became unreadable to the Byakugan, which should have been enough for her.

She fell to her knees in the mud, crying. "Sasuke… I'm so stupid." She gripped the mud. "I thought you respected me. You've become so cold… I-I blamed the curse mark. I blamed your loss to Naruto. I blamed your brother. What are you getting into?" Hinata laughed bitterly at herself. "Idiot!" She spun her half turns for her Yin trigram palm, trying to work off her feelings. She became one with the feeling of the cold mud, letting it take her. Her training these past few weeks had borne amazing fruit.

The water and mud parted, leaving the creak temporarily dry. At that moment though, the mud uncovered a single track headed north, a small disturbance in the moss at the bottom of the creak, Sasuke's track. She snapped out of that feeling as his eyes zoomed in on that disturbance.

Memories of the bell test, where she brought Kiba and Sasuke together. Memories of their first C-Rank, the Forest of Death, him protecting her during the invasion…

"No. Maybe there is an explanation. He's my teammate! Team 7 means something, it's where I found myself. I have to know for sure, I've come this far."

Hinata sped up the river, running several miles, meticulously trying to regain Sasuke's trail. Nothing. After a while, she wondered whether or not he had managed to lose her. If she went too much further north, she'd end up in Waterfall country. The mountain range which represented the geographical border to the Land of Fire was just ahead.

Then, on the edge of her vision, she picked up another piece of Sasuke's trail. Hinata's eyes narrowed. The trail led straight into the mountains of Waterfall country.

# # #

Sasuke hid his face behind a fox ANBU mask and his body behind a boulder on top of a mountain pass. The light fell directly on the valley floor. Noon… His usual schedule had been interrupted by whoever had warned Sakura about Root. All of that wasted training time to hide his tracks. Tch! Now he was stuck, waiting for the newest caravan. This time would be fun, for sure. Some entertainment to make up for his cut training time.

After a few weeks of burned caravans, they finally started sending Taki ninja. Pretty soon, they would send Iwa ninja. Today could be the day. He drew a sword from its sheath.

"Hmph, Taki techniques, useless. Come Iwa ninja, give me something fun." Sasuke activated his Sharingan in anticipation. With every technique he stole, and every head severed from its body, he could feel his familiarity with his eyes grow. "Soon."

# # #

Ino ran out to the camp, her eyes wide and panicked. Sasuke was disrupting the caravans, it was the only thing that made sense. Root wanted to bring the border regions closer to Fire Country in terms of trade. Or there was something more. Ino's shoulder caught a woman as she was passing by in the street.

"Sorry!" she yelled distractedly.

By the time she got back to the camp, there was nothing. Only Sakura, messing around with a stone pot and some ingredients, making lunch.

"Where is Hinata?" Ino asked.

Sakura looked up from stirring with a ladle. "Hinata left a note. Said she went to go bathe."

Hinata just said she needed soap; she would have waited for her to come back before she went to bathe…

"She went after Sasuke! She must have been trailing him using her Byakugan!" Ino cried out.

"Y-you don't think she's in danger, do you?" Sakura asked hesitantly. "Sasuke is capable of a lot, but they were on a Genin team together."

"I don't know… I'm going to follow her trail and give backup," said Ino, wincing. "Someone has to guard the mine."

"Fine! I'll watch the stupid camp." Sakura twisted her mouth in annoyance. "If anything, it's overkill. Sasuke might be strong, but neither of you are pushovers. It's the best matchup. Go!"

Ino nodded before running in the direction of Hinata's trail.

# # #

Itachi stretched and cracked his neck, looking down from a grassy hill at a mining town in the distance. Smoke from multiple fires rose to the sky.

"Kisame, I'd like this to be quiet," said Itachi to his partner.

The shark man groaned. "Ahh, Itachi, it's been so boring with your injuries. And you didn't want me involved last time either."

"Mmm."

They slowly walked down to where it looked like a camp had been set up outside the town. The smell of nabe filled Itachi's nostrils. It had been a long time since he had a good homecooked meal. The life of a mercenary had the benefits of money, so he could always go to a restaurant. It wasn't the same.

"Who are you?" asked a young pink-haired kunoichi, drawing her kunai. "You look like Sasuke…"

"Keke! I've always said the Uchiha all look alike anyway," Kisame joked.

"You must be Haruno Sakura," Itachi said, stepping slightly to the right as the girl appeared from the ground with a kunai stabbing for his vitals. "Pointless."

The image of the first Sakura disappeared. The real one crouched with kunai in her teeth. "You hurt my sensei!" Itachi saw with his Sharingan as she created another genjutsu. Her vengeance was probably real, but she was behind them, running out of the camp.

"Kisame?" Itachi asked casually.

Kisame shook his head. "I almost believed it for a second." He smiled with his dangerously sharp teeth before easily flanking the girl and knocking the wind out of her and throwing her over his shoulder.

"Where is Hyuga Hinata?" Itachi asked the struggling Sakura.

"Nowhere you'll find her! Bastard!" she spat at him. Kisame flexed his bicep, crushing her lightly, for Kisame at least. "AAAAH!"

"Where is Hyuga Hinata?" Itachi asked again, this time using his Sharingan genjutsu.

He felt his chakra settle around her mind, and then-

"Never! No way!" a force pushed him out. Some kind of special ability. Rare.

"Interesting, you're resistant to that sort of genjutsu. A real genius. Too bad, all genius bows before the Sharingan…"

# # #

Shikamaru yawned. Harnessing horned lizard summons that must have been five meters long, Temari had made a desert sled large enough for three, which meant he could spread out and relax while they headed West towards the sunset. Nothing had really happened all day, just bumps when they crested a dune. It was just soft enough to nap, catch up on the sleep Temari made him miss.

"What's West?" he asked mid-yawn. He just woke up from nap two. If only there were better clouds, it'd be his best day yet. Damn wispy desert.

"Small villages. Nothing normally worthy of a diplomat. The desert extends to the ocean. We've thought about developing it, maybe use the coasts. But anything we developed would be too vulnerable to Iwagakure."

"Why are we going this way then? What a pain. Are we just going to waste time?"

Temari dropped her head, she appeared uncharacteristically gloomy. "When the Wind Daimyo gave missions to Konoha, we had to reduce our forces. Doing missions out here was uneconomical. I thought we could help them."

"Oh."

"Now let's get there by tonight and hope we don't hit a sandstorm."

# # #

The stars were in full force when they found a small fishing village on the edge of the desert. Pure sand gave way to dry grasses that dotted the dry landscape. Just as they were slowing down, Temari pulled out a scroll, and the horned lizards returned to whence they came. Shikamaru shivered, only glad that Temari had prepared for the cold of the desert as she overprepared for everything else.

Shikamaru could only make out the slightest details of some mud-brick homes, most of them partially caved. It looked more like what he imagined an ancient ruin to be like than a functional village.

Soon enough, a torch was lit from inside one of the homes. A fierce-looking young man of about twenty came out, torch in hand. He had a well-kempt goatee and a strong brow, and was actually very handsome. If it weren't for his well-defined cheekbones, his features would have reminded him of-

"You are most welcome, Temari of the Sand," the young man said in a deeply dramatic voice. Then he gave a thumbs up and Shikamaru could swear he saw the man's teeth sparkle in the starlight. "I am Might Kai! Fisherman by trade! Such an honor to have you! Come into my home!"

# # #

Naruto stared up at the moon from between the trees. He only had a few days before the new moon. Orochimaru promised to meet him at the Uzumaki Shrine then. Naruto looked down at the spinning ball of wind in his hand. After so many nature transformations, wind hadn't so much fallen into place, as dominantly asserted itself. His true affinity, no matter how many others he developed.

He landed on a branch as quietly as he could, the light of a fire lit up in front of him, shadows from people dancing around the fire passed his face from the cracks in the trees. He dispersed the ball of wind and grabbed a sheet of paper from his back pocket.

"Wanted: Serial Rapist" Below that was a picture of a man, a man he had tracked out here. One dancing in front of a fire.

There were multiple ways to get the Yin half of the Fox sealed within his father. One option was simply letting his father's soul pass, and then tracking the yin chakra down. It wouldn't stray too far from his own location, given his resident. Another option was to find another Uzumaki and get them to help him with a separate ritual, enabling him to extract the Yin chakra from his father's soul.

Naruto had Orochimaru though. Orochimaru knew the resurrection technique, and Naruto desperately wanted to meet his father just once.

The downside was, Orochimaru's involvement added far more complexity… He would never allow Orochimaru to find a victim, nor could he trust he wouldn't prepare the body in some way to make a trap. No, the trap would snap shut on Orochimaru, and nobody else.

So, Naruto waited and watched, as the bonfire in the forest died.