Chapter 29 - Takigakure
Hinata and her group walked out of the jungle and into something that seemed to come straight from a dream. Hinata audibly gasped at the sight of the magnificent waterfall flowing from a massive cliff. It poured down into an extremely large lake filled with crystal clear water that looked cool and refreshing. There were no trees growing over this area so the clear blue sky was unobstructed and the warm rays of the sun fell down on them for the first time in days.
"Beautiful isn't it?" Shibuki asked her, smiling.
"So beautiful!" Hinata responded in awe. "Can we go swimming?" She asked looking over at her shishou in excitement, momentarily forgetting what was most likely going to happen next. She had been anxious about the missing-nin Suien and his team of Amegakure shinobi for the past few days, but all her troubles just seemed to melt away in the presence of the water.
Hayate looked at the faces of his genin and sighed. It was a beautiful location, but they were still on a mission damn it! 'Keep it together just a little bit longer!' He pleaded in his head.
"Until the client has confirmed we've arrived, and stamped the mission documents, we're still on the mission." Hayate told her, then looked over at Shibuki. "How much further do you want us to escort you Shibuki-san?"
Shibuki was about to answer but stopped when he heard Shino speak up.
"Two people incoming, non-shinobi. They appear to be children." Shino pointed in the direction down the shore of the lake.
"Children?" Hayate asked, looking at Shibuki.
"Probably from the village. They sometimes come down here to play." Shibuki explained, smiling.
Soon enough, two kids could be seen in the distance, as they pushed past some foliage at the edge of the lake. They looked fearful at first when they saw the group of unfamiliar shinobi, but they soon saw Shibuki and became really excited, running over.
"Shibuki-sama!" The two kids shouted out as they ran over. "You're back! You're back!"
"Himatsu-chan! Shizuku-chan!" Shibuki called out to them, getting down on a knee to catch them as they threw themselves into a bear hug. "I'm back!"
Hinata just smiled when she saw them. 'That's just fucking adorable.' She thought to herself. The kids looked to be a few years younger than Hinata's group. She noted that they appeared to be about the same age as Hanabi.
"What are you two doing out here? You know you shouldn't be this far away from the village." Shibuki scolded them gently.
"We're cleaning up!" Shizuku said happily, pulling out a trash bag from her pocket. "We were just about to start!"
"Yeah! Yeah!" Himatsu agreed. "No one else wanted to do it, so we thought we would!"
"Cleaning up?" Shino asked, curiously.
"Sometimes trash finds its way down the waterfall and ends up in the lake and on the shores. It's necessary to clean up the trash every so often." Shibuki told him.
"Who are they?" Shizuku asked, looking at team eight cautiously.
"These are shinobi from Konohagakure. They helped me get home safely!" Shibuki explained to her with a smile.
"Oh!" She backed up and politely bowed. "I'm Shizuku, and this is my brother Himatsu! Thank you for guiding Shibuki-sama home safely!"
"It was no problem Shizuku-chan!" Hinata said, smiling. She walked over to the girl and asked: "Do you two want help cleaning up?"
"Hinata…" Hayate said, sighing.
Shibuki just laughed. "Consider it a D-rank mission?" He looked over at Hayate.
"Hahh.. sure." Hayate agreed, much to Kiba's chagrin.
"Alright! Himatsu-chan, Shizuku-chan, why don't you two show us where the most trash gathers? We'll get it cleaned up in no time!" Hinata grinned at the two kids, taking them by the hands.
Hinata had a soft spot for children after living with Hanabi for so long. She couldn't help but think of her own sister whenever she saw a child. They just seemed so happy and innocent and Hinata wanted to indulge in that, even if it was just a bit.
"Ok! Oneesan, what's your name?" Himatsu asked as he and Shizuku led Hinata down the shore.
"I'm Hinata, the grumpy one with the puppy is Kiba and his puppy is Akamaru. The cool silent one is Shino, he's really into bugs, so if you happen to think they're cool too, I know you can be friends! The tall, brooding, handsome guy is my shishou, Hayate." Hinata chuckled as she introduced her team to the kids.
"Bugs!? Cool!" Shizuku looked excited.
"Gross." Himatsu made a disgusted face.
"Insects are not 'gross'." Shino corrected, walking over to show Shizuku a beetle crawling on his finger.
"So cute!" Shizuku let go of Hinata's hand and gushed over the beetle. "Look at its little legs!"
Hinata giggled as Shino explained what type of beetle it was to the excited child. Shino actually looked a little happy to finally have someone outside of his family to talk to about insects, even if it was just a random kid.
'I should show more interest in Shino's hobby.' Hinata thought to herself, looking at the happy pair.
Shibuki looked at the kids getting along with the shinobi that he had spent the past week with. 'Maybe I made the right choice going to Konoha after all. If we could get them as official allies…' His thought trailed off as he heard Hayate talking to him.
"Sorry about my apprentice, Shibuki-san. She has a younger sister, so she likes kids. If you're not comfortable with them being so close to my team, I'll talk to them about it." Hayate told him a quiet voice.
"No, it's fine." Shibuki shook his head, smiling. "I was thinking about something else.. Your apprentice, Hinata-chan, do you think you'd let her go to a chūnin exam in another country if she wanted to?"
"Alone? I don't know. I trust her, but she is young. Preferably I'd like to go with her in case something happened." Hayate answered him honestly.
"Hmm.." Shibuki just stayed quiet, thoughtful at Hayate's words.
The group eventually came to a spot on the lake where the waterfall's current had pushed a lot of the trash. They set out to work and began filling up the trash bags the kids brought. Kiba was unhappy at first, but even he began to get into it, actually competing with Himatsu and Akamaru over who could fill their bag up faster.
'Just a little longer..' Hinata thought to herself, looking up at the waterfall. 'We'll be fine. We can do this.'
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Suien looked at the twelve Amegakure missing-nin in front of him. He had gone all out for this plan, managing to rope not only nine genin level shinobi in, but also three high-chūnin level shinobi.
Murasame, Hisame, and Kirisame were each a talented shinobi or kunoichi. For reasons he never cared enough about to aske, they had abandoned their village just like he had. He had managed to pick them up and attain their loyalty all for this day.
"Is everything ready?" Suien looked over at the single kunoichi as he asked his question.
"Almost all of the Takigakure shinobi are currently away on missions, as is the village head. There are only a few genin left in the village." Hisame chuckled in a way that could almost be considered seductively. "They really trust the village's natural defenses too much.."
Hisame had short, shaggy brown hair that fell down to about her chin and wore a skin-tight tube top underneath a teal shirt with long billowing sleeves, that was cut off above her navel and fell open to reveal her bust. She had navy blue shinobi pants that had a low waistline and went down to her shins.
She put a hand on her hip and smirked at Suien as she asked him in a sultry voice. "Tell me, does it hurt you to attack your own village?"
"Now, now, Hisame-chan. It's not like that at all. I'm just taking something that should have rightfully belonged to me. You know that." Suien smirked back at her.
Suien was dressed in a dark grey jacket with grey pants, and a beige bandana covering his spiky, dark hair, keeping it out of his face.
He ran his fingers through his goatee as he thought for a moment before speaking again. "I want hostages, so try not to kill anyone that you don't need to. Kirisame you and your three men will make sure that no one escapes. I don't want to have to worry about them finding outside help. If anyone runs, make sure to bring them back."
"Roger." Kirisame nodded.
Kirisame was dressed in loose clothing of various shades of grey and blue. He had his Amegakure headband on his head like a bandana and his shaggy brown hair was sticking out of it, with his bangs covering up one of his eyes. The rest of his face, from the nose down, was covered by a black skin-tight mask.
Suien looked over the other shinobi, Murasame. He was the strongest of the shinobi here, barring Suien himself. Murasame wore a black, skin-tight sleeveless shirt and brown arm warmers. He had grey hair that fell down to his chin and he kept the hair out of his face with his Amegakure headband. Suien also noted the ridiculous teal marking that ran across his face under his eyes and across his nose.
"Murasame, you and Hisame will be with me in the village. You two are each in charge of a team and will gather the hostages and fight off any shinobi that wants to act like a hero." Suien told them.
"Will do~" Hisame responded.
"Leave it to us." Murasame stated.
"Leave finding the hero water and fighting any jōnin that might show up to me." Suien finished, as he stood up. "It's time then. You all know your jobs, let's get to it."
The thirteen shinobi stood up and vanished from the branches of the giant tree overlooking the village below. Suien had shown them the entrance and snuck them in earlier that day. All his preparations came down to this, and he wasn't going to let anybody get in his way.
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Hinata and the others were picking up trash on the lake shore, and shallows, when Hinata heard Shino suddenly speak up.
"A woman is approaching our location at an unsteady rate. She's injured. Non-combatant." He said, looking over to Hayate for orders.
"Injured?" Shibuki questioned him.
Shino glanced at him for a second and nodded again to confirm, before looking back at Hayate.
Hinata and Kiba had stood up at the ready, and Hinata was biting her lip. 'It's happening now!' She thought to herself, with a serious look in her eyes.
"Let's get to the woman, give her medical attention and find out what the situation is." Hayate ordered. "Shino, tighten and reinforce the perimeter. Hinata, stay near the client. Kiba, carry the kids."
Shino sent out more of his swarm and ordered them to form a tighter perimeter around the group. Kiba picked the kids up, being unusually gentle with them, talking to them in a calm voice reassuring them.
Hinata walked next to Shibuki. "Let's go find out what happened."
Shibuki nodded and they set out to where Shino's beetles had found the injured woman.
It didn't take them long at all to find her. She was stumbling along the shore, a kunai sticking out of her bloodied back. She saw that her children were safe and with Shibuki and she managed a relieved smile. "Shibuki-sama." She said in a weak voice. "The village is under attack.." She continued, her voice getting weak. She soon collapsed, but Hinata rushed forward and caught her before she landed on the ground face-first.
"Okaasan!" The two kids shouted, jumping out of Kiba's arms and running over. "Okaasan!" they shouted again, pulling at her arm.
"Shh, she's just unconscious. She's still alive. Don't move her so much or you might make her injuries worse." Hinata comforted them.
Hinata laid the woman gently down on her stomach and cut open the back of her shirt to have a look at the wound. The kunai hadn't entered in that deeply, which was a relief. It was more likely she fainted due to shock and exhaustion than her injury.
"The village…" Shibuki looked terrified and his hands were shaking.
"Shibuki-sama, you have to save everyone!" Shizuku begged him. "Papa.. everyone.."
Hinata had gently pulled out the kunai and was rubbing the Hyūga clan's secret balm onto the wound.
Shibuki looked at Hayate, pleading with his eyes. "Hayate-san please… Please help us."
"Where are the Takigakure shinobi?" Hayate asked him, raising an eyebrow. This wasn't his mission. They had no intel on who was attacking and what the status was inside of the village. He didn't want to bring his team into any uncertain, deadly conditions.
"We already don't have many skilled shinobi.. The ones we do have are all away on missions currently. We've never been invaded before. If someone invaded… they were likely helped by one of our own.." Shibuki admitted.
'Fuck.' Hayate cursed in his mind. 'I don't want to get involved, but if it's as he says it is, then I might have to. Shibuki came to us as a potential ally and I'll be damned if it falls apart because of me.'
Hinata finished bandaging the woman and she was resting peacefully, surrounded by her two children that were holding her hands.
"Orders, shishou?" Hinata looked up at him and he could see the determination in her eyes. She wanted to help them.
Hayate sighed. "Shibuki, this mission has been raised to A-class. We don't know who is attacking or what the status of the village is but… We'll help you if you're willing to hire us."
"I will!" Shibuki said instantly. "Thank you so much!" He looked over at Hinata with gratitude. He hadn't missed the look she gave Hayate. He was a coward, but he wasn't stupid.
"Alright team. If you want to be a part of this mission, you will listen to every command I give." Hayate said in a tone of voice that brokered no argument.
"Roger." The three said at the same time.
Hayate smiled slightly, despite the circumstances. "Shino, I want you to watch the injured woman and children here. Keep up your perimeter. I'll leave Tasū here with you so we can communicate."
Shino nodded and sent out a new order to his swarm as Hayate summoned a moth the size of his hand.
"Hinata, Kiba. You two will come with me and Shibuki into the village. Remain silent. Hand signals only from this point onwards." Hayate ordered. "Shibuki, I know you're reluctant, but I need you to guide us to your village."
"I understand. Follow me." Shibuki nodded, showing a rare moment of courage. 'Hang on everyone! Help is on the way!'
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Kirisame and his three helpers watched as Shibuki led the others away. He had been hidden in the water on the far side of the lake. He didn't know it, but he was luckily right outside of the range of Hinata's byakugan, which she had activated as soon as Shino reported the injured woman's location.
'That must be the village head.. And he brought a team of shinobi from Konohagakure. I wasn't expecting a jōnin. Ah well, Suien can handle him. I'll just deal with this bug brat and bring back the hostages.' He thought, scratching his chin.
"We'll wait a bit to make sure that their team is too far away to help, and then we'll capture them. Try to take the genin alive. He'll Be a valuable hostage." Kirisame ordered his men.
"Understood." They responded to him.
They waited a few minutes, making sure it was safe. Soon enough though, they slipped into the water and began approaching Shino and the kids he was guarding.
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Shino was standing guard, alert of any incoming threats. It wasn't long after the others had left that a beetle landed on his finger and reported something to him.
'Four incoming? And a chūnin is with them? At least it isn't a jōnin…' He smiled wryly, unsure if he could deal with this.
Himatsu and Shizuku were trying their best not to cry as they sat with their mother. The silent Shino had walked into the jungle for a moment to check something, but came back out shortly after and was standing guard next to them. They felt safer with them here, but honestly wished it was Hinata that had stayed behind.
"Shino-san, will the others be alr-" Shizuku's words were cut off when she screamed. A man suddenly appeared in front of her, slamming his hand into the back of Shino's neck.
Shizuku and Kirisame, however, were both startle when his hand went into Shino's body as it was replaced in a puff of smoke with a swarm of angry beetles that began to crawl over the man.
"A substitution!" Kirisame yelled. He channeled his chakra and tried to burn the insect off of him, but they appeared to be absorbing his chakra. "Disgusting bugs!" He shouted, trying to scrape them off. They kept swarming up his body though, slowly draining him.
"They're called kikaichū and they're not disgusting." He heard a voice coming from the jungle nearby.
"Tch." Annoyed, Kirisame jumped into the lake. 'Water works!' He thought to himself as he saw the beetles fall off of him and swim to the surface, taking flight again.
"Mushi Kame no Jutsu!" Shino said, as he released a swarm of insects towards the villagers. "Don't panic they'll protect you!" The insects rapidly swarmed around the children and their mother, forming a protective dome that was rotating at a high speed. It completely covered them and blocked them from sight.
"Tasū, let Hayate-san know what's happening here. I should be able to hold them off for a while." Shino said to the moth that was cloaked on the tree next to him.
Shuriken flew towards Shino's position. He dodged out of the way the three genin came at him, fanning out and trying to surround him.
"Trying to use numbers against me?" Shino smirked.
Shino led them further into the jungle. 'I need to lead them away from the water.' He turned and threw some shuriken at one of the genin as he ran.
The shinobi blocked the shuriken coming his way. "Quit your running, we won't hurt you if you come peacefully" He taunted.
"Suiton: Kuchi Hassha!" The genin shouted, his mouth quickly filling with water before he spit it out at Shino's back. The water left his mouth at an incredibly fast speed, shaped like a single senbon.
The bullet of water struck Shino in his back before exploding into water and beetles. "Another clone!?" The genin shouted.
"You realized too late." Shino's voice was heard from somewhere in the jungle near them. "Trying to use numbers against me was.. foolish."
"Hijutsu: Mushidama.." Shino whispered, causing the three genin to shout in alarm as beetles started swarming from the foliage, surrounding them and covering their bodies from head to toe, beginning to drain them of the chakra.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Kirisame was currently trying to break the damn barrier of bugs surrounding his would-be hostages, when he heard the screams of panic coming from the jungle.
"Those useless idiots!" He spat out. "It was three against one! They're all genin, how can their skill level be so different!?"
He was getting angry. He was holding a sword made out of pure water and chakra, but no matter how hard he struck the barrier of beetles, their high speed rotation would deflect his attack. In the few minutes the genin were in the jungle, all he had to show for his efforts was a slow growing pile of dead beetles, falling to the ground next to the dome.
'Damn it! Do I go after the brat, or try to break this shield? I don't want to expend the chakra needed to break this thing… I could just wait it out. He must be expending a large amount of chakra trying to maintain it..' He smiled slyly to himself, choosing to stand off to the side and wait for the dome to break itself.
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Hayate and his group were working their way through a cave system that was hidden behind the waterfall. The caves were a maze and he now realized why Takigakure had never been invaded. The village almost never allowed strangers in, so there was almost no one that actually knew how to get to the village.
Tasū, who was riding silently on Hayate's shoulder, suddenly spoke to him. 'Shino is currently under attack by a chūnin and three genin from Amegakure. He's currently holding them back, but he's having to spend a large amount of chakra to keep both himself and the villagers safe.'
"Damn it!" Hayate suddenly cursed, causing the other to flinch in surprise. Most of this trip had been in silence.
"Kiba, do you remember the way out?" Hayate asked, breaking his own rule of only using hand signs to communicate.
"Yes. I can smell our trail." Kiba nodded.
"Good. I need you to return to Shino as fast as you can. He's under attack from a team of three genin led by a chūnin. It appears that they're from Amegakure, though they could be missing-nin." He told him.
"Understood. Come on, Akamaru!" Kiba took off at a much faster speed, his nails and teeth growing out, as Akamaru ran alongside him.
"Amegakure?" Shibuki frowned. Takigakure's relationship wasn't great with any village. They were mostly isolationists, that didn't involve themselves in the outside world. It was one of the reasons he was trying to change that by allying with Konohagakure. He didn't remember ever making enemies with Amegakure though… 'What could be their goal?' He suddenly felt nauseous as he realized something. 'The hero water! That's what they're after! It must be!'
"Come on, it's not that much further now. I hope you two know how to swim. I'll take us through a shortcut." Shibuki said, running ahead.
'Shino, Kiba, you two have to be okay!' Hinata thought to herself as she and Hayate ran after Shibuki.
The three of them hadn't run far when Shibuki suddenly jumped into one of the numerous pools of water. They followed in after him without hesitating, swimming through a long tunnel of water that soon began curving upwards.
Hinata started to regret them taking the shortcut. She had never trained in holding her breath and after about a minute and a half of constant swimming, she began to panic. She pulled on Hayate's sleeve, getting his attention and frantically pointed towards her puffed out cheeks.
Hayate saw the panic in Hinata's eyes, and cursed his lack of judgment. He should have realized this would happen as soon as they entered the tunnel. His nature was wind, and he usually only used wind and fire ninjutsu. He wasn't able to do anything to help her. He swam ahead, pulling Hinata with him before catching up to, and grabbing, Shibuki's leg.
Shibuki turned around startled at the sudden grab. He looked in confusion for a moment at Hayate and Hinata before noting that Hinata was clutching at her throat, her face turning a bright shade of red. His eyes widened and he started forming hand seals. He hadn't even thought about her not being able to hold her breath long enough to swim the length of the tunnel. Takigakure residents were natural swimmers and could hold their breath for many minutes at a time.
As soon as he finished his hand seals, he blew out a breath of air and a bubble started to form, soon expanding over Hinata and encasing her. She began to gasp for breath, inhaling the stale air in the bubble greedily.
Shibuki didn't even wait for Hinata to finish catching her breath before he attached a string of chakra to the bubble she was in and started pulling her along behind him. He increased his space as he and Hayate continued swimming towards the exit.
Hinata felt a little silly, sitting in a bubble being pulled along. She was also starting to feel a bit light headed. She was able to breathe, but the bubble honestly didn't have that much oxygen. 'How much longer is this damn tunnel..'
They continued for about 2 more minutes. Even Hayate's face had started turning a bit red by the time they reached the exit. As they came out of the pool of water, the bubble Hinata was in burst and she climbed out the water and collapsed to her hands and knees sucking in air, coughing.
"Are you ok, Hinata-chan?" Shibuki asked her with concern.
"I'm.. just.. peachy.." Hinata responded through her deep breaths. Slowly she stood up and steadied herself. "Nothing like almost drowning to get the heart pumping." She said with a wry smile.
"The exit to the cave is right over there." Shibuki pointed towards a rock formation. "This tunnel leads to a secret cave behind my residence at the base of the great tree."
"Understood." Hayate said. "You two stay here, I'm going to scout the current situation."
Hinata and Shibuki nodded, as Hayate re-summoned Tasū. Tasū had de-summoned itself earlier, partially through the submerged tunnel.
With one Tasū on Hinata's shoulder and one on Hayate's, Hayate quickly formed hand seals and vanished from sight using the tōton jutsu.
Hinata and Shibuki settled down to wait for his return. 'I wonder if Suien knows of Shibuki's return yet? They never attacked us outside, choosing instead to wait for Hayate to leave… ' Hinata frowned to herself in thought. She noted that Shibuki was shaking in fear, and reached out to grab his hand and hold it in hers.
"Everything will be ok." She promised him. "Leave it to us!"
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Kiba raced out of the tunnel with Akamaru, leaping through the waterfall and running across the surface of the lake. He saw a man sitting next to Shino's barrier of beetles and grinned. 'I made it in time! Good job Shino!'
"Hey bastard!" Kiba shouted, getting the man's attention. "Why don't you play with me for a little bit?" Kiba gave a wolfish grin and started forming hand seals as the man turned towards him. Subtlety had never been his strong suit, and he was pumped up for a fight. The thought of a sneak attack didn't even cross his mind.
Akamaru was crouched low, snarling next to Kiba. "Jūjin Bunshin!" Kiba shouted, as Akamaru suddenly transformed into a second Kiba, still growling menacingly.
"Another brat? Did you come to save your friend?" Kirisame laughed. "That's fine, I was just starting to get bored!" He started sprinting towards Kiba, brandishing his water sword as Kiba finished forming a second set of hand seals.
"Shikyaku no Jutsu!" Kiba shouted as he fell down to all fours, his already long teeth and nails, extending and sharpening into fangs and claws. Akamaru did the same, both of them snarling as they sprinted on all fours to meet the man in combat.