Come one, come all to... Well, you get the idea by this point. Another chapter of Trip Down a Hill.
Sort of kind of closing out the arc? Maybe?
Without further ado... kinda.
Chapter 65: An Overexcited Rhinoceros Beetle
Sasuke panted exasperatedly as he fell to his knees, almost entirely spent. He had a bit of energy still left in reserve, but he'd learned enough to leave that for his escape, if such a thing were necessary. It looked like it might be, as well, for his brother approached him with a small smile, and though it seemed gentle and kind on the surface, he knew such a thing had to be a charade.
"Very impressive, Sasuke." Itachi's voice rang out in the small cavern, bouncing off the sandstone walls around them and echoing in his ear. "You certainly have grown better. I'm certain you'll become a match for me one day."
He wanted to scream or shout something, but… he held himself back. He couldn't afford to waste energy on an empty threat, one which his brother had already proven would be meaningless.
"Gonna… kill you…" He panted out anyways.
Well… He'd never been the best at resisting his urges.
"I'm sure you will." Itachi teased. "But really, I must be off, I've still got to capture your friend. Do take care of yourself, Sasuke."
Those words had him on his feet in an instant, and he was stood in front of Itachi before he even knew he'd been moving.
"Oh? Still some chakra left to burn?"
"…Not letting you touch him." He spoke through gritted teeth. "You'd have to kill me first."
"You word that in a way as if to suggest it would be hard." Itachi tilted his head. "But sure, I suppose I can knock you unconscious before I go and take him."
Sasuke tensed his entire body, preparing himself to strike at Itachi, but before he could bother, another figure landed beside him.
Clad in orange and black, and looking all too proud of himself, Naruto did, at the very least, assuage his current concerns of being annihilated by Itachi.
…And add to his concerns about the boy being taken.
"Naruto!?" He managed to let out. "Where's Haku?"
"Assisting Sakura and Ino." Naruto did a quick once over of his body. "You look like shit."
"Wow, great to hear." Sasuke snorted, turning back towards Itachi, and nodding in his direction. "You can thank this asshole for that."
"I don't really wanna' thank him." Naruto smirked his way. "What if we beat the shit out of him instead?"
A smug smile bloomed on his face.
"That doesn't sound too bad, either."
/-/
Haku felt… odd as he dashed through Kisame's offense.
It wasn't a bad odd, but he wouldn't have called it a good odd, either. It was simply… complicated.
My fears… my cowardice… my insecurities… in battle, they always seem to come undone.
And he was left feeling like an imbecile whenever they did. He'd sit and let his emotions control his every action, let them slowly eat away at him until he felt like nothing, and then, in the heat of a fight…
They felt so insignificant.
Simply himself and his opponent, himself and Kisame. His allies would've complicated things somewhat were they less skilled, but Sakura was around his level, if, admittedly, a bit worse in terms of proficiency. Her raw power made up for that, though, along with some of the techniques she'd been using to keep herself healed up, which seemed to derive slightly from Wood Style, if he remembered her training well enough. Ino knew her job at this point as well, sitting back and offering support, while never getting close enough to be taken by Kisame, and be used against the two of them.
He felt strong as he parried a blow from Samehada, and scored a nasty cut on Kisame's arm, which left the man reeling backwards, giving time for Sakura to close the distance and slam down on him.
The blow was enough to have even Kisame gasping, juking back and away from them, and trying to find some way to gain access to Ino, to gain access to a free and easy win. His and Sakura's positionings, however, prevented him from taking a single step without throwing the fight away.
They stood in a simple triangle formation, with he and Sakura as the bottom line, and Ino as the point, standing behind them. Kisame stood almost exactly opposite Ino, but if he wanted to get to her…
He'd have to get through them first.
They charged in, zigzagging back and forth in an effort to confuse their opponent, though really, it was a maneuver that'd been drilled into their heads more than anything. They didn't think it'd do much to delude Kisame's senses.
It didn't particularly matter, though, for it let them close the distance in a way Kisame couldn't exactly respond to. He brought his blade up and took a defensive stance for the first time that fight, preparing for their onslaught.
His sword connected with Kisame's own just as Sakura slid underneath both of their weapons, aiming to use her chakra-ridden right arm to collapse the man's legs from underneath him. Unfortunately, Kisame was faster, and was able to pour out a water Jutsu from his mouth without even using hand-signs, an impressive feat that reminded them once again the caliber of their opponent.
As he pushed them away, he threw his blade above him, utilizing a similar technique to Haku's own earlier that day, and made a few hand-signs in quick succession.
"Heh, see if you bastards can dodge this from so close!" Kisame shouted, before bringing his hands together, and shouting out. "Water Style: Shark Bomb Jutsu!"
Haku drew backwards, forming his own set of hand-signs, and slammed his hands into the ground, pouring an added bit of chakra into the Jutsu.
"Ice Style: Ice Wall!"
The wall was both taller and thicker than normal, the spines atop it standing almost a meter tall. When Kisame's chakra shark hit it, it shattered, as he'd expected. Luckily, it stopped the Jutsu in its tracks.
But it didn't stop their opponent, who blitzed out of the cold steam and swung his blade in a simple arc. It was enough, at least, to knock Sakura aside, sending her plummeting to the floor. He looked greedily towards Ino, his eyes shining with what he saw as an easy victory. He charged towards her, and even Haku's sword wasn't fast enough to catch him, merely nicking the side of his coat.
Ino looked prepared, drawing a knife into her hands, and taking a stance. Unsurprisingly, Kisame wasn't the least bit perturbed, and his face took on a dangerous edge as it lit up.
Haku ground his jaw together and forced himself to move. If he were fast enough, he could chop the man's head from his shoulder's while he was busy grabbing Ino.
He needn't have bothered, apparently, given that before Kisame even closed half of the distance, a paper bomb was thrown down directly in front of him.
"What the-" The man shouted, turning on a dime. "Ah, shit, more of you bastards!?"
Kisame juked instead towards the downed Sakura as the explosion went off, trying to cut her out of the fight entirely, but she caught his sword with one of her monstrous wings, and though she cried out in pain as it ripped the flesh upon it, she still held enough control to flip the man aside, breathless as her transformation left her.
"He got… all my chakra…" Sakura said as she looked over towards him. "Still… doesn't look like it'll matter."
"No, it doesn't." Haku smiled out, even past his exhaustion, as at least ten figures flanked the two of them on all sides, brandishing weapons ranging from a javelin tied on the end of a rope from a Sand Genin he didn't recognize, to the outstretched and prepared hands of Hinata Hyuga, to the Kazekage's very own iron fan.
Their back-up had arrived.
"Don't let up!" Temari herself called out, sending out a wave of scything wind that cut into Kisame's already damaged cloak, causing the entire upper half of it to come scattering off. "Force him to retreat!"
Kisame seemed to hear those words, see the fifteen or so opponents he was up against, none of which would be easy prey given the wounds he was already dealing with, the one's Haku had given him earlier only now beginning to close, and seemed to find the Kazekage's plan to fall back rather intelligent.
He fled during the next volley and slammed his blade into one of the sandstone walls. It crumpled down and sent clouds of dust and sand scattering out towards the rest of them. By the time said cloud cleared, the man had already disappeared into his created tunnel.
Temari turned to them next and gave them all a simple once over.
"Are the three of you alright?"
"Eh…" Sakura called from her place on the floor, giving a 'fifty-fifty' gesture. "Mostly."
The tiniest hints of a smile shone through on the Kazekage's face.
"Then I'll be fine to leave the three of you here while we push further in?"
"I'm out for the count, sure," Sakura nodded, "But the others could probably still fight."
Haku wasn't sure how he felt about being volunteered for that, and Ino looked to have similar feelings, but luckily for them, Temari only laughed as she looked at their faces.
"They don't seem nearly as gung-ho as you claim."
"Eh, was worth a shot." Sakura smarmed. "Fine, we'll sit back."
Temari nodded, before turning instead towards Team 8, and a team apparently named after a 'Matsuri'.
"You two, your goal will be helping to secure the missing Jinchuuriki. My team and I will be handling Gaara's retrieval, but since you're tracking experts and experts on the sand tunnels respectively… we figured you might be able to find Fu."
The woman didn't exactly look hopeless, but it was clear she didn't expect much either.
"I don't suppose you'd be able to pick up on the Seven-Tails' trail, would you?"
"Wait… Fu?" Hinata asked with a bit of shock in her voice. "As in… green hair, nice girl…"
"Yes."
Kiba looked towards Hinata, his eyes slightly wide. The girl in question nodded a bit reservedly, before turning to their final teammate, Shino. He returned their actions, and the three looked to Temari with a bit of surprise.
"Actually, uh…" Kiba scratched the dog alongside him, who barked in what seemed to Haku to be the affirmative. "Yeah. I think we can."
/-/
Sasuke wouldn't have been shocked had they been losing, because really, he'd been expecting that.
It was more that he hadn't anticipated them holding up so well.
Naruto blocked another of Itachi's attacks, juking back and away before the man could follow up. In turn, Sasuke scored a hit of his own, narrowly managing to duck underneath his brothers next blow, which seemed to scrape the tip of his nose, but not take any skin away with it.
It was as if, by the slimmest of margins, they were managing to break even.
He didn't believe it for a second.
He couldn't find fault with Itachi, though. His every movement seemed to be calculated, and there was no sign of his punches being pulled at the last minute like there'd been with Kabuto some two years back at the Chuunin Exams. Which left that rather obvious conclusion that Itachi was, of course, trying his best, and they were a match for him.
Once more, he didn't believe that.
It was far more likely that Itachi simply knew the limitations of Sasuke's Sharingan. He could see the movements of Itachi's muscles, surely, but it wasn't like he could entirely read his intent. If Itachi was telling his body to 'miss by a fraction of a milimeter', to Sasuke, that looked the same as the man telling his body to 'hit', and missing.
He realized he'd been zoned out for too long as Itachi's fist connected with his nose, and he almost felt like sighing when his nostrils clogged up with blood, and he realized the thing was broken. He'd have to heal and set it later, but luckily a broken nose wasn't that difficult to deal with thanks to his newfound healing abilities.
Remembering his ability had him remembering Itachi's expression from earlier. So bereft of any amusement or joy that it'd momentarily left him speechless. That was the same Itachi who'd told him that testing his ability had been the only reason behind his entire family's deaths. The same Itachi who'd forced him to witness those events over and over again, preventing him from having even a modicum of peace.
He found rage overcome him at the suspicion Itachi was holding back somehow, rage and a million questions that threatened to overwhelm him, even as he brought his arms up to block another attack he'd nearly been too slow to react to.
That was the key word, though. Nearly.
Every single attack, every ability out of Itachi… it was almost enough to overwhelm them.
Yet never was.
A small disturbance on the edge of his vision had him distracted for a half a second, and it was in that moment that Itachi struck. Gone was any semblance of hesitation, now, there was only a kunai in the man's hand, and his Sharingan blazing fiercely in his eyes.
He brought the blade down on Sasuke's shoulder, and though it hurt more than he cared to admit, he was more shocked than anything at the sand that wrapped around Itachi's midsection, and threw him backwards into the massive pit in the middle of the room. There, the sand in the basin gradually worked its way up Itachi's body, encasing him.
"GAARA!?"
Naruto had shouted it, and it was enough for Sasuke to turn his head and look towards the lightless room at the rear end of the cave, where Gaara stood panting, but certainly alive.
"Sasuke. Naruto. It is good to see the both of you unharmed."
How the hell did he escape!? Sasuke found himself asking rhetorically. Temari said he was put into a Genjutsu by Itachi… which means he shouldn't have been able to help us out until we broke him out of it…
He turned to look at Itachi, who was still in the central sand pit, now looking up at Gaara with his back turned to both he and Naruto. Sasuke was tempted to fire off a kunai, but before he could even bother, six more figures entered the room, fierce expressions on their faces.
Team's 8 and Matsuri.
"Naruto!?" Hinata shouted a bit excitedly, before looking down into the central pit and gasping. "Is… is that…"
"Well…" Itachi sighed. "It seems as if this is where I must depart."
"You think you're getting away!?" Sasuke shouted, and he heard Kiba yell out something similar from the other end of the room.
Itachi looked up at him, almost entirely undeterred by the sand-coffin surrounding him, and this time, he could tell that the amused smile on his brother's face was neither faked, nor embellished.
"Yes." He stated matter-of-factly. "I do."
And then, with the cawing of a dozen crows, he dematerialized, melting away as if made from shadow and black feathers.
"What an asshole…" He heard Kiba mutter quietly.
He nodded begrudgingly.
Still, there was something he needed to confirm. He passed by Naruto, giving the boy a few curt words of thanks, before making his way over to Gaara, who was currently being swarmed by his sister and his older brother, the latter of whom had only just arrived with his own team.
He hated to interrupt the moment, but he had a question that desperately needed answering.
He pulled Gaara aside, giving his siblings an excuse that even to him sounded weak. Still, they seemed to understand that anything he was after was probably quite important.
"You needed something?" The Jinchuuriki asked him cautiously, sounding a little bit suspicious of him, which he felt was fair given the day the man must've had.
"Yeah, actually." Sasuke sighed, deciding to just get this over with. "How did you escape from Itachi's Genjutsu?"
Gaara's eyes widened minutely, before he shook his head, a small frown adorning his features.
"Funny…" Gaara looked up at him.
"I'd planned to ask you the same thing."
/-/
"Fu… y… ight…?"
Fu felt herself stirring, which was odd, because she was fairly certain she'd been about to be killed when that red-eyed guy had knocked her out before. She expected the only place she'd be awakening to was the afterlife.
Unless… Is this the afterlife!?
She tried to squirm, tried to panic or shout or scream, but her body was weak. That Kisame guy had run his blade across her back, and though it hadn't cut her too deeply, it had sheared away her chakra like wool off a sheep. For anyone else, she imagined it would've been rather debilitating, but, well…
The Seven-Tails came with some perks.
She allowed a bit of its chakra to flow into her, something she'd been advised (read: explicitly told) not to do by Shibuki.
But screw it, if she was going to die via crazy guys in black cloaks, then she at least wanted to go down swinging!
There was a notable problem, however, for when she tried to jump up onto her feet, and pummel the person currently trying to shake her awake, the only thing that happened was her hand moving approximately two inches to the right, which, while an improvement from the complete nothingness she'd been experiencing a few minutes prior, wasn't going to be getting her out of the clutches of dangerous kidnappers.
"Uhm… excuse me…?"
The voice sounded almost angelic; gentle and warm, further proof that she was probably dead, which was a bit of a shame if she were being honest. She allowed her eyes to flutter open, and she saw light shining down from the ceiling above her, blocked by a long-haired figure hovering over her.
The girl, no, woman above her shone within that golden light, her violet colored hair cascading down her neck and landing softly upon Fu's chest. Her face wore a look of concern, her full lips pursed and drawn down into a frown, even as she opened them once more and asked her another question.
"Are you alright, Fu?"
Fu…? She thought absently. How does she know my–
The girl's name came back to her. She was Hinata. They'd spent an hour or two in that cave last time, talking amiably about this or that.
The girl had seemed nice enough when they'd first interacted back then, but she'd seemed a bit reserved, counting on her teammates to assist her whenever she got uncomfortable. Fu couldn't quite understand that, since the last thing she ever wanted was her teammates butting in to her conversations (if she could even really call the two armed-guards the Waterfall had sent with her 'teammates').
Well… She did kind of like them (begrudgingly, if she were ever asked), but that was besides the point.
Still, she hadn't interjected when Fu went on and on about what Shibuki called "asinine topics". She'd patiently listened, and nodded her head whenever Fu said something particularly insightful.
Their conversation had been enjoyable enough, and even if she'd had some strange draw to that one proctor, the loud blonde one, and she could admit that one dude with the shades and the bugs had been hot in a bad-boy kind of way, now, she couldn't help but have her eyes drawn by Hinata's figure, by the way she curved in just the right ways.
And she'd come to rescue her! Oh, man, Shibuki had been holding out on her when he'd said all of those stories were just fairytales! Sometimes a knight in shining armor really did show up to save the damsel in distress!
Honestly… she was perfect.
…And she found her cheeks growing redder as she realized she'd been silently staring at Hinata's face for the last, oh, she didn't know, forty seconds.
Which was an uncomfortably long period of time.
"F-FINE!" She shouted just a bit too loudly, causing the girl hovering above her to jump. "Or I uhm, I mean – I'm fine! Thanks for asking, Hinata!"
Hinata tilted her head in a bit of confusion, but there was an earnestly glad smile on her face, and she leaned down and brought Fu into a tight hug. She pretended that didn't do interesting things to her heart and cause little rhinoceros beetles to flutter and buzz around in her stomach.
Or maybe that was the Seven-Tails groaning. Could've been both.
"I'm so glad you're alright!" She mumbled into Fu's neck. "When that guy Kisame showed up… we couldn't do anything to help you. When I heard you'd been kidnapped…? I thought you would be killed because we were so weak! I… I could barely stand it."
She… was worried about me? Fu thought idly, before a wide smile shone across her face.
Score!
"Well… you did save me!" Fu decided to cut in, coughing away the smile, before wrapping her own arms around the girls back, because hey, if Hinata was going to do half the work for her with this sudden hugging thing, then screw it, she was going to take advantage of that. "You came and rescued me… my hero…"
Hinata broke away from her, shooting her an odd look.
"Uhm… what did you say?"
"Nothing!" She spoke quickly, trying to segue away from that line of conversation. "Uhm, if you don't mind me asking, where are we, exactly?"
"Oh, right." The girl helped her up off of the ground, catching her when her legs conveniently gave out beneath her (which was, if she were ever asked in the future, entirely Kisame's fault). "According to Team Matsuri, we're in one of the sandstone caverns beneath the desert, I don't really know much other than that, we just followed your scent to get here."
Her eyes bugged out slightly, even as she leaned down and sniffed her own armpit.
She didn't think it was that terrible, given she'd been fighting in the middle of the desert without a shower for a whole day. It certainly wasn't great, but that was to be expected–
"Oh, no, uhm-" Hinata giggled quietly into her left hand as she led her outside the cavern. "I didn't mean your actual smell, well, I sort of did, but… I'm not saying this very well. Basically, Kiba, one of my teammates, and his dog Akamaru were able to track you here thanks to your personalized scent."
Oh. That makes a notably larger amount of sense.
They walked silently for a while, before Fu realized she should probably say… anything, really.
Alright, brain. Not that hard. Just… Compliment her…
"Well…" Fu turned to Hinata, trying for a genial smile. "I think you smell nice."
You're dead to me. She informed her worthless brain.
"Er… thank you?" Hinata looked confused once again. "A-anyways, my teammates are just beyond here. We'll bring you back up to the surface, alright? You don't have to worry anymore, I'll – no, we'll protect you."
Her heart fluttered once more, even as a satisfied smile threatened to break through her defenses.
"You're so kind, Hinata."
"Uhm… once again, thank you." Hinata blushed this time, though Fu could tell that was more from embarrassment than anything else. "So uhm… we all kind of know you're a Jinchuuriki now."
"Mhm." She turned to the girl, shooting her a smile to make sure she knew she wasn't that bothered about it. "I'm the Jinchuuriki of the Seven-Tails."
"That's amazing." Hinata smiled, and even if she'd heard people say such things about her a million and a half times, this might've been the only time the person opposite her had ever sounded genuine about it. "One of my closest friends, Na- uhm, well, anyways, he's a Jinchuuriki as well. I just wanted you to know that none of us would think any worse of you for it or anything like that."
Ah, there goes my heart, rocketing off into the stars. Fu tried not to let her wide smile show, but she feared it was a bit too late for that.
"T-that's very nice of you." She tried valiantly to recover, and to not look like a total goober, and she was fairly certain she'd accomplished neither of those things. "So… uhm…"
"Yes?" Hinata turned to her innocently, her mouth curled upwards into an expectant smile.
"Would you… uhm…" She blanched. "Gah, I'm bad at this!"
"Bad at what?"
"Ugh." She moaned, her head in her hands. "Uhm… nevermind, It's nothing-"
"You should say it."
She looked up, a bit confused to see a look of reassurance on Hinata's face.
"I know… I used to be a nervous person, and… well, I am still, a bit, but I'm trying to be better. I try to say how I feel, and not let my fear hold me back. so… if you have something you think you need to say, then I think you should just say it!"
Fu's eyes widened, even as her heart once again fluttered. Hinata seemed to almost shine when she looked at her, and she found her gaze drifting to the floor in her embarrassment.
"Agh!" She wrestled with her doubt, and (given that she was the flyweight-doubt-wrestling-champion of the world three years running now) won. "Alright, I'll say it!"
"Mhm" Hinata's smile grew as she nodded comfortingly. "Go for it!"
She batted down her fear, took a deep breath, and turned to Hinata with a beaming smile.
"Do you want to go out on a date with me some time!?"
Hinata's face blanched, even as her expression remained exactly the same.
"Huh?"
/-/
Naruto stood quietly beside Sasuke and a few of the other proctors as Fu and Gaara were excavated from out of the cavern they'd found themselves in.
The first to come out were the Kazekage and her entourage, which included a few armed guards flanking Gaara, and Kankuro himself, letting his younger brother lean on him, and talking amiably with him.
Haku, Sakura, and Ino were out next, talking quietly amongst themselves. Well, more like Sakura was doing all of the talking, while the other two awkwardly interjected where it was applicable to do so.
Beside them were a few others, a red-faced Hinata, looking somehow more embarrassed than he'd ever seen her (which was a notable feat), a bewildered looking Kiba, who seemed utterly confused as he chatted back and forth with the tomato-looking girl beside him, and an above-it-all Shino, who occasionally turned to follow the conversation happening between the two.
Seeing Hinata so out of sorts had him leaning over slightly, trying to do the same as Shino in pretending that he totally wasn't following their conversation, but was actually eavesdropping to the nth degree.
"Alright." Kiba stared down at the girl, who seemed to wilt even further at his scathing look. "Let me get this straight."
Hinata only moaned embarrassedly in response.
"So, you rescued Fu,"
The girl nodded.
"You took her up through the cavern, casually talking and stuff,"
She nodded once more, with a bit less energy.
"…And then she asked you out?"
Hinata let out a pathetic whimpering sound, even as both of Naruto's eyebrows shot up into the stratosphere.
Oh, this was some juicy gossip.
"Alright… so…?"
Hinata looked up at him. "So what?"
"So, what are you doing?"
"What do you mean?" Hinata asked, tilting her head.
Kiba sighed, the sigh of a man who was being paid literally nothing at all to have to deal with this.
"What I mean is…" The boy sighed, before shaking his head and just saying it. "Do you like girls?" Kiba asked with all of the tact of a first-year academy student.
Hinata, to her credit, took the question better than Naruto had thought she would've.
"I don't know! I didn't think I did," Hinata mumbled under her breath. "But then when she said… all of that, I got all… red in the face."
"Uh… Hinata? No offense, but I think that's just a 'you' thing."
Hinata nodded glumly, her cheeks still a blazing crimson.
"I mean…" Kiba sighed, which Naruto couldn't help but feel was fair given what he was going through. "Does the thought of her make your heart go alfutter or anything?"
"I don't know," Hinata murmured unconvincingly, shaking her head ever-so-slightly as she seemed to try and decide what it was she was feeling. "N-not really?"
Kiba nodded, apparently having expected that.
"Well, don't worry about it. It's not like you said yes or anything. Just… when you see her again, you can tell her you appreciate the offer, but that…" Kiba looked down at Hinata's slowly descending and reddening face and shook his head in utter disbelief. "Hinata…"
Kiba's teammate wouldn't meet his eyes. "Y-yes, Kiba?"
"You didn't… say yes, did you?"
"HINATA!"
They both turned to the person who'd called out the girl's name, Fu, who was waving from a ways away. Her cheeks were lit up, but the smile on her face was obviously too happy to be faked. Her guards, for the two had come clean on their involvement here, stood nearby, small smiles on both of their faces that seemed almost parent-like in their indulgence
"I'm looking forward to seeing you again! I can't wait to go on our date!"
"Y-yeah!" Hinata called back, giving a small wave that was only a tad stunted. "Same here."
"Oh my god." Kiba rubbed his temples.
"It was the heat of the moment, okay!" Hinata yelled out, a rare show of undaunted emotion from the girl. "And… and she put me on the spot, and my face was all hot, and my heart was beating a million miles a minute, and I had no idea what to say because it was my fault she was saying all of it in the first place, so… so I just said yes, okay!?"
Kiba only stared at her, causing the girl to shrink down even more.
"And when she figures out you're only leading her on?"
Hinata moaned out again, sitting down on the ground and bringing her legs up in front of her, hugging them close.
Naruto smiled, even as an odd feeling churned in his chest, one which he wasn't particularly sure the origin of.
Weird.
They made their way back to the Sand Village in a singular line, giving no room for the Akatsuki to try and make a follow-up attack. Gaara was near the front of the formation, flanked by guards, whereas Fu was in the middle, and he at the back. If they wanted to attack any one section, well… first of all, it probably wouldn't work, but even still, they'd only be getting one Jinchuuriki.
When they did finally arrive within Suna's walls, they did their best to unpack the events of the exam.
Seven guards, all from the west wall, had been killed by Kisame's initial assault. Eleven more were critically injured, while ten had gotten off with more light wounds. Temari promised them that the Akatsuki would pay for what they'd done, and that the Sand would forevermore be an ally of the Leaf in actions taken against the terrorist group.
It was all just ceremony; they'd been allies for years now, but it did a good job of assuaging the immediate concerns of the Genin and Jonin present, giving them a nice speech to rally behind.
Then, it was Team 7's turn.
They gave a rather simple speech, and, given that it was being made up on the spot, it really couldn't afford to be anything else. Sasuke opened, stating that the lives lost were tragic, but that they'd accomplished what they'd laid down their lives to do, keeping the Genin safe.
Naruto himself had cut in after, reaffirming that notion, and making sure no one gave up. He also mentioned that, given the attack, the Chuunin Exams would be cancelled. Several people, despite the circumstances, let out disappointed cries.
Sakura reassured them that they wouldn't necessarily be exempt from becoming Chuunin. If they'd proven themselves to be skilled enough, they would be rewarded with the positions anyways. Most people perked up at that, notably Team Guy, who, in all fairness, had aced just about every section of their exam so far, including capturing and tying up their Jonin pursuer, essentially ending the Second stage of the exam five days early.
They were shoe-in's for Chuunin, even Naruto could see that.
With those final words, the Genin were dismissed, and would be permitted to travel back to their villages whenever they wished.
The first to go were a few of the Sand teams, who had a brisk walk back to their houses as their only journey. To Naruto, at least, that seemed like utter bullshit, but he wasn't about to say that when he was supposed to be one of the mature proctors, and instead waved goodbye as graciously as he could muster.
Team's Guy, Asuma, and Kurenai went next, deciding to travel as a pack to avoid anything like a sudden sandstorm hampering them. Before they could go, however, Fu walked on over, and, seemingly a bit embarrassed, handed Hinata a small object Naruto couldn't quite see.
"Uhm… if you ever wanted to send a letter or something… you can use that, okay?"
Hinata looked down at the thing in her hands, gave a small smile, and pocketed whatever-it-was inside her coat.
"Thank you, Fu."
The girl blushed, scratching her chin with one hand, before giving one final wave as she walked towards where her guards were standing. She individually said goodbye to (and called out by name) several Genin who Naruto could admit, even as one of the proctor's of the test, he had forgotten the names of.
"I'll contact you, Hinata!" Fu called out one final time, as she and her guard's made their way out of the desert sands, taking a slightly more westward route than those headed towards the Leaf.
Kiba sighed as Hinata waved back, before she collapsed upon the ground, looking entirely spent.
"Am I a bad person?"
"No, you're an exceedingly good person. Unfortunately, in this case, there's no real difference." Kiba spoke rather bluntly, causing Hinata to flinch. "You'll have to say something eventually, unless you're planning on falling for her."
Hinata just groaned as they made their exit beside Team's Asuma and Guy, who were doing their best to look entirely uninterested, an obvious failure.
Still, as the backs of Team Fu began to disappear beyond the horizon, Sakura turned to him and gave him a small nod. Naruto turned towards Sasuke, shooting him a furtive look.
His best friend nodded back.
/-/
Fu was on cloud 9 as she skipped and hopped her way back to the Waterfall, hell, she sprouted wings on accident at least seven times.
How could she not!? Hinata had agreed to go out on a date with her!
She'd suspected the worst at first, for when she'd first asked, sure, the girl's face had been a bit red, but other than that, she'd seemed almost opposed to the idea. It wasn't until a few seconds later that she'd quietly (and without looking her in the eye) murmured that she'd "love to".
She pumped her fist again. Honestly, the rest of her life notwithstanding, things had been going pretty well lately.
Was this a sign of things to come? Maybe it was time to finally exit the era of 'everyone else has good things happen to them while Shibuki tries to teach Fu how basic human interaction works' and enter the era of 'Fu is awesome, and everyone knows it'!
They'd been walking for about a day and half now, and it was about time to set up camp and rest. As the three of them moved along, they entered a small clearing. It seemed like an ideal spot for a few tents, and just as Fu was about to cross into the middle of it and begin setting up, both of her guards placed an arm over her chest, holding her back.
"Wait, Fu." Kegon whispered quietly, ushering her backwards as Yoro stepped forward, drawing a simple knife into his left hand, which he wielded in a reverse grip.
"Show yourselves!" Yoro shouted. "We know you're there!"
A small sneer erupted from the treeline, and two figures jumped down to the ground below.
One wielded a red, double-headed scythe, and seemed to have been the cause of the earlier sneer, for he wore a cocky, lopsided grin, and an even cockier stance. He sauntered into the clearing with his comrade alongside him, who seemed the far simpler of the two. He was a man of dark skin, and his eyes were an odd clash of green and red. He also looked ancient, and… strangely familiar. Judging by the Waterfall insignia on his forehead protector, she had a feeling she knew why.
Though, truly, that wasn't what she focused in on. Instead, that was the black cloaks that adorned them, covered in red clouds.
More Akatsuki.
"Hey, Kakazu," The straight black-haired reaper asked his partner. "Which one am I not allowed to kill, again?"
"The girl." Kakazu, apparently, spoke sinisterly, taking a step towards them and cracking both of his wrists. "Feel free to run riot on the rest, Hidan."
Hidan gave a satisfied huff, breathing out menacingly as he brought a spike out from his coat, and licked the tip of it, drawing blood from his tongue.
"I can't wait."
Yoro tapped her chest again, and she looked up into his eyes.
"Run, Fu."
Her eyes widened.
"W-what…?"
"We'll buy you as much time as we can, but these guys are monsters." Kegon turned back to her and offered a small smile. "Don't wait up for us, okay?"
She couldn't believe this. No, she wouldn't believe this. This day was not about to go from a perfect ten to a zilching zero!
"I'll stay behind! I can fight!"
"Not these guys you can't." Yoro pushed her back, harder this time. "C'mon. Fu, please!"
It was the small bit of panic in the man's voice that had her consider it, had her think about running. Her legs turned to jelly, and her heart constricted as she began to turn her body towards the other end of the forest. If she could use her wings… she could escape. She could make it back to the Waterfall, but…
"Hmph. I'd thought this might happen."
But, somehow, it seemed like she wouldn't have to.
Three figures flew down from the trees above, landing just in front of Kegon and Yoro, and taking defensive stances in front of the three of them. She recognized them, remembered their names. They were their proctors for the Chuunin Exams, known by the moniker of Team 7, they were, if she recalled correctly, Chuunin the lot of them. Their sudden arrival shouldn't have made her feel any safer than having her Jonin guards around her as well.
But for some reason, the aura they gave off was… different.
"Don't worry, you guys." Naruto, she could remember him the most, the strange draw she'd felt to him ever-present, spoke softly, in an effort to reassure them. "We won't let them take Fu away."
The second, the raven-haired boy, stepped forward, his eyes spinning into odd, crimson wheels.
"Members of the Akatsuki," Sasuke spoke, his blazing red orbs matching those of the man who she'd seen in that cave barely a day ago now. "Surrender and leave at once."
"Or…" Sakura, the final proctor, cracked her knuckles, her skin turning an odd, purplish gray. "Stay and die."
The smile the monstrous girl gave was almost manic as it sprouted across her face.
"We're fine with both"
End Chapter 65
O'hello!
Another week, another chapter down.
Hidan and Kakazu converge on the tiny green-haired-bug-child, but, what's this!? Team 7 foresaw that, and they're here to play!
Fu's so much fun to write man, her character just bounces from sentence to sentence in such a weird way. Her having a crush on Hinata was an idea I came up with like two or three weeks back, and the whole scenario that resulted from it was so fun to me that I decided to put it in. Where will that particular plot-line go? Who knows? (Once again, I always, and will always, know.)
(That's not true, I've definitely written some things with no clue of how I wanted them to end.
...Not sure how much of this I should be admitting.)
Anyways, that's it from me, see you all next week for the real conclusion of this arc!
...Or maybe not, who knows really? (Me, still.)