Chapter 14
Sustainability Stone Arc part 4
Shikadai
Shikadai and the other rush through the chaos – rain slowing them down and sending chills down their spines, mud sinking their boots ankle-deep, and pieces of objects flying in the air, landing everywhere.
They're alive… they have to be. Shikadai thinks desperately.
The air pushing them backwards wave after wave fills them with dread – this was the biggest explosion yet.
"Heads up!" Moegi-sensei yells, and Shikadai knows it's thanks to his sensei's sensory skills.
"Damn it!" Shikadai curses, gritting his teeth as they duck when a blown up tree trunk lands right before them.
"Moegi-sensei!" Sarada's voice calls, sounding strange and strangled.
Shikadai turns to look, unused to anything affecting Sarada.
The debris from the explosion – among a pile of broken twigs and branches – lays an arm. Just an arm.
Inojin grabs Shikadai's shoulder, trying to keep himself from throwing up if his friend's green expression is to go by.
"It's Iwa standard flak jacket." Shikadai says grimly, watching Sarada nod sharply once at his assessment it's not a piece of any of their friends.
There's a swarm of shinobi, a clutter of Iwa ninja shifting about further ahead, and just over a turn in the road – blocking the scene from them.
"What's going on over there?!" Shikadai demands, frustrated.
And that comment about informing HQ… was Wasabi right? Are there multiple missions happening simultaneously across the continent right now? But that's just crazy…
Just as they're about to reach the turn, and find out what's happened to their comrades, more flower-crowned figures appear.
"Leaf shinobi, this should be fun." One of them calls, only a cocky smirk visible under his hood.
"We don't have time for this!" Inojin shouts, glaring frostily at the enemies.
"Get out of the way!" Sarada shoots shuriken at both of them. They both hop easily out of the way, only to groan in surprised pain at the three shuriken that hit them, hidden in the shadows of the higher shuriken.
Poff!
Poff!
Two logs appear in front of them.
"That was cute, kid." The smirking one calls, hopping down from a nearby tree.
Damn! We can't keep wasting time here, and none of us is focused right now while we still don't know if Wasabi, Sumire, and Namida are okay.
Thinking of Namida, Shikadai mentally winces – his childhood friend seems too fragile sometimes for shinobi life. Not because she's a girl, but because there's something too kind about her.
Hopefully Sumire found a way to keep them safe until Hanabi-sensei gets there. Shikadai thinks, always having been suspicious the purple haired girl is better than she pretends to be.
Inojin keeps fumbling in his paintings, preoccupied.
Sarada grits her teeth, half-assing her attacks.
We can't focus, this is bad.
But just because Shikadai can see it, doesn't mean that he can change it – there's no way he can just not worry about his friends.
They came here together – they have to return home together too. They just do.
"Kid, you know what you get when you mix water and lightning?" the smirking enemy asks. "You took chemistry at school, right?"
This is going to be bad. Shikadai steels himself.
"Death Drops: Water Release, Lightning Release! Electrifying Waves!"
They all jump as high as they can; nobody tries to take the attack head on.
Trees and rocks get swept into the attack – the water cracking with blue lightning.
These enemies seem much stronger than the three they've faced earlier. At least Chunin level.
"Moegi-sensei –" Shikadai turns to ask her what to do but just then realizes she should've sensed the enemies before they reached them.
His teacher stands still, looking at the enemies in concentration instead of action, which is unlike her, barely avoiding their attacks.
"Look, their Jonin is terrified!" the second figure cackles, her teeth long like claws. "I knew those spoilt shinobi were weaklings!"
Shikadai has to agree; it does appear that way, which can't be right.
'Figure out what the enemy wants to think, and let them think that.'
Shikadai's dad's words come to his mind, from all their times of playing Shogi.
"Fire Release: Blazing Fire Swords!" The cackling woman casts, casting heat right at Shikadai, as flames eat the air and soar at him.
Before the sword-shaped blasts of fire can reach, Sarada is in front of him, blocking with a fast "Fire Ball Jutsu!" and a wave of pure heat throws itself at the enemy's attack.
The air is colder when both fires vanish.
Shikadai leaves his teacher, realizing she's playing some move, and uses Sarada's offered cover to cast hand signs.
"Shadow Paralysis Jutsu!"
Phwiiing!
The shadows stretch towards the smirking figure who is currently overpowering Inojin.
He jumps out of the way, but Shikadai doesn't let that stop him – "Come on! A little more!" Shikadai stretches the shadow and widens it, reaching fast.
The enemy throws wire over to a treetop and uses it to pull himself away from the shadows trying to capture him.
"Tch!" Shikadai doesn't let up, and does his best to ignore the – Swoosh-ing and clank -ing – behind him he knows must be Sarada's fight.
"WATER RELEASE: FIVE WATER DRAGONS JUTSU!"
Around all of them five shadow clones of Moegi-sensei cast the jutsu over patches of trees and rocks – clearing them all. Like walls in a maze they clear and everyone can see everything happening, suddenly no longer confined to their confrontation with the enemy.
The entire battlefield spreads in front of Shikadai and he can see they're not the only ones held back by attackers to keep them all spread out to cause confusion and frustration. At least half of the Iwa shinobi who went to check on the Sensory team are held back in small groups. Everyone looks around them now, seeing each other, the enemy's cover blown and tactic ruined.
'If the enemy wants to separate your forces, unite them.'
Shikadai grits his teeth, his Dad's familiar lectures flying through his head. It's suddenly clear why Moegi-Sensei ended up as his direct teacher… meddlesome old man.
"NO, you shitty shinobi!" the man shrieks, casting a deadly kunai at Inojin and the Moegi next to Shikadai.
Moegi-Sensei vanishes in smoke, having been a clone all this time, and Inojin quickly jumps out of the way. Using his distraction the enemy punches Inojin in the face and he flies backwards into a tree trunk, and traps him there and takes out a sword from under his cloak.
"Damn it!" Shikadai curses, as Inojin is completely pinned down.
"Fire Arrows: Fire Release!" the sharp-teethed woman's hands flash with her hand signs and arrows appear towards Sarada, standing directly in front of him.
One glance tells him the closest Moegi-sensei clone is too far away to help with the immediate assaults after using so much chakra on the forest, and Shikadai grits his teeth, taking out a few kunais and bomb tags, planning some formations in his head for how to play this –
"OWWW!" Shikadai falls to his knees, a fire arrow shot through his shoulder.
Pain. It's so hot. I don't understand.
Shikadai looks around. Sarada's on the other side of the battle, where the smirking enemy has his sword to Inojin's throat. Before he can finish Inojin off Sarada's fist goes above his head and a wave of her extreme strength goes off and shatters all the flowers.
The smirking enemy falls to the ground, lifeless.
She chose him. I was left to survive, I guess.
Shikadai hears a soft "Ugh…"
Shikadai looks up in time to see the sharp-toothed woman crumple on the ground as well, Moegi-Sensei standing behind her with a bloodied kunai.
"Shikadai, don't move that arm." She instructs, and makes sure to step over the woman's flowers before going over to him.
Battle sounds echo from all around them – the Iwa shinobi are uniting their powers and overpowering the enemies one by one – Shikadai sees at least two clones of his teacher helping the other groups in their battles.
An air pocket explodes from up ahead and brushes gently across them, the rain fooshing sideways before falling down regularly again.
Sarada and Inojin make it over to them quickly. "Not another explosion!" Sarada mutters, brow furrowed.
"No, it's Hanabi-san." Moegi-sensei tells them, nodding to where figures with flower petals on their heads were flying every which way, thrown by a blue circle of what seems to be pure, vibrating, chakra rotations.
Hanabi seems to be giving them hell. Shikadai finds he feels no sympathy to the enemies, arm stinging with burning pain and the fate of his three comrades still unknown.
"Shikadai, here." His teacher places her palm over his painful injury and begins to heal it. Shikadai can't help the small pained noise he makes.
Sarada and Inojin hover over them, worried faces. Sarada's concern causes a heat of anger to rise in Shikadai's neck. It was easy, probably, to reach and take out the enemy on the other side, preoccupied with Inojin, by leaving Shikadai behind to take on an attack he wasn't ready for without warning. Still sucked. He and Sarada weren't the closest of friends, but he didn't expect her not to have his back like this.
"I'm afraid beyond basics I'm not much of a medic. Let's wrap this up for the time being." Moegi calls, handing him medical patches to replenish blood lose and chakra replenishes, and bandages his wound.
Hesitatingly, he looks at it when she's done. It looks awful.
"Come on, we need to find the girls." His sensei says, rushing them to move again. Shikadai knows his sensei's feeling guilty for being the one who sent the three Genin alone in the first place.
Right, no time. Just push through the pain and deal with it after this mess is over with. You're a shinobi.
Shikadai sighs, and can acknowledge even to himself that grumpy doesn't begin to cover his mode when he ignores Sarada and Inojin's "You okay?" and they all flash quickly over to the battle up ahead.
The area is a mess. It takes a moment to take it all in; Hanabi-sensei is throwing enemies off one by one without much more effort than when she was training with them outside of Amegakure. At first it seems random, but quickly Shikadai sees the pattern – she's moving towards the southwest in a steady pace.
Moegi, a few seconds ahead in her analysis, points over to the end of the trail Hanabi's making. "There!"
They spot the two pigtails, and see Namida barely holding off a giant enemy, closing in on her. Her cloths singed and her orange and white jacket badly burned.
They all leap forward, Moegi fastest of them, and Shikadai's mind is overheating.
Where are Wasabi and Sumire? Are we going to make it on time?
They're close enough to see when her attacker manages to wrap his hands around the Genin's small neck and lifts her upwards.
Damndamndamn -!
Next to him Sarada and Inojin move ahead of him, hurrying their pace, their muscles straining.
A blurry blue blazes nearby.
Barely breathing, Namida seems to spot it, and manages to back herself behind her assailer, letting him take the brunt of Hanabi's barrier's force.
"URGGHHH!"
The enemy screams, crumbling to the ground, as a barrier goes right through half of him, severing his skin and causing severe internal damages.
Namida falls back on the ground, gasping for breath.
"Namida!" Sarada calls, and the three Genin flash around her, helping her to her feet. "Are you alright, can you breath?" Sarada looks around for medical help. "Where's Moegi-sensei?" she demands.
Inojin's quick to spot their teacher as Namida is still breathing heavily. "Over there – I think that's Sumire, but it's hard to tell everybody's cloths are dirty from the explosion."
"Let's join them." Shikadai decides, feeling uneasy with himself injured, Namida hurt and exhausted, and no Jonin in their group. "Can you make it?" He asks Namida.
She massages her throat, usually covered by a long necked jacket (now half burnt) and her headband (nowhere to be seen) now exposed and red with finger prints pressed on it.
Namida nods bravely, before disentangling herself from them. "W-wait." She reaches for something metallic on the floor. Through the soot and ash and debris she pulls up her Leaf headband (the cloth around it burned). She pockets it carefully, and lets Sarada wrap her arms around her and help her.
"Here" Sarada stops them before they start moving, and hands Namida two chakra pills from her Kunai pouch.
Namida hesitates. "I'm not out of chakra yet."
Sarada shakes her head. "Doesn't matter, have some anyway. My mom told me that as a side effect these help level your adrenaline levels and you need to come off the high levels your body's probably in right now due to shock. It also accelerates bloodstream through the system, it'll help with the headache making it hard to focus right now." Sarada speaks quickly, voice clear and loud so it can reach whatever mental state Namida's at right now.
Ah, guess it helps to have a medic-nin genius for a mom.
Inojin nods along like showing that everything he hears doesn't contradict with his own basic level of medicine Aunt Ino instilled in him.
Namida takes the pills. "Thanks." She nods, and it must help because she no longer holds onto her head like she's scared it might blow up. Her arms are still shaking, though, Shikadai notes.
Together they leap forward as fast as they manage, towards Moegi and Sumire, who seem to be wrapping up the enemies on their side of the field, along with several Iwa shinobi Shikadai's never seen before.
Shikadai's eyes dance across the field but he can't spot Hanabi Hyuga anywhere.
Hopefully, she's wherever Wasabi is.
Shikadai doesn't miss the fact that Wasabi hasn't shown up anywhere as of yet. The short haired girl is too damn stubborn to yell for help, Shikadai knows, so the only one who's got a chance to find her in this mess of a battlefield is Hanabi-sensei with her Byakugan.
Shikadai half leaning on Inojin feeling fatigue plaguing him after his injury, and Namida letting Sarada carry her weight as she recovers, the four Genin Leaf friends avoid the fighting best they can as they make their way carefully.
Should I try capturing some of them in a shadow? We could help those fighting, but if I use up any more chakra I'm not sure how my injury will react, it'll be too much energy lost too soon. Not to mention I'd rather not see Namida thrown back into the fray again just yet, until Moegi-sensei gets a look at her. Like Moegi-sensei said during practice, know when to run.
Shikadai grits his teeth and wonders if this is what growing feels like. He isn't a fan.
"Summoning Jutsu!" An Iwa kunoichi calls and slams the palm of her hand on the cobblestones firmly, and the letters and seal appear. Out of the smoke a lion roars over all of their heads, quickly gnawing on the enemies. One jumps out of the way, managing to save three of his petals, and lands right in front of the group of Leaf Genin, refocusing on them.
"Great." Inojin mutters, one arm secured around Shikadai's shoulders, the other going to his sword.
Shikadai can't help but agree with his friend; they just can't seem to catch a break.
Before the enemy can reach them to strike, his weapon falls from loose fingers and he's gripping his head, screaming with pain.
"What's going on?!" Namida calls, unable to look away from the man writhing in pain in front of them from seemingly nothing.
Sarada's head jumps everywhere, a flash of red peeks under her glasses before they flicker back to black, before she exclaims "Over there!"
Can her Sharingan follow chakra lines? Like with the puppet user during the Chunin exams?
Shikadai can't deny the usefulness of that, and at the moment, that really annoys him. Can't he just be angry at her and excuse it as her being useless as a Nakama? But no, of course not; Sarada is perfect as always.
Sarada points to three Iwa shinobi sitting huddled over open scrolls and muttering with their eyes closed. Around them, quickly drawing with paint symbols and seals in a circle on the floor is -Wasabi! Guarding them, Hanabi-sensei stands firmly, her eyes finding theirs and nodding once even across the great distance, before resuming her watch.
"What are they doing to them?" Inojin asks, voice void of emotion and Shikadai knows his friend well enough to know he's bothered by the invisible assault on all the enemies on the field, and is trying to mask it.
Shikadai figures it out quickly. "They attacked the sensory team." He tells them. "And now the sensory team is attacking their minds directly."
Practical and terrifying.
CRUSH!
The four Genin snap their attention back to the enemy in front of them, on the floor. Moegi-sensei's foot over his head, having broke the three petals while he was down.
Shikadai sees a flash of purple from the corner of his eye and sure enough when he looks he sees Sumire flashing through the area along with the rest of the still standing Iwa shinobi, and quickly taking down the last of the enemies.
"That's right Shikadai, sensory types can be quite nasty on the battlefield. If you're the attackers, always go after them first." Moegi-sensei lectures them, and walks over to check Namida for injuries.
Shikadai stares at his teacher, knowing she's a sensory type herself, and one of the best, but never advertises that.
Well, now I know why.
"I-I'm fine – my teammates…" Namida pauses in the middle of her sentence, frowning, and Shikadai has to wonder how tightly that man hurt her throat.
Sarada's pitch black eyes darken even as she tries to keep her emotions out of her expression. Inojin and Sarada, those two childhood friends both seem to bury their feelings when they're too much and smother them, but it's precisely when they do that which tells Shikadai they're having those strong feelings.
Shikadai mentally rolls his eyes at her; there's no point letting anger hold on, as that enemy is dead. Hanabi-sensei cut through him in half like he was cow meat (like she wasn't terrifying already before this mission, now Shikadai knows just how terrifying the head of the Hyuga clan can be).
Moegi gently places her hands over Namida's raw neck and starts healing it. It does look better.
"Sumire's right over there, see? And Wasabi's with Hanabi-san." Moegi says calmly, and finishes healing her. "Alright, this situation is still not over yet, so keep your eyes open. Let's head to the sensory group, they're all well trained in medical ninjutsu." She calls, and waves Sumire over.
Sumire catches the movement; her figure dusts herself off, nods at the Iwa shinobi, and leaps towards them.
"Namida!" Sumire doesn't stop until she's right in front of her teammate. Sumire looks tired, muddy, and more serious than she usually lets others see her.
"Sumire-chan!" Namida whines and Shikadai can feel Inojin relax next to him and sees him roll his eyes.
"If you can complain, you're feeling better." Inojin says, unconcerned when Namida sticks her tongue at him.
"What happened?" Sumire asks, frowning in concern at the smaller girl.
"I'm sorry, I got lost after the explosion threw me off and I couldn't find you again!" Namida looks down.
"It's okay, I'm glad you're alright." Sumire grins, and exchanges a glance with Sarada. Sarada backs off and lets Sumire carry Namida instead, as it clearly helps reassure Sumire.
"Come along." Moegi hurries them. They make their way across the battlefield, Shikadai gritting his teeth and ignoring the bodies on the ground. With the heavy rain, maybe this entire mess will be washed away soon.
"What happened to you two?" Namida asks, panting and trying not to be too obvious the pace is taking a lot out of her too. Shikadai wonders if anybody's actually fooled by him and her.
"Wasabi and I split up. She stayed to guard the sensory team, I went to try and find you." Sumire tells her, voice tight.
Namida's brown eyes are fixated on Sumire.
"H-how's Nue?" she hesitates.
Shikadai, Inojin, Sarada, and Moegi-sensei all glance at them.
Sumire grits her teeth and shakes her head, purple eyes dying of emotion.
Interesting. This feels like the first Shikadai sees of the real Sumire Kakei,
Sumire's summoning took the brunt of the attack. Is that normal for summonings to do?
"…It's how you three survived that explosion." Sarada realizes.
"Obviously." Shikadai hears himself huff at her. He can't seem to stop himself from picking a fight.
They all look at him. In his defense, his shoulder really hurts.
"Can't you see this is upsetting her, Uchiha? Maybe you just don't care."
Sarada winces, but doesn't back down. They've both stopped walking (Inojin too, by extension).
Sarada stares at him blankly and he can see when she chooses to say something back. Before she can, though, Moegi steps between them and Shikadai flinches at his teacher's anger.
"Not now. Let's go." The jonin tells them, scolding through every syllable.
They reach the sensory group after trotting through the silent remains of the battlefield, a tense feeling through the group because of the obvious wedge Shikadai emphasized between him and Sarada.
"YO! Namida, glad you're not dead – " Wasabi calls, as blunt as always. Shikadai sometimes wonders who's worse at tact between all the genin of their year, Wasabi or Iwabee?
Wasabi seems to pause at taking a closer look at her teammate. "Who hurt you?" She hisses, her entire demeanor changing, body engulfed in fury.
Namida waves her arms up and down in a panic to reassure her she's okay.
"Our team requires medical assistance, if you will." Hanabi-sensei's calm clear voice calls.
A man with deep green eyes and an Iwa headband around his forehead nods at them.
"I can tend to your injuries."
Shikadai blinks at him. His voice is so familiar.
"Jirgu-san." Moegi-sensei says, naming the shinobi that's been telepathically communicating with them. "Thank you for the assistance on the field."
"Just doing my job. I'm glad you've recovered your missing teammate." He tells Sumire, and walks up to Namida and places a green glowing palm on her forehead.
Sumire nods. "Yes, thank you." And glances at Moegi-sensei.
Moegi shrugs as color flows back to Namida's cheeks under the watchful eye of Wasabi and Hanabi-sensei.
"You made the decision to split up for your teammate, and since the consequences weren't too terrible I won't scold you. But you'll have to include this in your report to Lord Seventh." Moegi says.
Sumire nods and Wasabi huffs angrily. "We both made the call, it was an emergency! Nami-chan was missing! I made sure nothing happened to the sensory team." She shrugs.
Hanabi-sensei gives her a small glance and Wasabi visibly checks herself, and bows her head in respect.
Maybe I should stop complaining about Moegi-sensei all the time, what with how terrifying Hanabi is.
Jirgu's hand falls from Namida's head and she sighs contently.
"Thank you very much." She tells him, brown eyes conveying gratitude.
"Mmh." Jirgu moves on. "You next?" he asks Shikadai.
Shikadai grits his teeth and is proud of himself when he doesn't shoot Sarada an accusing look. "Yeah, thanks."
Jirgu must have much more than just basic training because he somehow heals Shikadai's injuries completely in a few minutes. "We're done."
Shikadai carefully tries moving his arm, and blinks when nothing hurts. Wow.
"You don't appear to carry any heavy injuries, but something is drying up your chakra like there's no tomorrow." Jirgu says, suddenly turning to a tense Sumire, trying to appear confused.
Shikadai's not sure, but he thinks she might know exactly what he's talking about.
"Here, some chakra replenishing pills every other hour should compensate. After the third pill you might feel the urge to sleep, body trying to keep up with fatigue." He administers a medical solution in moments, and hands her some pills similar to those Leaf uses.
This man worked as a medic-nin for a few years at least, before becoming an active sensor. I'm sure of it.
Sumire hesitates, glancing at Hanabi-sensei. She takes the pills and shoves them in her back pocket.
"Anything else?" Jirgu asks the two jonin politely.
"We appreciate your assistance." Moegi-sensei says sharply.
"And we yours." Jirgu says instantly.
"Any other enemies?"
Jirgu shakes his head. "None we can sense for the moment." He frowns, like something's distracting him. "Orders from the unit commander are you remain with us and we resume our way in twenty."
Hanabi and Moegi-sensei nod, and then hurry the six genin away towards a small clearing on the edge of the thicker woods.
"Alright, we've got a small break. Eat something, everybody, drink some water, and get ready, we'll be running soon, to catch up with the rest of the group." Moegi-sensei tells them.
"I agree; the captain of this mission will be a fool to keep his steady pace. We'll likely be pushing forward as fast as we can both to catch up and keep up." Hanabi says serenely.
"I'll be back before we head out." Shikadai says, and starts walking off away from the group.
He really needs a moment alone.
A forearm reaches out to him and stops him.
"Wait."
Shikadai tries to shake her off, anger rising when he's unable to. When did Sarada develop physical strength?
"Don't feel like it." Shikadai spares her a glance, daring her to keep holding on.
She rolls her eyes.
Shikadai's stomach turns, and he can't control his anger anymore.
"I just need a moment." She presses, like he's being completely unreasonable.
See, Shikadai's always been perceptive, seeing things others worked hard to hide. He's learned from a young age that speaking up about some of these things can end up hurting other people and that he should be careful with what he observes.
When he's angry, that's particularly difficult to rein in, and he ends up striking where he knows it'll hurt.
"Why, so you can try and come up with an excuse for not having my back in a fight? No thanks. You ask yourself if you're a danger to your comrades because of your eyes? You don't have to concern yourself with that; you manage to hurt us even without them. Why did we have to end up with you on a mission? This really sucks." Shikadai drawls.
"Shikadai!" Inojin calls coldly. Inojin's never used that tone with him before. That makes Shikadai angrier. Inojin is his best friend.
Sarada freezes, expression clean of all emotion. Shikadai feels a small amount of satisfaction for getting to the ineffable Sarada Uchiha. The rest of him just feels tired and hurt. Everyone's staring at them. He releases himself from Sarada's grip and leaves without a second look.
He walks until he can't see the sensory team, the bodies being carried away by Iwa shinobi and sealed, and his team's wide stares. He lies down on the grass, letting his hood fall and the rain drop on his face gently.
Alone, he's already starting to feel guilty for what he said, but the shock still gripping him from when he found himself suddenly hurt and alone against an enemy kept him where he is. There's no way he's going to apologize. If Cho Cho were here there's no way it would've happened. He knew his teammates like the back of his hand, after all.
He watches the sky, trying to calm down. This mission is still far from over.
A few minutes later, footsteps reach him much closer than usual. It's difficult to overhear them above the constant rain and as a result by the time he turns to look at her, Moegi-sensei is already in front of him.
Moegi studies him, face emotionless. She sits on the ground right in front of him and says without preemptive "Shikadai, you're a smart kid. Pull yourself from the situation and look at it like a board game. Your next player is Sarada and she only has two moves: one, move from position to rescue another piece from elimination with the price of stamina points that get taken off another piece; two, remain in position and protect one piece from minor injury while allowing the other piece to fall entirely."
Her voice is strong and unyielding, as is her clear gaze. "I don't need to explain to you why the second move was not an option, thus Sarada went to save Inojin and left you to take the hit. Simple. If she hadn't, Inojin Yamanaka would be dead. And I do mean dead, as I was not going to make it in time to save him." she stares him down. "Considering the alternative, I think you can get up and shake off your hurting pride and apologize to your friend."
Shikadai swallows thickly.
"Do you have to be so straight forward all the time?" he glares at her.
She considers him before she answers. "You barely have enough patience to listen when I tell you things bluntly, kid. If I tried beating around the point with you, you'd get bored and your mind will wander off and you'll never actually pay attention when I talk anymore."
Shikadai can't protest, because he's had that exact problem happen to him at the academy all the time with boring teachers.
"It's just… I was reminded of something my mom told me. About sacrificing my teammates to win." Shikadai shrugs. "I guess I thought that's what Sarada did and I didn't like it."
Moegi blinks, surprised. "Your mother told you to sacrifice your teammates?"
Shikadai frowns. "Not really, but is an inevitable part of victory – she said."
She sighs, long and suffering. "Shikadai, is it at all possible you missed the lesson she was trying to teach you entirely there?"
Shikadai feels heat in his face, and tries not to show it hurts to hear. "Are you saying I'm not smart?"
"No, kid. I'm saying it's possible you tune out when your mom yells at you, so you missed some very important things in whatever happened there." She says patiently, which isn't like her and makes Shikadai think he doesn't have the best poker face.
"…Oh. Probably." He admits. Moegi gives him a pointed look. "Alright. Alright." He says, staring at a patch of grass.
"Shikadai we're not out here on vacation," Moegi raises her brow at him. "go now, we've got things to do."
Shikadai gives her a dirty glare. "Jeez, fine!" he grumbles at his Sensei and gets up to find Sarada. He waddles off as she mutters behind him "My students are so much work, honestly."
When Shikadai makes it back to the little spot where their group has claimed, Inojin is constantly shifting back and forth on his feet, Sumire's staring at the pills Jirgu gave her, and Sarada's nowhere to be seen.
The first one to notice him is Hanabi-sensei who holds his gaze for a long moment before nodding towards the left.
Relief washes him and he nods in gratitude before going over past the patch of trees where she indicated. Sure enough, after walking for a bit he sees Sarada.
Sarada looks pissed off. Shikadai feels instantly relieved; he's not sure what he would've done if she was crying. Thankfully, Sarada manages to turn most emotions into anger, and Shikadai would rather get punched than guilt tripped by making a girl cry. Not the nicest thought to have, when he's at the wrong, Shikadai concedes, but it's just how he feels.
"Hey Sarada –"
"I know, I know, alright? You're frustrated with me, I get it. I'm frustrated with me too. I can never get it right!" She yells, hands tight in fists at her sides. "Boruto always made it seem so easy and effortless and I was really mad at him for it because how is it fair that when it's me I always mess it up with people? I think I do the right thing, but then it always seems that I don't." Her eyes are bright red, but she probably doesn't even realize. "Use my Sharingan to help – end up making it worse. Tried to stop a bomb – went off anyways and Hanabi and Moegi ended up altercating with Iwa Jonin! Tell you, not tell you – probably screwed that one up too. I used to marvel at how Mitsuki could be so bad with people – please, I'm probably worse." She huffs, leaning back on a mossy tree.
And it isn't until right here and now that Shikadai remembers Sarada's lost both of her teammates and he feels like a total jerk. He has no idea where he'd be if Inojin and Cho Cho both left. Probably lost and pissed off simultaneously with no idea as to what to do now. Truthfully, he's been feeling off balanced throughout this whole mission because his team is not complete, he'd probably lose it without both of them.
"You did do the right thing… and I shouldn't have gotten angry at you about it. I just really don't like getting hurt, which is pretty stupid considering I'm a ninja. I'm really sorry, Sarada. Sorry I said you didn't have my back – heck, you saved my teammate's life."
Sarada looks at him unsure, like she's half wondering why he's being nice all of a sudden.
"No, Moegi-sensei didn't force me to apologize." Shikadai grits his teeth at her look of distrust of his honesty.
She did, sort of, actually, but if Sarada finds out she'll never consider my words at all.
Sarada shrugs and looks away, staring at a puddle on the grass filling more and more as the rain keeps pouring down on them.
"And – "
Static – static – static!
"- kadai?"
Worst timing ever, friend. Shikadai thinks as he pulls out his game and sees a familiar face looking back.
"Denki – can you come back later, I'm in the middle of –" Shikadai's words are cut with Denki's quick short sentences.
"There's something big going on right now. Both on your mission and the Allied Forces, and back home."
Sarada frowns and comes closer, peering down at Denki with him.
"Listen, they're transporting a bunch of packages across the continent – " static disruption and Shikadai hurriedly shields the small electronic from the rain, knowing it's not helping. "- not just you. One of the missions just reported failure, and many casualties at Kiri. I don't think it's yours, it's on the countryside of Water, still be careful! Watch out for each other out there!"
Shikadai and Sarada stare at their friend's strained face on the small screen, stunned.
"Denki, you – you can't be telling us any of this. You can get into so much trouble." Sarada tells him, looking truly worried for him.
"Sarada-chan, you're there too?" Denki squints, and Shikadai guesses reception is pretty bad. "It was an accident – our company forwards emergency messages to the Hokage's offices."
"Did it say what these thieves managed to steal?" Shikadai asks, concerned. This mission is getting out of hand.
"Some device meant to disrupt chakra or something? I don't know, but everybody seems worried."
Whatever their unit is guarding, this enemy is not that interested in. Not enough to seriously fight them for it. Clearly vaster resources were directed towards Kiri.
"Who could be doing all this?" Shikadai ask out loud, annoyed, not really expecting an answer.
"They didn't tell you?" Denki asks awkwardly, and Shikadai instantly realizes Denki does know. "Well, I'm not supposed to say, but come on, who else has the resources? We only know of one dark group of evil doers with this much power." Denki says like it's obvious.
"Kara." Shikadai realizes. "Of course, I'm an idiot. Thanks Denki, sorry I asked for this… I probably shouldn't have." Shikadai knows, feeling guilty at how much trouble Denki can get into.
"Sarada-chan," Denki looks burdened and nervous and Shikadai gets a bad feeling Denki's got bad news. Sarada shifts uncomfortably next to him, probably wary of his tone as well.
"The message was short and mentioned the full report will be delivered directly to Hokage-sama shortly," makes sense, first a few urgent updates, then a full info secured through the travel to the village will take longer to reach.
Denki doesn't continue.
Sarada doesn't need him to, apparently. "It's my dad."
Wait what?
Denki nods. "So it said. I'm sure he's fine – he's well enough to update the Hokage's office after all."
But what about Boruto? Is he okay?
"If Papa was sent there then the village somehow knew Kara would be striking at Kiri and were trying to prevent it." Sarada says analytically.
Yeah, and even he failed to stop them. Is Kara undefeatable?
Both frowning and deep in thought they bid Denki farewell and quickly shut off the connection.
They both snap out of their own contemplations when Moegi-sensei's voice reaches them.
"Five minutes!"
Sarada shakes her head, and starts making her way back.
"Hey wait," Shikadai rubs the back of his head.
I'm sure your dad's fine. Somehow he doesn't think she wants to hear it right now – the words seem empty to Shikadai anyways.
"I'm real sorry about what I said, not only because we're friends, but we're on a mission and I shouldn't have made it personal like that."
That version of an apology seems stoic but one that Sarada seems to accept much more. She hesitates, but then nods. "And I'm sorry I didn't tell you."
Shikadai raises his eyebrow in confusion. "Tell me what?"
"That our attackers are Kara."
"You – what?" Shikadai blinks. "You knew?"
Sarada nods. "Hanabi-sensei told me not to say anything."
"How?" How'd she figure it out when I didn't? Shikadai's glad no one can hear his thoughts – they're pretty pretentious at times.
The look Sarada gave him, like she's trying not to roll her eyes at him, made him suspicious that maybe his thoughts can be read on his face pretty clearly.
"Classified." She says apologetically.
"It's… okay." Shikadai manages to say, even though it doesn't really feel that way. But since Shikadai's in the wrong here he knows he has no room to accuse her of anything especially when she was following orders on the job.
She nods, a bit awkward. "All these secrets we have to keep… it's a wonder ninja can trust each other at all. I shouldn't have made you feel like you couldn't count on me."
Shikadai sighs. "Nature of the job, I suppose. Now stop apologizing, you're making me feel guiltier."
Sarada chuckles. "That sounds troublesome."
Shikadai blushes, because that's exactly what he was thinking. "Yeah yeah." He mutters, glad they're back to being able to tease each other.
"Let's go, before your sensei surprise attacks us for being late." Sarada jokes, which makes Shikadai wince at unpleasant memories.
"I wish that was her preferred method of punishment for being late." He tells her.
Sarada's eyes widen, probably imagining all sorts of terrors that could be what Moegi's form of retribution looks like.
They both return to the group, and as soon as Inojin spots them he comes up to Shikadai.
Sarada glances at him and leaves them alone, joining the girls on a log, eating to elevate their chakra levels.
"Inojin?"
"If I were stronger Sarada wouldn't have needed to save me, and you wouldn't have gotten hurt. Sorry." He says blankly.
Oh great, Shikadai's guilt came back tenfold.
"Nah, I'm sorry man. You both did your best, I was just…" Shikadai shrugs. "Not your fault."
"Alright let's go." Moegi-sensei calls. "Time to finish this."
Alright! Next chapter we're back to Sarada's pov, and it'll be last of this arc! Again sorry my chapters are delaied a bit lately, but i hope the longer chapter made up for the wait a bit! xoxoxo thanks for sticking with my story, and have a happy and healthy day!