Her hand tapped the rhythm as a guitar lilted. Her voice was loud, over roll of thunder and the roar of her tires on the concrete and the beat of the rain. She sang with abandon and 70 miles per hour euphoria. "Listen to the winds blow, watch the sun rise! Run in the shadows, damn the dark! Damn the light!" She vaguely wondered if she'd even be able to catch a glimpse this time around. It was a bit late in the evening and, with the sun setting behind the clouds now. There was no back-light, no contrast. Storm chasing, idle as it was on her way home, was something she never chanced to do at night. She'd heard too many nightmare stories. Probably better to just go on home. She really needed to grade anyway.
"I can still hear you sayin' you would—"
A white-out.
The rain was so heavy and so sudden that she slowed a bit, fingers still tapping on the steering wheel in time with the drums. She'd have to microwave dinner as soon as she got home. Leftovers again. She'd meal prep over the weekend. Wait, no. She'd need to drive to—
A gust of wind hit the Jeep and she swerved to combat it, turning into the gale just enough to stay in the correct lane. The car just ahead of her swerved as well, slowing a bit more as the wind became more powerful. The wind was buffeting that car with so much force that it slowed to a stop in the emergency lane. She slowed to a stop as well just behind the Mazda, anxiety gnawing at her stomach.
Rain-wrapped. The whole thing could be rain-wrapped, hidden behind a downpour shroud.
"—you don't love me now…" Her voice trailed off.
The rain stopped.
Stopped.
A thrill of fear curdled in her gut.
That wasn't normal. That wasn't good. Rain just stopping like that never meant anything good.
She'd heard the stories from El Reno. She'd heard about how the rain had stopped just before— A strong gust pushed her car to the edge of the road and then it was there. It was on top of her. It was there. She braced, screaming. Something large struck the driver's side door. The car in front of her was gone. She couldn't see it. Were they alright?
Chain, keep us together…
Chain, keep us together…
The windows busted inward, sending a wash of glass into her face as wind funneled into the car. Then, she was tumbling. Tumbling. Over and over and over and over. Rolling. The metal was twisting, yanking this way and that. She could remember screaming, too. It crushed the car too fast to suck her out, but it was trying. It wanted her. It was trying to claw at her. She could feel the wind pulling at her arms, at her clothes, at her legs. It wanted her.
It had to be twenty or thirty seconds. Sixty seconds?
Too long.
Pain pierced her chest. It pulled there as the car spun and tilted and rolled.
She was going to die.
"Lady Miho."
She was going to die.
"Miho!"
She was going to—
"MIHO!"
Thunder crashed and Miho opened her eyes. The swirling wind disappeared, and the crunching metal was silenced. She wasn't in that car. She was on Center Mountain, at the Overlook. Master Torifu stood nearby, his great chest heaving. He had his bō at the ready, feet shoulder-width apart. Defense-ready. She remembered him standing closer to the cliff's edge, near… The boulder that had been balanced on the Overlook, which likely weighed several tons, was gone. Long, deep scars carved into the granite near where it once balanced. As if some monster had clawed into the abyss below.
"What h-happened, Master?"
"You destroyed it, cub."
Miho tried to control the nervous energy that ebbed up into her throat. She turned to see Grandfather Ha ambling down from the observation deck. His grayed eyes were as sharp as his tone. The beads that were weaved into his fur tip-tapped as he moved down the stone staircase.
"That rock has stood for millennia. A ceremonial site for all who train here."
"Grandfa—"
"Don't apologize, cub. You were not in control. Luckily, that youngin' is spry on his feet. Got out of the way in time. His own fault for playing with something that he does not understand." Grandfather Ha jerked his head toward her teacher. Master Torifu shrugged his shoulders, releasing the tension she knew rested there. As the old bear approached, Miho pushed herself up to stand, rubbing her hands over her stomach as she moved. The chaotic chakra was painful. It burned and seared under her skin. "A snack while I talk, cub. Eat." His great head jerked around and he glared in Master Torifu's direction. "You, too, child."
Her teacher didn't argue, settling himself on a nearby boulder. He withdrew a fruit chew snack, obviously keen on watching the exchange. Grandfather Ha approached on all fours, pushing his snout into Miho's chest. She moved backward until the back of her legs struck a rock ledge at the back of the training circle. She withdrew some jerky from her vest pocket.
"You are unstable. Unsteady. Un-centered." Master Torifu snorted. Her balance had always been an issue, ever since she was little. Now, with this new chakra, she was completely out of balance. It seemed obvious. "As you remain unsteady, so, too, will the energy within you. Focus." Miho fell back onto her rear at the growl. The mighty old bear snorted, planting himself down before her. He still towered. "The Okuda were never an unsteady bunch. They were solid. Are you solid?"
"Akimichi's are always sol—" Miho's response felt instinctual. Grandfather Ha's teeth bared and Miho snapped her mouth shut. One of his claws came out to prod at her bad knee, which twinged under the pressure. Maybe she was unsteady. Maybe she wasn't solid. Not anymore. "I—"
"Akimichi are solid. Yes. Okuda are solid. Are you solid?"
When Miho didn't answer, the old bear huffed. She'd always been unsteady as long as she'd known herself. Miho wrung her hands. Hold on. Hold onto me. Her eyes moved to Master Torifu. Again, after so many tries, she'd been back in that car. When she wasn't in the car, she was in that cell. Miho gritted her teeth, frustration mounting.
"Then we will make you solid, cub. We will steady you."
"Meditation." Master Torifu's voice called out. She'd been meditating for years. Perhaps a different level or type of meditation? Miho shifted, feeling a swell of chakra rise and fall like a gust of wind. How long would be before the chakra was out-of-control? It'd been a month already. It kept getting worse each day, more chaotic.
Grandfather Ha snorted. "A human notion. Meditation? No. She is a Bear. She will learn the Bear Way." He reached his paw into the pocket of his large cloud weave vest. Then, he held his paw open before her. Miho looked between his narrowed, white eyes and the collection of needles, thread, silk, and a small bag. "This is the Bear Way, little cub."
"Shinrin had me doing needlework. Before." Miho took the tools, fiddling with a finger at the little sachet of beads. She poured some out into her still shaking palm. The glass beads were small, tiny. It seemed impossible that a needle could even fit through the holes or that her fingers could handle them. They were too small, too delicate. "She…She never mentioned beads."
He ignored her trepidation, snorting. "Then you know why you must practice this? Follow the patterns. Create the pieces?"
Remembering what Shinrin said before, Miho nodded. "Patience and delicacy."
"Think of the beads as focus."
Her fingers trailed along the beads of her yukata sleeve. Intricate patterns painted the fabric, delicate beadwork that was paired with complicated stitches. The beads were glass and bone and quills. Rolling the beads between the pads of her fingers had become a habit. Her eyes stared out into the night, seeing nothing but inky blackness and the silhouette of rolling dunes against a starlit sky. She could see the Mother's Trail. It painted across the night, stars twinkling between the distant clouds of the galaxy.
"You should be sleeping, Chubs." She curled a bit toward his warmth to her right. "It's pretty out here."
"It is." Miho nodded, still rolling the beads between her fingers. "It's called the Milky Way there. They called it The Path to Elsewhere in another place. The Bears call it 'the Mother's Trail.'"
Tetsuya's huff sounded thoughtful. "Master says that it is the Swordsman's Walk. Its story is kept only for those who have mastered all seven levels of the Crescent Style. Why 'Mother's Trail'?" Idly, Miho wondered what the people of Suna called the path in the stars. She'd never thought to ask Kankurō.
"When the Bears first arrived from the stars, the First Mother Bear knew that one day she would need to return to the stars as all bears do. She couldn't think of leaving her cubs behind, however many generations of them passed, so she carved out the trail with her paws in the night sky so that her cubs could find her in the stars."
Miho felt Tetsuya nod. He was quiet for a moment.
"Think they're gonna make a go for 'em?"
Shaking her head, Miho leaned back against the rock. "As the Hokage would say, 'The pot's not sweet enough.' Attacking one special person is so much easier than two special people. I don't think they'll go for it unless they have assurances."
"I don't think you're wrong." Miho knew Shin had been awake for hours, but it was the first he'd spoken up. His silence had seemed introspective, so Miho'd let him be while she kept watch. "Still, there's danger. What was that metaphor you used before? A kunai cannot lie?"
"You can't put a kunai on screen without it being used. You can't write about a kunai without it being used. Otherwise, why mention it? Why bother? It's not a metaphor." Miho knew that the concept was used in literature in both worlds. She remembered teaching her students about the idea in storytelling. Each mentioned or shown detail can reappear to play a larger part later. "Why would this exam happen if not to serve a purpose?"
"Aside from our promotions?" Tetsuya chuckled at her scowl, even if he couldn't see it. "Yeah, nothing is ever that easy. You didn't remember anything about this except now this chick—"
"Let's call her…Ice Cream."
"Mint chocolate chip?" Shin questioned with a serious tone.
Tetsuya actually sagged next to her, all of the fight draining out of his muscles. "Fine. Ice Cream Chick…She's gonna play a role. We can't hear anything about what Genma-sensei and the others are doing because of the exam. So now what?"
"We stick close without raising questions. We've already got one scroll. Now, we just need to get another and stick close to Ice Cream without her noticing." Shin turned to Miho and smiled. "Miho has already strategically made friends."
Strategically make friends?
Miho continued to roll the beads between her fingers until dawn melted the stars from the sky and sunlight rolled over the eastern dunes. That wasn't why Miho tried to make friends with the young woman from Taki. In the early morning light, she glanced over to Shin. Tetsuya had fallen back asleep. Shin rarely slept. She knew her teammate suffered from nightmares. She knew that all too well. Carefully, she reached out a hand to rest on his forearm. He didn't flinch.
Not like he did the first time she'd laid a hand on him.
His skin was clammy beneath her fingers.
"You're going to crash if you keep this up."
He pulled in a breath and nodded. She watched as something seemed to flicker over his black eyes before he turned to face her. "My body is conditioned for longer stints awake than this, Miho."
"I know that. Just because you're conditioned for it doesn't mean that you need to use the ability when surrounded by allies."
Shin's lips quirked up a bit. "My team is not surrounded by allies."
Before Miho could comment on that, Tetsuya yawned and stretched. Shin took the distraction as his cue to stand, pulling both arms over his head. Irritated at the sidestep, Miho glowered up at him, resisting the urge to pinch his bare stomach now that his arms were stretched upward.
At some point, Shin would trust her and Tetsuya. To watch his back. To protect him. She'd make sure of it. He'd trust them to protect him whenever his guard was down.
"Whaddya think? Should we head east or west?"
Miho shifted to her knees, downing three protein balls in one mouthful. She'd carefully cleaned her hands of sand having gotten a mouthful of grit the previous night that ruined her appetite. Apparently, sand was not digestible and her stomach had rioted for several hours after she'd tried to just power through the mouthful.
"I would bet there are more teams to the west than the east. See those cliffs? Teams will likely seek shelter there." Shin turned, eyes narrowing toward the west. "If we move west of here, we'll encounter more foolish teams."
Miho snorted.
"So, we go east toward the mesa?" Tetsuya adjusted his sword, making sure that the strap laid flat and the moon phase pattern was clear. "Wasting time isn't something I really wanna do."
"To the east it is then. Now, we just need to find some ice cream in this desert." Miho rubbed her stomach, glancing out toward the eastern horizon, where the sun was rising in the pale morning haze. If she were honest, ice cream really sounded good. Perhaps when she got back to Suna, she could find some local stuff. They had to have ice cream parlors, right? "Any bright ideas?"
The Book Club stood in silence.
Tetsuya scoffed after a long moment, looking to Shin. "We're shit trackers, remember?" Miho nodded, looking at the newest member as well. He stared back at them. Miho could've sworn she saw a smile start to pull at his lips, but he kept it at bay.
Shin sighed. "This is what Genma-sensei meant."
Before either could question him, he turned and started walking toward the east. Miho met Tetsuya's eyes and grinned. Tetsuya, in turn, clicked his tongue and winked. They both followed after their teammate.
"You know, these hooligans are gonna make me go gray prematurely? How am I supposed to keep up my game if I have gray hair?" Genma covered his face with his hands, mourning the three gray hairs he'd yanked from his scalp that morning. It was the second day of the Second Exam and his team was still to-the-wind in the accursed Demon Desert. "My hair is part of my appeal."
Kurenai scoffed. He could imagine her red eyes rolling. "You sound like an old man." She would never care about his mourning, Genma knew. In fact, if he pissed her off enough, she might just enjoy his suffering. Or aid and abet his silly teenagers in making him age quicker. "Get it together, Shiranui, or I swear—"
"Konoha's Team Five has engaged one of the Kusa teams near the mesa to the southeast."
Genma was on his feet in an instant, rushing over to the eastern observation deck. That mesa was close enough for a battle to be observed. A grin pulled at his mouth despite the absolutely ridiculous circumstances. His team was meant to stay in the arena as long as possible to tail the jinchūriki. Tangling with one of the Kusa teams wasn't part of the plan.
That didn't mean that his kids couldn't use the Kusa team to show off a bit. They wouldn't risk an all-out battle. Not with enemy ninja so near. They would never show all their cards, not unless they had to.
Oh, they'd fight. They just wouldn't fight to their full potential. Just like all of the Konoha teams.
From where he stood, he could see Miho's enlarged arms grappling with a man far larger than herself. Her arms then disappeared. He couldn't make out any of their shouts to each other, but he could see the plume of sand and dust that rose up from the mesa and the big, booming crack of a large body slamming into the cliffside. Miho stood several yards from the cliffside. If Genma guessed right, Miho had bodyslammed the big guy about twenty feet into sandstone.
"She's gotten stronger."
Genma raised his brows, glancing over to the Kazekage's brother. Pulling in a calming breath, Genma tried not to cause an international incident. Miho and the Painted Kid had kept up with each other since she'd left for Central Mountain two years ago. Genma knew that. And he'd known since that day the kid visited her in the hospital that the Suna Interloper likely wasn't going to go away any time soon.
Since then Genma realized what never in a million years actually felt like.
"The new kid…Where'd he come from?"
When Genma didn't respond, Kankurō leaned forward and rested his forearms on the rampart. The kid was taller and broader and nearly Genma's height. Nearly. And that fact made Genma shift the senbon between his teeth. Getting closer to the war, when this brat would be a leader. In the distance, Miho took a hit for Shin, throwing herself in the way of a strong punch from the largest member of the Kusa team. That's what she was built for. Taking hits. What looked to be purple bubbles seemed to be forming around the battleground.
He could imagine Shin's reaction to the defense.
The Newbie was still getting used to team dynamics.
Miho taking the hit would make Shin get mean. Real quick. And Mean Shin was a petty hellion.
"What the-?"
Genma wasn't quite sure what was happening until he saw something huge figure appear on the battlefield. It looked to be a mole of some kind, standing as tall as the cliff. A summon. A boss summon at that. A small figure stood on its head, gesturing toward the shinobi on the ground. Crossing his arms, Genma watched as his kids fell into formation.
Chapter 3 Formation. (The ridicule he faced with the others of his rank because of the Team Five formation titles was an ongoing source of amusement. Genma enjoyed nothing more than irritating the hell out of his peers.) Chapter 3 was a good choice. Showed off individual skills and teamwork. Genma might've clapped if it were not for present company. Instead, he settled his senbon into the right corner of his lips.
Tetsuya and Shin took on the other two teammates, leaving Miho to stand in front of the gigantic summon. Twice now, she'd been dwarfed. That may have scared other opponents this team faced. Not Miho. Her family dealt in size. Large as she was, she was still nowhere near the size of her father. The gigantic summon began to charge. Genma leaned forward, resting an arm on the rampart. Miho didn't budge. From the set of her body, even at this distance, she didn't even seem bothered.
"Move."
He may have smiled a bit— a bit— at the obvious concern in the Painted Kid's voice as Miho stood firm against the approaching summon. It was never in his student to retreat when facing down an opponent larger than her.
She wasn't going to move.
"She can sum—"
The mole and its summoner slammed back into the cliffside, collapsing with the force of their momentum against the unforgiving slab of rock. For a moment, both the summon and summoner seemed stunned. Miho, however, wasted no time. She was upon the largest opponent like a maelstrom as Tetsuya transitioned to taking on the smallest opponent as the summon disappeared into a poof of smoke. A cowardly summon, then? Odd.
"Damn. She didn't mention that."
Despite his worry, Genma smiled. Miho wasn't the only one to watch on his team. His eyes tracked over to where Tetsuya was spinning, the glint of his sword flickering in the sunlight. The way the sword swung about, circular cuts agile and smooth, spoke to his student's devotion to his craft. Hayate was doting. So much so that it got annoying. Still, Tetsuya was something else with a sword.
The true heir of the Crescent Moon style.
"A swordsman."
Surprised at the new voice, Genma turned to see Baki standing on the other side of the Painted Kid. He'd been too complacent, Genma realized. The jōnin's arms were crossed of his chest as he observed the battle— one of the few battles that had happened close enough for observation. It was certainly drawing a crowd.
The kid Tetsuya was battling seemed weaker in taijutsu using what looked to be extremely close-range weapons to hold Tetsuya off. Then, the kid sunk into the earth. Apparently, he appeared just below Tetsuya, who leaped from the ground and fended off an assault with…Were those tekkō kagi?
"He is skilled."
The Suna jōnin commenting on Tetsuya's swordplay was particularly ironic, Genma thought. Especially considering it was Baki that once killed Hayate. Tetsuya cut into the cliffside, sending a cascade of rocks onto the small figure.
Shin was nearly blown away by the final member of the Kusa team, using his sai to anchor himself. When the wind finally abated again, he launched himself at the opponent so fast that the wind-wielder had no time to defend. Shin's anger was a double-edged sword. And he was clearly angry. His strikes were less precise than usual. Still, he managed to completely mangle the opponent's weapon, a flag on a pole.
The flag was now nothing but tattered ribbons.
His emotions were Shin's strength and his weakness. Genma added it to the list of things to continue developing. Particularly since Shin was aiming for a teaching position as a jōnin instructor in the future. Being too petty didn't make you a good teacher. It made you Hatake Kakashi. And like hell a Hatake Kakashi would be in Shiraui Genma's lineage.
The flag pole- ribbons floating on the breeze-whipped around at the last second to deflect a particularly brutal blow to the man's abdomen. A potentially lethal blow. Old habits died hard. Shin jumped back to join his team.
Chuckles. The nickname only fit in certain circumstances, but damn if it wasn't amusing.
The Kusa team gathered themselves together as the mole was re-summoned. His team was left staring at a hole in the mesa that cut down into the earth. He thought he heard Tetsuya's laughter reverberate across the empty space, off the cliff's wall. The team turned, waving enthusiastically from where they stood. He could see a scroll held in Shin's hand.
Genma smiled, lifting a hand to wave back.
He could see Miho eating something even from his distance. She waved with a cookie in her hand, patting Shin on the back.
The other shinobi standing on the wall went back to their duties. The Painted Kid muttered something under his breath, laughing with a shake of his head as he moved away. Genma didn't miss the way the kid looked back over his shoulder as he went.
Genma stuffed his hands in his pockets and left the observation deck entirely, seeking out another obnoxious teenage team. He was sure they'd want the rundown on the way the Book Club kicked some ass. And, hell, he felt like bragging for a bit.
Maybe that'd make him feel better—about his hair and the fate of the world.
Ino was getting kinda sick of being left out of the loop. A brutal sandstorm pops up out of nowhere and Sungakure's shinobi were trying and failing to act as if it were normal. She knew better. Mostly because she had common sense. A storm like this with chakra layered into the waves of sand was meant to affect sensors. Stepping through the double doors, Ino zeroed-in on her target.
Behind her, she could hear Shikamaru muttering under his breath. Chōji was eating, which may not have been a tell to most anyone. To her, she could read his concern and fear. After all, Miho was out there in the middle of all this.
"You wanna give us an explanation?"
"Easy. The exam's postponed." Kankurō fired back, walking right past her. Ino scoffed, following behind. "This sandstorm's a bad one. Fact of life when you live in a desert."
"Yeah? The teams preparing for deployment was a dead giveaway. What's the threat to our teams?" Ino kept pace with him, knowing that Shikamaru would be trailing Temari behind her. Ino knew to keep with Kankurō. He'd tell her what she needed to know. For a lot of reasons. "You know this could be—"
"We very well know what it could be." Kankurō stopped, turning on his heel. Ino had never been particularly impressed by the puppet master, but— at that moment— he looked more like a soldier than he ever had. Regardless of his ridiculous get-up, he finally looked a bit like the man she'd been anticipating for all these years. "Look, I don't have time to waste. You— none of you— are cut out for weathering a sandstorm. We're trained for this."
"It's an attack on your long-range sensors. You know that. I know that. I'm one of the best sensors in Konoha. Let me go down to the sensor sphere to help."
Kankurō scoffed, turning on his heel again. "You think we don't got the best the best of the best already on it?"
"If it protects the Kazekage, do you have anything to lose? You really think your brother's going to just let a sandstorm hurt the exam participants? Much less, do you think the Kazekage is going to let a sandstorm- an unnatural sandstorm- hurt his genin?" Ino might've smiled at the way the guy's shoulders tensed. She knew exactly how to get him. She'd examined everyone in the Images for years. She knew what made them tick, how their behaviors predicted their reactions. Ino wasn't above using that knowledge to her advantage. "And you what? Put guards on him? You seriously think he'll stay put?"
"You don't know what you're talking about, okay?"
Kankurō was a man driven by the need to make up for lost time, determined to do for his brother now what he couldn't before. And Kankurō was prideful as all hell. Which made him putty in her hands. So easy to predict. That's what got him in trouble with Sasori.
Who was the real puppeteer? Ino raised her brows.
"Damn it. Fine. This way." Kankurō pushed past her, gruffly growling out as he moved down the hallway. "You, too, Big Guy. Let's go. Miho hypes you up, but you're a real pain in the ass."
Ino shot Chōji a smirk, enjoying the small flicker of amusement in his eyes. He popped another chip into his mouth.
"I don't have time to play games." Kankurō muttered. Vaguely, Ino wondered if his letters to Miho were so terse. They probably were. "You there!" A chūnin down the hall stood to attention. "Send another set of guards up to the Kazekage's tower. Now."
"Yes, sir, Lord Kankurō."
Ino could tell that the Suna shinobi was nervous. It was taking the form of aggression, but he was worried nonetheless. For a moment, Ino thought about calling him on it. A hand fell on her shoulder and Chōji shook his head. He knew her well enough to sense that her hackles were rising. She was itching to bait him without good reason.
"Here. See what you can figure out. I've gotta get out there." He held open the door to the sensor room, turning toward the occupants. "Yamanaka here is going to help with repairing the long-range sensors. Level Two clearance. Lock it down otherwise." Allies or not, there was no way another shinobi village would allow anything above a Level Three clearance in a sensor room. "Stay here."
"Kankurō."
It was Chōji that spoke up. Ino turned to look up at her teammate, who said nothing more. He just held Kankurō's stare for a few seconds. Then, Chōji nodded.
"Yeah, okay."
Kankurō was gone.
Chōji looked down, meeting Ino's questioning expression. Ino crossed her arms. "Wanna share with the class just what that exchange was about?"
Her teammate just smiled. "From one brother to another. That's all. Let's get to work, Ino. We have a Chūnin Exam to save."
The mid-day sun was sweltering. The sun beat down upon her. Even through the scarf wrapped around her head and neck, her skin was burning. The sunlight seared the fabric to her skin. The leather vest she wore was ill-fit for a desert, even if the Bear design wicked the sweat away. It sat heavy over her shoulders. They'd been moving for hours, Shin tracking Fū away from a couple battle sites. There'd been no more fights since they'd taken to evading whenever a team came near.
"Shit. You guys should see this."
Miho pushed chakra into her legs, leaping up to top the Mesa with Tetsuya at her side. She landed in a crouch, eyes going wide at the darkness on the horizon. "How close is that?"
"We have ten minutes, if that."
The sand was as high as the clouds. Even at this distance, the yellow veil fell over distant mountains. A fast approaching wall. It was engulfing the entire horizon. "It's not…an attack, is it?"
Shin shook his head. "I can't tell. It seems...It's dangerous. We need to find shelter."
Turning to look away from the eastern horizon, Miho swallowed down her immediate response. Anxiety pooled in her gut. Fū was in danger. Gaara was as well, even if he was guarded in Suna. Finding Fū was top priority and Miho knew they would've found her by now if it were not for the team from Kusa. Huffing, she reached into a pocket and withdrew a handful of cookies. She stuffed them into her mouth, letting the sugar rest on her tongue for a moment before chewing.
"Call it, Shin."
"Shelter-in-place. Unless you have another idea?" Shin turned to Miho and raised a brow, looking down at her. Miho raised a brow in return, not quite sure what he was getting at. "A sandstorm is very inconvenient right now. Another storm might knock it—"
"She ain't doin' that. It eats up way too much chakra and we don't know what we'll be facin' out here." Tetsuya scoffed. "Seriously, Chuckles, what're you thinking, man?"
Shin sighed.
"We'd be trading one mess for another." Miho commented, ignoring Tetsuya's irritation. Shin was only thinking of logical solutions, just like he was trained to do. "I have a technique that could work, but it might just create more trouble." It'd be a mess and less likely to resolve in the same time a sandstorm might.
"Shelter, then." Shin nodded, glancing back over his shoulder. "A cave or a mine. It's our only choice."
"If it comes to it…" Miho trailed off, eyes narrowing on the far-away dust front. It had to be miles and miles long. It was as high as the top of nearby clouds, which would soon be pushed away by the gust front. "We need to cover our noses, mouths, and eyes. Tetsuya, you get the survival gear out." She leapt down from the mesa, tossing Tetsuya the survival gear scroll. "Shin and I will look for shelters."
The cave was small and tight, just barely able to fit Miho while laying on her back. Only about twenty-three inches or so high. Miho shed her scarf, pinning it over the cave entrance with bent senbon into the rock wall. The scarf wouldn't keep out the finest particles, but it would at least provide some barrier from the onslaught. Shin was propped up nearest the entrance, body turned toward the fading sunlight. He fretted with one of his sai, pressing a point against his fingertip.
"This sucks." Tetsuya summed up, sword cradled against his chest beside her. "Forget chūnin. I'll just stay a genin forever."
"This exam is no longer about promotion, sweetheart." Shin responded evenly though there was the slightest note of amusement. Tetsuya fired a small pebble at Shin's shin, glaring with such ferocity that his eyes seemed to glow in the dark.
"I could have just used a jutsu." Miho commented, eyeing the space. It wasn't her first choice. If anything, this was her nightmares made real. Her anxiety was pealing away at the back of her mind, long buried— Buried. She'd been buried. Too many times. Swallowing, she grimaced at the feel of sand in her gloves, the sweat making it chafe. "Given us more space."
Her voice wasn't shaking.
Even if the feel of the earth was different here, it was still between her nails. And it was still melting onto her skin, a film that was too familiar and too distant. Distant because she didn't dare to focus on it, all too aware of where her mind would go if she thought on it any more than she already was. All too aware of whose voice she would hear if she traveled too far from the present. Her fingers moved to the edge of her yukata sleeve.
"I hope everyone's okay. This is…This is bad."
"You think Neji's gonna get his own team?"
"Non-sequitur, sweetheart."
Miho snorted, turning to face Tetsuya. "Are you kidding?"
"Hey, he's a jōnin and the Hokage has a sick sense of humor. If she's drunk enough, I think she'd do it."
Tetsuya received a pebble right between his eyes. The same pebble he'd thrown at Shin before.
"Gluten-Free with a team of kids…" Miho trailed off, letting the thought focus her mind. Swallowing down the last swell of nervous energy, she laughed and shook her head. "You know, he'd make a good teacher…now. He'd be strong and firm and he'd tell them like it is. He's been teaching Hinata, you know? She said he's a good teacher."
Tetsuya shrugged his shoulders. "Do they even have an age limit? How old do you have to be to be a teacher?"
"Just jōnin rank." Shin answered. "There are no other rules."
The wind outside became more volatile, sand and dust brushing up underneath and through the scarf. Even if the goggles were a precautionary measure she'd never used before, they sure were coming in handy now. The winds were howling. The sand was giving the wind more weight as it pummeled against the mountainside.
Miho almost felt weightless as she stared up at the low ceiling of the cave, listening to the wind. Her breaths were measured, careful. In, out. The coursing energy that seemed to linger in her veins was still there, as ever, chaos trapped inside when all it wanted to do was roil with the winds outside. Her fingers followed the line of beads as they curved and moved.
Steady.
She let out a breath.
In her mind, she could hear a pattern emerging in the beat of the winds outside. A gust and a pause. A gust, a gale, and a pause. A steady, low whistling. Everything given power and purpose, like the building of instruments upon each other. Flutes, and singing and drums.
Like rain— The sand sounded like rain.
Miho carefully focused, moving to the next pattern on the sleeve. The beads rolled between her forefinger and thumb.
"We need to make a beeline for the tower. This thing may not blow over. If it doesn't then we're buried. Ice Cream will no doubt be headed that direction. We need to catch up with her."
"Please don't mention ice cream in the middle of a sandstorm." Miho grumbled. Tetsuya reached over to pinch her stomach, earning an irritated swat.
"This is going to kill someone." It was mid-afternoon. The sandstorm had yet to lighten. If anything, it grew more intense. Miho wondered if all of the teams were alright. She knew Team Gai and Team Eight would be safe, but the others would surely die if this didn't abate. Would Suna cancel the exams if this continued? Were they already in the desert attempting to rescue teams? If foreign teams died in something like this, the fault would lie with Suna.
"How much chakra?"
Tetsuya eased up on his elbows, glaring across the darkness toward Shin. "Seriously, Chuckles? She's not doing it."
"Let her decide that." Shin turned, meeting Miho's eyes. The goggles looked absolutely ridiculous on him. "I'm the tactician of this team, right? I was assigned because I'm a strategist and a tracker. The things you lacked as a team." Miho felt Tetsuya tense beside her, and she willed him to reign in his anger. "What if this sandstorm isn't natural?"
"What are the chances?"
Miho could see the smile fade in Shin's eyes. "What better way to lure a sand user to a desert?"
Gaara, standing in the middle of a sandstorm. A chain in his gut. A chain.
Gaara, dead on the grass. Naruto, crying over him.
He would survive this…whatever it was.
Fū likely would not survive.
Her heart seemed to jump into her throat. Fū, whose smile was just as bright as Naruto's. Who just wanted to make a friend or two. Or a hundred. Like Naruto. Miho swallowed, shifting. The energy that coursed through her seemed to thrash. She needed to do something. She could do something.
Fū was going to die. Like all the other jinchūriki. Like Gaara and Naruto, both for a time.
She couldn't let that happen.
"Chubs—"
"I can do it."
Tetsuya rolled his eyes. "That wasn't in question. We know you can do it. If there's a fight after this…"
"Then I've got you two."
The sand was cutting into her exposed skin even as she crawled out through the almost sealed opening of the cave. Her scarf was a lost cause. She didn't bother to try and recover it, leaving it pinned to the opening. She glanced around. She knew she was surrounded by mesas and buttes, but she couldn't see past the length of her arm.
She pulled on the mask and braced herself.
"We need to be on that western mesa. Higher elevation. The one overlooking the plain leading to the tower? Do you know what I'm talking about, Shin?"
"I'll guide you."
Miho knew she'd be the anchor in the winds and lashing sand. She was larger than them both, not so easily swayed by the force of the storm. Behind her, Shin's hands held to her sash, using it to guide her left or right. Behind him, Tetsuya held to Shin's shoulder straps.
"You sure about this, Miho?"
"I'm sure!"
At the top of the mesa, Miho pulled in a breath.
She set her feet shoulder-width apart, centering her gravity in the gale-force winds. She could feel Tetsuya and Shin pressed behind her. They were both sheltering and supporting. Eyes closing, Miho focused on the roiling under her skin, the chaos that pulled with the winds.
Steady.
Steady.
Steady, Miho. Center yourself.
A point. A single point of low pressure. A singularity.
Concentrated destruction. She felt it shift, moving. Uncontrollable energy pulled along the currents, circling about as it changed into a pattern.
Tenpenchii was the energy of disturbance. There was no taming it. No controlling it. It just needed a center. A point of focus.
She focused the energy into that moving point, sliding her fingers together to guide it. One seal, two, three, four. The Bears taught her the traditions of the ancient Okuda, the skills she should have inherited. Before they were slaughtered. Before all of it. Here she stood, bringing back their techniques.
Miho lowered her hands again and drew all of her chakra into the center of her being. She could feel it coiling around her now, brushing her arms and curdling beneath her skin. In her head, she visualized it. She saw it.
She saw it like she saw waves on a shore, too close for comfort. Wind blowing, unrelentless. Power flickering in hotel rooms as her father in another life looked around with excitement. She saw it like she saw her little hands on wet windows, watching the skies lighten and the wind ease.
"We're in the eye." Her father there had stepped outside, looking up at the skies in wonder.
In that life, Miho had stepped outside, too, and looked up at the wall of clouds. Her father stood in awe, turning in a slow circle. A shiver raced down her spine. The air was cold and calm. The world was quiet in that stadium of clouds.
It was Superman, her father there, that drove her to chase storms. To follow them and their power over plains. It was her father in that other life that made her look up at them in awe.
Center Mountain was in the eye of a hurricane.
There was no stopping a hurricane. The center moved with it.
The center moved with it.
"Storm Release: Hurricane Gale!"
One circle, two, three, four…With each cycle, the chakra moved faster. It pushed harder. It gained momentum. The energy grew stronger. The singularity became more focused, a narrow point of low pressure. Her ears popped and Miho opened her eyes.
A wall of dark clouds surrounded her and her team. The sand was gone, dragged to the ground by the moisture in the clouds. Lightning jumped from one side of the mass to the other. She could see the sunlight through the eye overhead. The clouds continued to circle, pulling and sustaining from the chaotic energy she pushed into the singularity.
Miho reached out a hand to brush at the dark clouds.
Mist-like coolness met her fingers, soothing to the heat of the sand that gouged her skin. Thunder rattled the air, cracking over the dunes.
She could feel the power, the charge of it.
"Holy shit." She heard Tetsuya whisper behind her. "I—Wow, Miho."
Miho turned and grinned, arms still outstretched. Tetsuya had never seen this technique. He only knew of it, from descriptions Genma-sensei provided. It was too expensive to her chakra. The second biggest jutsu she had at the moment. His eyes were wide as he looked around at the storm. Her smile widened. "You look a little thunderstruck, Stringbean."
She could hear guitars from a distant memory— windows rolled down and the radio blasting. Too loud on the stadium speakers as the bass shook her chest.
The sound of drums
Beatin' in my heart
A sandstorm was just a gust front. She intended to push it away, off to the west. She could never completely cover the desert. She didn't have that kind of power. But she could cover at least a mile.
Miho turned back for face the plain, watching as the chakra clouds rolled outward. Like a small, concentrated hurricane. With each new circle, the hurricane grew. She could feel the tug on her chakra. It didn't quite burn. Instead, it lanced. Like the lightning that cut from one cloud to the next. It was getting more and more difficult to breathe as it coiled around her lungs.
Clenching her teeth, she pushed the clouds against a wall.
She couldn't push them any further.
"It's not natural. It's…chakra."
Shin was at her shoulder. "A barrier?"
Miho nodded, wincing. "I n-need to end it. I can't—"
"Do it."
She released the singularity, letting it expand and sway. It spun out into nothingness. The clouds around them slowed and dissipated. The final strands of clouds took to the wind while the last of the water fell and the last of the thunder rolled into a clear sky. Miho leaned forward, settling her hands on her knees. She waved Tetsuya off and instead reached for a snack.
Miho knew she needed to keep working on it. She needed to be able to use even larger techniques for longer periods of time.
It was said her father could use the largest and most powerful Storm Release technique.
"Look. Over there."
Two of Team Matsuri were looking over at the mesa, where Miho and her team stood. The third was looking around as if confused. Perhaps it was the rapidly changing weather? Somewhere in the far distance, Miho could hear a rhythm— a string instrument being plucked. Shin was moving before Miho could think twice, slamming his fingers into the chakra points under Miho and Tetsuya's ears. The pain was instant, but fleeting.
Miho felt bile rise in her throat as her ears rang with the sudden loss of hearing.
Shin finished his own seal, protecting himself from whatever the danger was. He defaulted to standard Konoha hand signals. Enemy. Three o'clock. Auditory.
In the distance, the three stopped moving. Black masses seemed to wrap themselves around the team, not unlike Shikamaru's shadows. Miho's eyes tracked to the right. A figure sat on the top of a large bounder outcropping. A large lute settled over his lap. She could see his hands moving as he played. Miho followed Shin down the cliffside, out of sight of the attacker and the team.
It was impossible not to feel him approaching.
His Killing Intent was different from how it once had been, but it was no less fierce. No less frightening. Miho hauled in a breath, edging forward to see his approach. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, a chill running down her spine. Her teammates edged forward as well. For some reason, she felt some kind of...exasperation...at the sight of him. Out here. All of the plans had him secured in Suna, at the tower. It was one of the only comforts of using him as bait.
Hold. Shin signaled, watching as the Kazekage's clones handled the shadows while he helped his student to stand. His clones were held only for a short time before they melted to dust. Hold. Something was coming. It buzzed beneath her skin. Something was coming.
Despite her loss of hearing, Miho could hear the thrumming of a guitar. No. The beat of drums. No. No. The building of the melody that seemed to be haunting her. Constantly haunting her. Chain...Chain...Chain...Chain...It wasn't the rolling car, the wind, rain, or screaming that hit her mind like a barrage. It wasn't the pull or the pierce. Or the final rattling breath.
Chain, keep us together.
Chain. A chain.
The Images struck her mind in flashes. Blurred, hurried, barely-remembered flashes. A memory only half-formed. Only one Image was clearer than the others- Gaara, his blue eyes wide, gripping his stomach where a red chain had pierced through his skin. Sweat on his skin, teeth gritted in pain as the sand fell away.
When she opened her eyes again, it was to Tetsuya's worried face. Her eyes moved frantically to where the Kazekage stood, still facing his student. Then, she looked over to the musician whose hand was raised to strum his instrument. Her eyes met Tetsuya's for just a moment. It was long enough for him to let go of her shoulders.
Miho released the weights on her legs and moved.
A/N: First and foremost, TODAY IS CHOJI'S BIRTHDAY! Shoutout to one of the most awesome characters out there! Second, the semester has finally ended. It's been a hard one with the transition online, but I'm grateful that everyone was able to make the switch somewhat painless. Here's to all the seniors who are not able to celebrate as normal this year.
Thank you all for your wonderful reviews- your words of encouragement are so very appreciated! Thank you also for the favorites and follows! I'm glad that people are enjoying the story. I'm really excited about this chapter, so I hope everyone enjoyed!
Please leave me your thoughts! Stay safe and healthy, everyone!