Time slowed to a crawl. It inched. It stuttered. It spun in place. Miho couldn't hear, but she could feel. She could feel the wind and heat on her cheeks, the brush of steam and sand on her legs. The rain she'd caused met with the heat of the ground and the steam rose about her ankles. Her heart beat wildly, too fast and too uneven. With her hearing gone, every other sense seemed heightened. The sun was brighter. The red of the Kazekage's hair was deeper. The thrill of chakra in her body was making her hands quiver as she ran.
One chain struck sand.
The second chain struck sand.
The Kazekage's defense was supposed to be infallible. Ultimate.
This time, it wouldn't be.
The third chain would—
She couldn't push chakra into her limbs to grow, not after the hurricane technique before. She needed a few minutes to recuperate, but she didn't have time. She couldn't rely on her family techniques. It would do more harm than good to push too quickly. Miho saw the third chain approaching at five steps away. She glanced toward where Gaara stood with his team. Protecting his team. His people.
That was always his weakness, wasn't it? It's what would harm him here. It's what would harm him in the future, when Akatsuki came for him again. Miho remembered a time when she'd cried for him in her former life, thinking he would not come back.
Another character that she'd loved and lost. It seemed a pattern her former self couldn't escape. Too many good characters gone before their time almost as if to spite her favoritism. She'd met some of them, in other worlds. In other stories.
Miho gritted her teeth and looked back to the enemy. Gaara had no idea.
He didn't know his defense would fail.
Maybe he was too confident?
The chain sped toward the gap in the sand walls. Faster than Sasuke's punch.
It would strike him, try to kill him. To draw the beast from inside him.
Not him.
The chain.
Keep us together...
Not him.
Four. Three. Two.
Not him.
Pushing a fine amount of chakra into her feet, Miho slid to a stop, turned, and braced.
One.
Her arms outstretched in an attempt to make herself even bigger than she already was.
"I'll be a shield!"
The chain struck.
She wasn't quite sure what she'd been expecting. Pain, certainly, but nothing quite like this. It was all she could do to keep her mouth shut, forcing the scream down her throat. The air of her scream sat at the base of her neck, burning like indigestion. Her entire body felt as if it were on fire, searing from the inside.
Her knees were weak and they were unable to hold her weight. They shook as she tried to stay upright, stumbling forward by two steps. She fell, barely feeling the strike of her knees on the ground. Her right knee popped as it struck. Miho pulled in a gasp, but she couldn't hear it.
She couldn't hear anything, but her own heartbeat in her ears.
Her eyes lowered down to the chain, piercing through her lower abdomen, just below her navel. Her hands floated above it, not willing to touch it. There was no blood. Below the vest. It struck below her vest. It would have hit Gaara in the seal.
Would that have mattered?
A cold sweat broke over her face and arms and knees.
It probably mattered.
There were hands on her shoulders, gripping tightly. So tight that she wondered if they had any idea how to hold something or someone gently. Miho kept her face forward, tracking the chain from her stomach all the way to the man on the outcropping. Now that she was closer, she could see how young he was- no older than her cousin. Twenty? The chain began to glow, and she felt her body become colder in the hot sun.
The priest's eyes eyes were wide, obviously surprised at her interference.
Did he think no one would care?
She turned her head to the left, watching as Shin and Tetsuya crossed the flat land between the mesas and the outcropping. The scowl on Tetsuya's face promised an earful after she got her hearing back. Miho felt herself gasp as a particularly rough searing tug seemed to pull at every cell in her body. Like every bit of her insides was being drawn out through the chain.
The hands on her shoulders tightened before she sensed something above, something churning in the sky overhead. Miho tilted her head back, watching the blue sky darken.
Whatever this was…It linked to chakra.
Chakra chains could be used to control bijuu. Which meant that she'd been right— This was meant to kill Gaara. To extract Shukaku from him. Even if the man wasn't wearing Aktasuki robes, there was no telling what affiliations he had to them.
Miho's eyes narrowed at the swirling clouds. Another yank on the chain. Her chakra felt like bedlam. She swallowed down another gasp and shivered. Tenpenchii couldn't be captured or chained. Not like a bijuu. The chain wouldn't be able to find a bijuu, so then what did it tie itself to? What would it draw out? It was impossible to chain chaos.
A head appeared over her, blocking out the growing clouds.
He was backlit by the sunlight.
Gaara.
He looked so confused. He looked so confused. And, though he was the Kakekage, Miho could've sworn he looked scared.
The thought made her want to cry.
She remembered a similar look on Naruto's face when a kunai was in her shoulder. Like he couldn't believe anyone would go to such lengths. Like anyone would care enough. Naruto would chew her out for this, she thought fondly. He would understand, of course, but he would still chew her out. The kind of arms flailing 'what were you thinking?' kind of lecture that he often threw at Sasuke. Because Sasuke was reckless. And, Miho realized, she was reckless too.
Back then, when she'd taken a kunai for Naruto, at least she'd been smart enough to use a weapon to block most of the blows. Her naginata was still sealed away in her arm band.
This was her mistake. She'd been too… Miho refocused again, meeting the Kazekage's eyes once more. His mouth was moving. She'd been too focused on saving him.
She held his stare upside down for only a few seconds before she felt another person approach. It was Tetsuya, sword drawn. Without hesitating, he brought his sword down on the chain. Miho didn't even have time to react. Her mouth had only begun to open— to tell him to stop— when his blade struck the chain.
Tetsuya was knocked off his feet by the purple lightning. Miho felt the hands on her shoulders disappear as her eyes squeezed shut. There was a brush of sand on her legs. That was the only grounding Miho had as she swallowed down another scream and curved around the chain her stomach. She was shaking.
Her hands felt numb.
Her hands felt numb…
When her eyes opened again, Gaara had blocked another chain in front and to the right of her. It fell to the ground and disappeared.
"He wants—"
Gaara held out an arm, signaling for her to stop talking. She looked over to where Tetsuya was kneeling, sword at the ready, held behind his back. Shin was behind her; she could feel him there. There was a darkness there that seemed heavier than the pull of the chain on her chakra. Shin was that darkness. Two fingers pressed into the notch beneath each ear. His fingers were cool to the sweat there.
The world came back in a roar of sound.
"—not dependent on hearing." Shin explained, voice seeming very loud. "Stay still." He moved to kneel in front of her, settling on his haunches with his back to Tetsuya, the Kazekage, and the enemy. The amount of trust that showed was staggering. Miho felt herself still as he examined the chain's entry point. "Genma-sensei warned me. Said strategy wasn't your thing."
Through gritted teeth, Miho laughed a bit and winced. "Better than I was."
Shin shot her a disbelieving glare through his lashes, pressing at the skin around the chain. "You don't get to say that right now." His brows drew together. "There's no blood."
"It's a chakra chain."
He drew in a breath. "Shit." Lifting his head over her shoulder, he looked to the team behind her. She could hear them fretting, but it was only white noise. Instead, her mind was focused on the near-continuous strum of the lute and the constant movement of sand around her legs. As soon as the enemy had another way to distract him, Gaara would be hit. Her eyes trailed over to Tetsuya, who fended off a chain of his own. A distraction.
Gaara didn't budge to his defense.
Not a good enough distraction.
Only the Suna team would make him become unfocused.
She turned, meeting the eyes of the Suna team. "You all need to go. Now. Find one of the other Konoha or Suna teams! Go!"
The brunette— Matsuri?— opened her mouth to argue.
"Go." Gaara's voice commanded. "This is beyond your skill. Go."
"Shin, go with them." Tetsuya grunted. Miho turned in time to see him barely block a chain with a swift movement of his sword. The world was blurring a bit and she blinked hard. "I don't think this guy created the barrier, man. That means there's two. Find some backup." She knew Shin would argue that. "Go, hardhead!"
She turned back to Shin, reaching out to grab his arm. He looked down, eyes wild and angry. For so long, Shin had no control. He couldn't protect anyone— not himself, not Sai. Letting go of control… It was so hard for him. "Trust us. Please. Go." Shin opened his mouth to argue before lifting his dark eyes to the team behind her and then he turned, watching a wall of sand rise up to block both Tetsuya and Gaara. His head shook, silver hair shining in the dimming sunlight. "Go, Shin."
Her eyes closed as a particularly strong wave of pain washed from her shoulders to her abdomen, through the chain. Pulled out. Yanked. It left her breathless.
Shin was gone. Miho turned a bit to see that the Suna team was gone as well.
The desert seemed to be growing darker. Like the sunlight was fading and the clouds were building.
"What did this do to her?" Gaara's voice was quiet, but— It had gravity. He blocked another chain. His Ultimate Defense was more focused, consolidated now. He wasn't distracted anymore. The team was gone. He didn't have to protect them as well. Miho's heart stuttered a bit and she realized it was the tenpenchii thrashing.
Miho watched as the priest's eyes narrowed and flicker her direction. His hand rose and he brought it down on the string once more. A new rapid rhythm began. Another chain sprouted and another and another. Each of them…aimed at her. She saw the strategy before either of the others.
The chains were moving fast. Too fast. No matter how much she tried to move, her muscles just wouldn't— couldn't respond. No. She watched, frozen. The chain within her pulsed and her arms and legs went numb. No, no. She felt herself slump, even as the chains approached. The clouds were getting darker overhead.
"Miho!"
Tetsuya would never make it in time. He knew that, by the expression his face.
Koji's eyes were wide and she could see the fear in them. Fear for her. Not fear for himself.
Her eyes turned to Gaara. And she could see from the angle of his body and the tenseness in his shoulders and the thrashing of the sand what he planned to do. Naruto… Naruto would—She wasn't sure why it was Naruto that came to mind. If the Akatsuki got Gaara, then the cascade would begin.
The cascade would begin, and it wouldn't end until he was dead.
Until so, so many people were dead.
Swallowing, Miho looked back to the approaching chains. Fast. Miho knew. They were fast. She knew. She knew she was faster. She was faster. Miho stood on numb legs, forcing them into motion. She'd trained for years, since she was little, to be fast. Her body was her own, no matter what chains fell upon it. She'd nourished this body, developed it. Akimichi's were masters of their own bodies. She was the master of her own body. No chain would stop her.
She felt weightless, even as her knees buckled a bit with each step— adrift on a wind she couldn't control.
Miho threw herself forward before the sand began to move.
Gaara's ultimate defense would protect him, but what about when he tried to protect someone else, too? That was always his downfall.
That's how he died.
A voice in her head, sounding very much like Ino, was telling her how stupid this was. It wasn't a plan. It was an action. It had no foresight. Maybe Shin was right. Strategy had never been her thing as much as she thought she had improved. She could do literally anything else. Or maybe this was the only thing she could think to do. To keep him safe. Stupid! Miho, this is stupid! But her chakra was blocked. It was being drawn out of her like poison from a wound.
And there she was. And she could do something.
She met them, setting her feet shoulder width apart and dropping her weight to an Akimichi brace. Sometimes…
Sometimes, the best strategy…was to take the hits.
Thump. Thump.
Miho didn't feel two of the chains hit, but she felt the air leave her lungs. She felt the pull on her chakra. Chaos energy couldn't be captured by a chain. Her chakra though…Her chakra was being pulled from her. Soon all that would remain…would be chaos. The third chain didn't strike at all. It hit sand and dissolved, a complete miss.
Miho wasn't quite sure why she noticed that, but she did. She wasn't sure why the sand seemed to sparkle in the sun like tiny diamonds. Had it always been so pretty?
She stopped between Gaara and Tetsuya, staring up at the man. Her heart was stuttering and her breathing rattling. The clouds overhead grew darker and thunder rolled. Tenpenchii. Chaos. Uncontained. Unchained. Uncontrolled. Uncentered. As her chakra faded, the tenpenchii would rise to fill the gaps. Miho wasn't quite sure if the thunder was in her head or not. Her hands tingled. A cold sweat.
The priest seemed so stunned that the music stopped. The draw on her chakra paused.
He said nothing, but she could see the question in his eyes. Why?
Feeling nothing, Miho turned.
"Lord Kazekage…" She let out a quivering breath as she met his eyes again. They were so wide, so confused. One day, she hoped he wouldn't be so surprised. These eyes of his…They were so different now. There was no disaster there. Only a calm sort of hope. The kind that came after the sun rose in the morning after a storm passed through. Miho felt the corners of her lips tick upward. Poetic. "Lord, Kaze-kage, don't – "
When she tried to breathe in again, Miho fell.
Tetsuya eyed the three chakra chains embedded in Miho's collapsed body. She was still breathing, but the movements of her chest were shallow. He wanted to catch her body before she hit the ground, but the sand moved faster. The sand gently lowered her to the ground. Tetsuya watched, remembering a time when that same sand smelled like blood. When it cut her arms and cheeks. Damn if Tetsuya didn't want to use his sword to give the Kazekage some scars of his own.
Frankly, this whole thing seemed like an exercise in underestimation.
It was the Kazekage's underestimation of an opponent that led to this whole event. Tetsuya reaffirmed his hold on his sword. A Kage should've known better. How the hell did Gaara end up with the position if he underestimated his opponents like this?
"Lord Kazekage— This man is clearly after your Tailed Beast. It may be best if you withdraw from this fight and send backup."
He knew Gaara would hate that suggestion. Afterall, what leader would like hearing such a suggestion from a subordinate from another nation? Tetsuya rolled his shoulders. Not a great political move, but Tetsuya thought it was a fair bit better from slapping the Kage upside the head.
"I will stay. I cannot abandon a comrade to an enemy."
Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Tetsuya instead clicked his tongue. "The longer you stay, the longer this guy tries to drag this out. Miho's in trouble. We have to get these chains out of her or she's a goner." Swallowing down a swell of irritation, both at Miho and the Kazekage, Tetsuya shifted. "She did this to protect you. Honor that by listenin'."
He felt the Kazekage shift.
"If you want the girl to survive, allow these chains to be transferred to you, Lord Kazekage." The enemy started to play the lute once more. The chains glowed a faint gold again. Miho's chakra was being drained at three-times the speed. "I will allow a trade."
"Like hell." Tetsuya responded before Gaara could. "You're not getting a damned jinchūriki today, you bastard. So, take your guitar and take your show on the road."
The man's eyes closed, and he seemed to sigh. "A waste."
Swallowing, Tetsuya looked down at Miho again. She was getting paler. If this went on much longer, she wasn't going to make it. Her body would start changing fat to chakra to make up the difference and keep her alive. Tetsuya barely withheld a grimace. No way in hell was he letting it get that far. Miho worked so hard to keep her weight up and steady. Each time she lost too much weight in battle, it taxed her heart and organs.
No.
Not while he was here.
Damn the Kazekage. Tetsuya would do it himself.
"Protect her."
Miho was the fastest of Team Five. Tetsuya never argued that. Never tried to beat her speed. He knew he never could. Instead, Master Hayate had him focus on something else: agility. There was a difference between speed and agility. Tetsuya was behind the enemy raising his sword before the Kazekage even had a moment to respond.
He wasn't nearly as fast as Shisui of the Body Flicker, Hayate-sensei said, but— He had a goal.
The attacker had left his entire back flank open. Tetsuya raised his sword.
The rhythm of the lute altered, picking up speed. Faster. Faster. Faster. He brought his sword down.
Tetsuya was blown back as his sword ricocheted off of a glowing green and blue barrier.
"Son of a bitch!"
A moment later, a hail of senbon emerged from the glowing wall. Spinning his sword, Tetsuya deflected all of them, watching as they fell to the desert ground and vanished. Letting out a breath, Tetsuya chuckled and brushed his ponytail back over his shoulder.
"Gonna have to do better than that, you jerk! My teacher is a senbon wielder. Ever heard of the Bloody Barrage?"
The lute-player began another cadence and Tetsuya recognized it now. It was the same one he used to attack with chakra chains. The guy just wasn't giving up. The son of a bitch was either going to kill Miho or take the Kazekage's beast. Or both. He started to move, but something strange sounded over the music.
"Hey! You sick jerk! Who do you think you are, hurting one of my friends?"
Tetsuya watched as Ice Cream swept down on wings, diving down to stand near the Kazekage. If anything, she was slightly in front of Gaara, as if to shield him. Tetsuya resisted the urge to roll his eyes again. The guy had his Ultimate Defense. Why did everyone seem to forget that? She regained some of his respect when she moved immediately to Miho's side, hefting her up into her lap. He wondered if Fū was even thinking when she reached for the chain.
"Don't!"
The girl would have been completely knocked off her feet by the shock, he knew. Instead, she rocked back, holding onto Miho's shoulders, cursing as she cradled her arm. Tetsuya did feel some sympathy. He only knew not to do it from experience, and it hurt like hell.
"He's after the Tailed Beasts. Don't get hit by the chains."
A familiar rhythm picked up again.
Before Tetsuya could shout a warning, two things happened at once. The Kazekage moved forward to stand in front of the two kunoichi, hands outstretched, a wall of sand rising up again to protect them. There was a kind of cold ruthlessness to his eyes that was a chilling reminder of just what the Kazekage was capable of, the kind of confidence that Tetsuya thought should be on the face of a Kage.
That wall of sand was writhing.
This enemy attacked Gaara of the Sand in a desert.
Tetsuya couldn't think on it long before another wall began to form.
A mass of glowing blue threads grew around the three. He thought he saw the Kazekage's eyes go wide before he disappeared entirely behind a solidified green barrier. Tetsuya felt his mouth open before he snapped it shut again.
Was that…a cocoon?
The Seven-Tails was a moth, wasn't it?
The enemy attacked, a swell of energy pushing out from the barrier to collide with the cocoon. The blast was jarring, shaking the ground beneath Tetsuya's feet. Once the dust cleared, the cocoon was left unharmed. Heh. Tetsuya let out a snort. He wondered if this jerk felt impotent after that one.
Spinning his sword, he turned his attention back to the priest and his fancy barrier. The Third Stage Crescent should work nicely. Yeah…Yeah, it was time to end this.
Miho could feel cool hands on her face, and she opened her eyes. It took all of her strength to manage it. She was so strong, too. Feeling weak made Miho feel…powerless. Vulnerable. She could count the number of times she felt weak on one hand. When her eyes opened, she was met by a grinning face and bright golden eyes.
"You're awake! Good! We were so worried!"
"Fū?"
Fū nodded. The rapid up and down of her head made Miho go a bit cross-eyed. Instead of focusing on the motion, and the bile that rose up in her throat, Miho looked toward the dark figure to her left. Her breathing felt too labored. Too light and shallow for the effort she was putting in to get a full breath. She'd only felt this weak once before, but she didn't let that thought linger long in her mind.
Gaara was standing a foot away, arms crossed. His eyes focused ahead. Miho tracked his stare to a green wall, where the chakra chains disappeared. Gold trailed lightly along the chains. She looked to Gaara again. She could feel Fū looking between her and the Kazekage.
Fū adjusted her hold. "My cocoon is made of fine chakra threads. It'll slow down the drain on your chakra until help arrives."
"Tet—Tetsuya?"
"Your teammate? He's out there."
Miho let out a breath through her nose and it seemed that movement alone was enough to make her entire body feel even more lethargic. If this didn't end soon, her body would start siphoning off weight to keep her alive. Chakra depletion was one thing. If it started eating her weight, then the tenpenchii really would be all that was left.
It'd already happened once, when she'd first arrived to Center Mountain.
It took years to recover.
Not this time.
Swallowing, Miho looked up at Gaara again. He still hadn't moved. Planning or brooding? He needed to work on that. Get better at communicating with those around him. Vaguely, she wondered if it was just because he still wasn't used to encountering people that didn't judge him or outright hate him on sight.
Deciding to forgo conversation with Gaara, Miho turned up to Fū. "Help me. Please."
"Sure?" Fū looked a bit surprised. It likely wasn't common that she'd heard those words from a kunoichi from another village. Miho forced a smile, but it was shaking with the effort. She stopped trying a moment later, letting the smile fall. "Tell me what you need and I'll do it! I'm always game to help a friend in trouble!"
Miho huffed a laugh, wincing as a particularly painful lance reverberated through her body. She bit the inside of her cheek, focusing on that pain rather than the pain of her chakra literally being sucked from her body. "In the inside pocket on the right side of my vest is—" She stopped and drew a breath, steadying as shivers broke out. She gritted her teeth. "There's snacks. I need…I need the protein one. The…The blue sachet."
Fū nodded, reaching into the vest and withdrawing a small beaded bag. "Is this it?" She held it up, looking at the intricate patterns. "This is pretty, you know! Did you do this?"
"Y-eah. I can't…" Swallowing, Miho looked up to Fū again, meeting her eyes. "My…My people…We run on calories. If I can increase my calories, then maybe I can…"
"Got it! Can you chew? If you can't, I can chew and drop it in your mouth like a baby bird!"
Miho nearly choked at the offer. If the circumstances were less dire, she might've laughed.
Fū and Lee were truly destined. Years ago, after particularly brutal training session with Gai-sensei, Miho complained that she was too tired to even eat. She laid on the forest floor, exhausted. Lee had offered something similar.
"MY DEAR YOUTHFUL FRIEND! YOUR CALORIES! I CAN SUSTAIN YOU! ALLOW ME TO—"
The absolutely mortified look on Gluten-Free's face was a sight to behold.
"I can chew. Just pop it in my mouth, okay?"
Fū nodded vigorously, following Miho's instructions carefully. The determined set of her jaw showed that she was treating this like a mission in and of itself. Miho might've laughed a bit around three protein balls. Fū beamed.
Gaara's voice interrupted. "No help will come. We will need to figure this out on our own."
Miho scoffed around the snack. "Help's probably already on the way, Lord Kazekage."
The protein balls were infused the turmeric and chakra. Five-thousand calories a piece, specifically-made for Akimichi brawlers. Miho could feel a little bit of energy returning. She'd need to start carrying soldier pills. The Nara were the Akimichi suppliers for pills. Maybe Shikamaru could help her out. It'd be troublesome, but he'd probably do it after this fiasco.
Her eyes met Gaara's as he looked down at her for the first time. She sensed his attention and looked up at him. His face was carefully void of emotion. The chakra—the chaos— thrashed and Miho went a bit breathless.
No matter how she tried to hide it, she knew he saw it.
He saw it.
This wasn't sustainable.
There was no way…Miho knew there was no way she was getting out of this unscathed. Chakra exhaustion, at the very least, would be the price.
Easily a better price than his life.
"Have— Have faith, Gaara."
His blue eyes widened at the informality. Miho didn't budge. She just gritted her teeth against a new wave of pain. The chains were still trying to capture something that couldn't be captured. They were latching onto her renewed chakra. Her caloric chakra would be next, and it would come soon. Miho beared down and rode out the wave of pain.
"That's right! Miho's got the right idea! You just gotta believe that our friends will come to help us out! Besides, we're lucky! We can stay here and not have our bijuu extracted." Fū smiled brightly, jostling Miho a bit in her excitement. Her voice and the enthusiasm she had reminded Miho again of Naruto.
Miho wondered if Gaara thought the same.
Shin watched as Tetsuya attempted to launch another offensive on the barrier. It was a lost cause, Shin knew. Tetsuya wasn't a fool. He was merely trying to distract the priest, to buy time until reinforcements arrived. Nothing, though, could be resolved until the chain was removed from Miho. To do that, he'd found the best resource he could. He turned to Sakura and gestured toward the cocoon.
"Sakura, TenTen, and I will go to that thing. The sooner Sakura can get the chain out, the better." Shin turned. "Lee and Matsuri, Team Taki, help Tetsuya." The remaining members of the team from Taki nodded. "We'll need a big distraction while we get into that cocoon." Taking lead of a team was nothing new. He'd led several teams in Root.
Thing is: In Root teams, it didn't matter if the members were injured or died. Here, it mattered. Shin swallowed thickly, looking over the situation one more time.
"Any other ideas?"
"They're both jinchūriki. Do we know…?" Sakura trailed off, leaving the question to linger in the air with another implication before she adjusted. Smart. "What his goal is?" Matsuri, the Kazekage's student, looked worried and confused by the question. Sakura met his eyes steadily, not backing down from the question. Was this enemy part of Akatsuki? If so, did he know what to expect?
"Motive doesn't matter at the moment. The reality is that we need to neutralize him before he is a further threat to either of them."
Sakura nodded.
"Go."
Shin rarely interacted with Rock Lee. Only on occasion over the past year did he watch Lee and Miho or Lee and Tetsuya spar. Most of the time, the green-clad guy was high-energy and good nature. He never refrained from a greeting or a kind word. Once, Shin had asked Miho about their relationship. Without pause, Miho smiled and said that Rock Lee was her "honor brother." Tetsuya wore a green bandana in homage to Rock Lee. It never quite made sense to Shin. He got friendships, sure, but... Rock Lee was an odd one.
Now, as Rock Lee disappeared from sight with a thunderous expression on his normally kind face, Shin understood.
The explosion on the other side of the enemy was massive, shaking the ground nearly a mile away. The shockwave was something that shook Shin to the very core.
That, from a kick that Rock Lee delivered to the barrier.
Rock Lee was very clearly a person that cared about his precious people and had no problems taking action to protect them.
Shin could respect that.
Fortunately, he and Rock Lee had the same people to protect.
Shin arrived to the cocoon with Sakura and TenTen.
"It's chakra," Sakura deduced, setting a hand upon the cocoon. "Chakra threads. It needs…" She trailed off. Shin kept his eyes on the priest, whose eyes remained closed as he focused on maintaining his rhythm and defense. With the relentless attacks and counter-attacks between the priest and the offensive at his back, he might've been distracted enough to lessen the draw on Miho's chakra. There was a light hissing sound and then a tear. "There we go."
When Shin turned, he found Sakura's green-glowing hand retracting from the cocoon.
"Sakura?"
"Told you!" A voice sounded from inside. Sakura turned to him and smiled brightly, reaching out to hold both sides of the slit open. She stepped through. He followed a moment later, leaving the primary defense to TenTen.
Inside, Miho was surprisingly conscious though she looked weak and fragile. She maintained her weight, which meant that the drain on her chakra has been slowed considerably. Shin knelt by her side, taking up one of her hands. It was clammy and she made no effort to grip his hand in return. She normally held hands with a firm grip, as if her strength alone could keep the person she held with her. Miho's weak hold alone worried him to no end. And he could feel the rage creeping up along his neck.
Looking at her fingers, Shin always thought they should have been soft. After all, she was the daughter of a Noble Clan. Instead, they were coarse and rough. Years and years of training had built up callouses. She looked up at him and smiled.
"Hey, honey."
Shin would have laughed if he didn't feel like some of this was his fault. The rage only grew and he drew in a breath, closing his eyes for a moment. To anyone else, it might've seemed like he needed patience to deal with his teammate. By the gleam in her eyes, Miho knew the truth. Sakura let out a giggle, settling down at Miho's other side.
"I've heard about your nicknames. Naruto used to complain that he didn't have one." She held a glowing green hand over Miho's abdomen, upper thigh, and then her left shoulder where three chains pierced through her skin. Sakura's brow contorted. "It's…linked to her tenketsu."
Shin jolted. "Tenketsu? It's drawing directly from her chakra system."
Sakura grimaced and nodded. She reached down and pressed a glowing hand to Miho's stomach. Miho flinched, but quickly seemed to gain control over the pain. The fact that she had a high pain tolerance made Shin stand and turn away, toward where he knew the others were fighting against the enemy's barrier. His hands fisted at his sides.
He knew why she had such a high tolerance.
One wrong move by Sakura and Miho's whole chakra system could fail.
It was already unstable. The clouds overhead showed that. The tenpenchii was leaking through her system.
If her chakra levels fell too low, then—
"Shin— Go."
He looked down and met Miho's eyes. She gave him the smallest nod. She was giving him an out, a way to get out of that space and blow off steam. A way to not feel so trapped. He couldn't imagine how trapped she felt in such an enclosed area. Like how she had felt earlier in the afternoon, nearly buried alive. Again.
He'd been in that mountain. He'd watched her languish there.
He'd done nothing to stop it.
He couldn't do anything to stop it. Not with Sai to protect.
"We need Hinata." Sakura looked up. Her voice was even, clinical. A medic-nin through and through. "We need the Byakugan. I can't see the chakra points. They're as small as the point of a needle. I can make a chakra blade that small, but… If I make a wrong move, I could permanently damage her chakra system. I need Hinata here. Now."
Miho winced, gasping as a wave of pain seemed to break over her. He saw how the wild curls of her hair was now matted to the sides of her face. They were brushed away by the tips of Fū's fingers, who frowned at Sakura's words. Miho met Fū's eyes and winced again.
"Hold on. Where's the Kazekage?"
Shin jerked, realizing that the Kazekage was no longer in the cocoon.
It was Fū who spoke up. "He stepped out after you said it was linked to her tenketsu. I think he's got an idea." She smiled. "Leave it to him. I think he can figure it out from here. After all, he's got a friend in danger, right?" Fū's smile was bright and then brightened even further. Shin watched Miho close her eyes, relaxing into the girl's arms. "By the way, do you two want to be my friends?"
"Where's the Team Five? And hell, Team Gai? We got caught out in the storm when that Puppet Dude— the Kazekage's brother?— came and fished us out! We could've made it, but—" Kiba waved a hand in the air.
Chōji glanced toward the door, where Kankurō stood with his team. There'd been no sign of Miho or the other teams. The search parties were preparing to go back out again. Before he was waylaid by Team Eight's arrival, Chōji'd been planning to approach Kankurō about tagging along. Shikamaru stood off to the side with Temari, talking with her quietly while glancing toward the gate every so often.
Shikamaru knew something was wrong. Very wrong.
Barrier interference? At an exam with two jinchūriki involved? It was too convenient. This was so clearly the attack they'd been waiting for, but they'd had no luck tracing the source. Ino was having an absolute conniption about it.
She didn't like not having answers.
"I-I hope they're alright." Hinata glanced worriedly toward the door, where the horizon was barren and empty. "That storm wasn't natural." In the far distance, it seemed a storm was brewing. Just barely out of sight.
The Suna shinobi in the room tensed, obviously sensing something that no one else yet felt.
Then, the floor began to shake.
The deluge of sand was unexpected. It swept up from the floor out of nowhere, rising up from cracks in the ground. A familiar and overbearing thrill of Killing Intent swept through the room. Shino, naturally, pulled Hinata behind him and Ankamaru growled. Chōji shifted, preparing for an attack by lowering his center of gravity.
Chōji released his tension as the Kazekage materialized from the mass, stepping into the arrivals area of the central tower. His expression made Chōji tense again.
He'd seen something like that expression before, when he'd faced down Gaara in the hospital all those years ago. A sort of intensity that could rattle bones. Gaara's eyes now though…They weren't crazed. They were determined. Chōji had seen those eyes before, in the Images. When Gaara had led an army. When Gaara had defended his people. This was the Gaara Miho had been waiting for— the leader. The one she was determined to see beyond the psycho in the exams. Those eyes scanned the room.
For a moment, Chōji thought that the Kazekage was staring at him. Once the Kazekage's eyes did flick to him, Chōji knew that something was off. Gaara had never once shown such emotions before, particularly in front of foreign shinobi. Chōji saw regret and hesitance. The Kazekage refocused and the emotions disappeared.
"Hyuuga Hinata. I need you to come with me."
"Wh-What?" She seemed surprised by her own lack of formality. "Ex-Excuse me, Lord Kaze—"
"Akimichi Miho is in trouble. Damage is being inflicted to her chakra system. I need you to come with me."
Gaara turned, gesturing toward the team that had been preparing to leave. His brother stepped forward, eyes wide. Kankurō's mouth opened, but the Kazekage cut him off. "Off to the northeast, you'll find an enemy of Sunagakure. Atop the Northeastern Outcropping. I have used my Eye to locate him. He is responsible for the barrier. Capture him alive. Bring him back here for questioning."
Kankurō nodded and bowed, accepting the mission without question. Chōji was surprised that the puppeteer met his eyes before leaving, shouting at his team to follow. Kankurō nodded and left. Admittedly, Chōji didn't quite know what to make of Kankurō's expression or the way he'd flicked his eyes toward Gaara as if to indicate something.
"Temari."
"Yes, Lord Kazekage?" Temari stepped forward. Shikamaru was at her shoulder, eyes narrowed at the door to the desert. His friend was clearly trying to piece together whatever had happened.
Particularly whatever had happened to force the Kazekage's hand.
Whatever happened forced the Kazekage's hand in favor of saving Miho.
Chōji's fears could conjure a thousand nightmares.
Knowing his sister, many of them were very possible.
"You are in charge in my short absence, Temari. I will deal with this myself. I want the village on lockdown. Immediately."
Temari nodded, accepting the leadership charge. She stepped away, looking to the teams gathered for redeployment to the desert to gather the remaining stranded teams. "On me, everyone. Let's look sharp."
Finally, the Kazekage turned back to Hinata. One of his hands outstretched and a section of sand rose up to create a platform. "Hurry. There is not much time."
Chōji watched as Hinata sat a hand on Shino's shoulder before looking up at her teammate. He nodded only a moment later, letting her on the sand platform. Gaara looked away from Hinata, obviously confident she would follow his instructions. Sure enough, she stepped onto the sand behind him.
"Hold up! Someone needs to go with Hinata!" Kiba shouted, earning a back-up bark from Ankamaru.
"Akimichi."
Chōji turned and met the Kazekage's eyes. Gaara's arms crossed and his eyes narrowed. Then, he nodded. Chōji didn't hesitate, climbing onto the sand as quickly as he could. It began moving as soon as he was on-board.
"The rest of you, notify your team leaders." Gaara called over his shoulder as the sand swept out into the heat of the desert. "Now."
Chōji was careful about centering his mass so that he didn't fall, but Hinata seemed a bit unbalanced by the speed. She wavered on her feet. Chōji reached out and settled a hand on her upper back, keeping her steady.
"Th-Thank you."
"Lord Kazekage, what happened to my sister?"
Chōji had a lot more questions than that, but he'd ask them later, when his sister was safe. Nervous energy thrummed under his skin when the Kage didn't respond. His hands fisted. How was he supposed to prepare to help and protect his sister if Gaara wouldn't be clear about whatever had happened? A light touch to his left hand made him look down to Hinata's face. Her expression was so kind and the touch on his fist so gentle that Chōji loosened his hands again.
He gave her a thankful look before facing ahead.
"She protected me." Gaara said. His voice was a bit muffled by wind, but Chōji heard it.
Chōji could see the picture clear in his mind. Miho with her strong stance, shoulders squared as she braced in front of Gaara, ready to take any blow that came for him.
Miho was willing to do that for a lot of people. Her friends and family.
Chōji knew, though, that list had always included Gaara. Even when Gaara was crazed with exhaustion and manipulation. Even when he injured her, drew her blood. She would lay down her life for Gaara as easily as she would Naruto. As easily as she would for him. He never, ever wanted it to come to that. In many ways, Chōji realized that he still had the same fears as when he was a child.
Because his sister would never change. She would never budge on these things. As sure as anything, his sister would take the blows meant for others.
They arrived to a strange scene. Dust seem to hang in the air, kicked up by what was probably relentless attacks by Tetsuya and Lee if their panting was anything to go by. A constant lute strumming was bouncing off the nearby mesas from the man on the rock outcropping.
A strange chain-like shape materialized and fired at the Kazekage, whose sand blocked the chain without a second glance. Gaara jerked his head toward a strange green cocoon-like structure. "Lady Hyuuga, with me." His eyes turned to Chōji. "She is in here, but I suggest you—" Another three chains attacked in rapid succession.
Chōji got the picture, turning to face the attacker. Chōji leapt into action, throwing himself into a spin. The chains deflected away. Chōji stopped a moment later, crouched in front of the cocoon. This was the man who harmed Miho. That much was clear. And that was all he needed to know.
Behind him, Gaara and Hinata immediately entered a slit in the cocoon.
"Well, now it's a party!"
The voice from within the cocoon was unrecognizable.
Those chains…They were in Miho. They were draining her chakra. Killing her.
Chōji turned a bit to face the enemy, letting his hands fall to his sides. His father always said that his strength and his weakness lay in his emotions. At that moment, Chōji felt a flare of anger so white-hot he could feel himself getting larger without even realizing that he'd formed the hand signs. He planted a foot on either side of the cocoon and glared down at the enemy.
The man's eyes opened and Chōji saw them widen.
"You are not harming them."
The man raised his hand to play a new tune, but stopped. His eyes went even wider.
The chains stopped glowing then went slack, pulling free of the cocoon. They changed appearance, from normal chains to black symbols that seemed to thrash about in the air. Whatever barrier the man had erected collapsed as the snake-like lines thrashed about around him, his expression becoming more and more fearful.
"Chōji?"
Chōji glanced down to see his sister stepping out from the cocoon, holding tightly to Sakura and Hinata's forearms. She was too pale. She was shaking. His sister was weak.
Miho was never weak.
Releasing the growth jutsu, Chōji shrank down and then ran to her. He nearly threw his arms around her, but stopped short. She chuckled at his hesitance, reaching up to pat his chest. "Oh, come on, Chōji. I'm alright! I'm fine!" He leaned down to study her face— which was dirty, sweaty, and exhausted. Her wild curls were sweat-matted and messy. "Don't give me that look! I'm okay! Right, Sakura?"
Sakura just smiled, shrugging her shoulders. "You're definitely not great. You're severely chakra depleted and are probably going to pass out soon." Her tone was matter-of-fact.
Miho shot her a glare, but didn't argue. She hauled in a breath, attempting to steady herself. Chōji knew his sister though. It was all an act. Losing as much chakra as she likely lost, Miho wouldn't be able to keep up a tough act for long. It would be better to head it off before—
"Well, that's somethin' you don't see every day."
Was that the jinchūriki from Taki? She came up to Sakura's side, linking her arm with Haruno's. Sakura looked a bit surprised by the familiar gesture, but smiled anyway. Fū? That was her name. Fū pointed toward the outcropping. The flailing symbol chains tightened onto the enemy, locking him into his sitting position as he rolled down the hillside. He landed in a painful heap at the bottom of the rocks.
"Funny how things..." Miho murmured, but her voice trailed off.
Chōji turned to see her barely standing upright, eyes closing. She began to stumble, seeming to take both Hinata and Sakura by surprise. They weren't ready to catch her weight. He knew they could, being kunoichi, but they weren't ready. Before Chōji even begin to catch her, sand came up underneath her body as she passed out. It eased her down. Chōji looked over to the Kazekage's back as he strode toward the bound enemy. It was as if the sand moved on its own until Gaara looked back over his shoulder for just a moment.
Fū let out a laugh, moving to shift his sister to her back. She grinned from where she knelt by the sand bed, poking at Miho's cheek and pushing her dirty black curls out of her face. "See? See? Friends! It's great!"
A/N: First and foremost, thank you all for your encouraging words! Thank you for your kudos and bookmarks and subscriptions. I was so excited to post this chapter because it is a turning point! Or at least, it marks a pretty significant shift that will have a pretty huge impact later on in the story.
This story has now broken 200,000 words, making this the longest single-run story I've written. My other "longest" fic was broken into two independent stories. That makes this the longest fic I've ever written! I always knew my longest fic would be a Naruto piece. This story has been coming for almost a decade.
Thank you again for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please leave me your thoughts and look out for the end of this arc next week!