[I changed this story's rating to a PG-13 because of this chapter. There's a little gore and death, that's all.]
Chapter 4: Escape!
Sakura dropped the tray of drinks when she saw Varlene running off with a sound ninja, carrying Sasuke-kun in her arms. "Sasuke-kun!" She cried. The singer saw her, noticing that a racket has started. It was the end of her song when she began to make an announcement.
The crowd seemed to like her song. They cheered her on before she could speak. She had to calm them before she did so. "…I have an announcement to make to all of you! I would like to say that all of you are fools and I would also like to thank the ninja team for building this entertainment hall for me to sing in. I'm sorry to say, but you ninja's have built your own deathbed. It's been nice being with you people of the leaf, and now I bid you all farewell…" She curtsied to the confused crowd, bowing her head very low, letting her hair fall on her face. She did not stand back up. Naruto ran up to the stage yelling.
"Who do you think you are?! What was that supposed to mean?! What's going on?!"
The singer had disappeared. The one who was playing piano stood up and took off his glasses, showing his scarred face. He bowed also, and disappeared. Sakura answered Naruto's question. "It means that they are the enemy!" She ran out the door to chase Varlene. "We were tricked! Varlene tricked us!" Naruto was confused.
"But…" Then it got to him. The Uchiha was a very dark clan, how could one of the Uchiha be so generous? She really was acting all along. An angry grin appeared on his face. Shino disappeared. Hinata was trying to talk to Naruto, trying to get him out of his train of deep thoughts.
But then… there was an explosion. Kaboom! Everything that Naruto could see suddenly transformed into fire and ashes filled the atmosphere. He couldn't breath… soon enough, he couldn't see either and his consciousness left him completely.
Shino ran. He saw Sakura, who just looked back to see the extreme explosion. She screamed as she stopped running. "Naruto! Hinata! Quino! Lu! I can't believe this! No!" Tears streamed down her face. "Marya! You were fooled!"
"Sakura! Snap out of it! Naruto and Hinata are fine; my bugs are protecting them. I don't know about…" Then Lu appeared before both of them. He was laughing.
"I can't believe how well this worked out! You really are fools!"
"Lu! I can't believe you! You're a sound ninja?!" Sakura screamed.
"I come from the sand." Lu explained. Quino came from behind him. "This is my teammate, Brukichi Royha. My name is Luricha Moviku. Sorry about lying to you earlier, but I've got a job to do…" He pulled out a sword from inside his cape and swung at Shino with it. Sakura was going through crisis. She looked at Varlene who was almost at the point where she couldn't be seen. Sakura ran, but was stopped by Royha.
"Have I ever told you how beautiful you are, Sakura-chan?" Royha flirted. "You would make a great kunoichi for our team." Sakura backed away. Should she fight back? Royha walked towards her slowly, staring at her in obvious admiration. "Join us, and we'll give you anything you've ever wanted!" Sakura looked over at Shino, who was fighting Moviku. Then she started feeling drowsy. When she looked back at Royha, she saw him performing a jutsu with an evil grin on his face. She couldn't help but think about what he was telling her. No! Inner Sakura came out. 'I can't listen to him! He's manipulating me! How dare him!' Inner Sakura was whey too stubborn to fall for Royha's jutsu. But she still was very drowsy.
"Sakura! Look out!" Shino shouted. It was no use. Moviku had grabbed her in a headlock, holding his sword against her throat. Shino acted quickly. His mouth was filled with bugs, and his hands were producing them as well. They instantly were on Moviku as he slit Sakura's throat, making it seem as if he had killed her. Then her body turned into a log. Sakura came down from the sky with a kunai in each of her hands and fell on Royha, knocking him down and stabbing him in the heart and neck. The bugs consumed Moviku. Shino did nothing but stand there. "Now you know not to mess with the leaf." He said to him. Then he raised his arms, commanding his bugs back to him. Sakura was busy massacring Royha. When she was convinced that he was dead, she got up and chased as fast as she could towards Varlene, the serious look on her face made her look older. Shino followed quickly.
* * *
Hinata couldn't breath. She coughed and coughed. The fire was everywhere, and fumes and smoke literally was the atmosphere. She searched for Naruto through the smoke and found him coughing. She gasped, "Naruto-kun! Are you okay!?"
Naruto stood up. "Hinata-sama? Let's get out of here! Come on!" He grabbed her arm and ran out as fast as he could. A few flames burned him as he tried dodging it, and protecting Hinata from them at the same time. Hinata was blushing, only worried if Naruto would get hurt. Then she remembered something.
"N-no! We must look for survivors first!"
Naruto gasped. "That's right!" He said as a burning log fell upon him. He moved out of its way just in time, Hinata right behind him. "There's Marya!" He pointed as he ran towards her, dodging flames. "Marya-chan!" She was hardly breathing and had blood all over her body. "I'll help you get out! Hold on!" Naruto said to her.
"…W-wait… Y-you won't need… to worry about me… Naruto and H-Hinata… Listen… I was fooled. I had… n-no clue that Mikota… was a sound ninja. I'm so sorry…" Marya said.
"Stop talking! I'll get you out of here! Just hold on!" Naruto picked her up and started towards the door. Hinata used Byakugan to look for other survivors. She found two; laying right next to each other and told Naruto that she'd be right back. When Naruto reached the exit, he placed Marya on the grass, a good number of yards away from the building to be safe from the fire. But when he saw her pale face, he panicked. "Marya-chan! Wake up!" She only lay there, quiet and life-less. He winced, and ran back to Hinata. She was trying to carry two people at the same time. Naruto went to help her out. "Marya-chan! She…she-"
"I know. All of her Chakra points stopped." She bowed her head in sorrow as she reached the exit. "N-Naruto-kun…"
"Yeah, Hinata-chan?"
Hinata couldn't believe what she was about to ask him. 'Would you cry for me if I had died?' She decided that she should wait for a better time to talk to him about her feelings. "I-I mean… I'll go and check for more survivors." Naruto stared with a confused face. 'Strange girl…' Then he looked back at the two people who were lying next to Marya. One was a man, the other a woman. He bent down to check both of their pulses. The woman was alive, but the man…
"I can't find any survivors! This is horrible, Naruto-kun!" Hinata ran up. She looked at the two people lying in the soft grass. "Here, give both of them this. And spread this on their wounds." She handed Naruto a cup of liquid and a jug of some other liquid, then started running towards the building again.
"Hinata-chan! I can't feel this man's pulse! Are you sure he's alive?"
"Yes! Give him the medicine, fast! No wait… let me do it…" She could hardly think. Here she was in such a suspenseful situation, alone with her crush, and she was almost telling him what to do. She ran back towards him and pulled out a small tube-ish needle. She dipped it in the jug and then stabbed it into the man's heart. Both Hinata and Naruto winced. "Hurry! Spread this medicine on the woman's wounds, or else…" She didn't finish. Naruto was already on it. Naruto then realized that there were dead bugs on his hands. He swayed them off of him before he continued the nursing. "Naruto-kun… how did we survive and they didn't?" Hinata asked him just as she realized that they two were the only ones unharmed. Then it got to him.
"Oh! It must have been Shino!" Naruto said, looking at himself, finding more dead bugs.
Hinata looked at herself, seeing two dead bugs on her left shoe. "Shino-kun's bugs! They protected us from the explosion! But Naruto-kun… where is Sasuke-kun and everyone else? And we don't know where the enemy went. They disappeared on the stage. We don't even know if they were the only ninja's." Hinata, using Byakugan and started searching around the area while holding the tube-needle in the woman's chest.
"We'll find them… Shino and Sakura-chan are after them…" Naruto looked around. He could somewhat see a small display of people in a direction. "That way!" He pointed. Surprisingly, Hinata's Byakugan couldn't even see it. She hid her amazement in her pink face. Naruto looked back at her. "I can leave and chase after them while you help these people." Hinata thought for a moment.
"Go on. I'll catch up." She said, removing the needle from the woman's heart and felt her pulse come back to her. She blushed. 'I get to spend like half of this day with Naruto-kun!' Naruto was off, and just after Hinata packed back all of her medicines, she ran after Naruto to follow.
But then a sudden random sand ninja came and grabbed Hinata by the throat almost killing her instantly. But Naruto saw it coming before it happened, and had the ninja's weapon used against him. "You chose the wrong people to pick on!" Naruto told him. Hinata escaped the ninja, studying his chakra with her Byakugan. Hinata saw the sand ninja about to use a jutsu, so she attacked him from behind, interrupting his flow. "Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" Naruto yelled as he transformed into 5 different bunshins. Four of them attacked while one was left using Rasengan. All four clones held the enemy while Hinata backed away. It wasn't enough. The sand ninja started forming a seal and his body had turned into sand and fell to the ground. Hinata could see him in the air, about to attack her again, but she moved fast enough to dodge his attack. The Naruto clone that had Rasengan ready attacked the ninja head on. Hinata could see that this was the real Naruto who was using Rasengan. She got into her Taijutstu stance just in case he would miss or something would go wrong. But Naruto didn't miss; he hit the sand ninja right in the stomach, letting him fall to the ground in pain. Naruto looked at Hinata, and she nodded.
"He's dead." She said. Naruto realized that this was the ninja playing piano in the entertainment hall once he looked closer.
"Hinata-chan," Naruto began. "Are the survivors okay?"
"Yes. Both of them should get better within an hour. If not then someone would help them. It's a pretty big fire, I think that villagers would be suspicious." After a few seconds, they both nodded and ran towards where Naruto saw people running earlier.
* * *
As Linko Setsuna looked behind her, she could see people chasing after her. "Setsuna, what is it?" Her teammate asked her.
"Vinsu, we're being chased. But there's a good chance they won't catch us. Let's hurry anyway!" Setsuna had her mask covering her face now as she carried Sasuke. They would be a while before they reached the Sound Country. Luckily, it was the closest country to where they were. But then Setsuna sensed someone's presence nearby. She looked around but found no one.
Suddenly, Hatake Kakashi appeared in front of both of them, stopping them in their tracks. Vinsu laughed. "Sharingan Kakashi, sensei of Sasuke's team… you'll have to go through both of us to get him back. Sorry but we play this game the hard way…" Vinsu tried landing a punch on Kakashi but without success. Kakashi was instantly on Setsuna, trying to get Sasuke out of her arms. It wasn't any use because she went on running towards the Sound Country, keeping her eyes covered well. She completely ignored Vinsu's and Kakashi's life-threatening battle going on; she could only run as fast as she could. Soon, she was able to begin seeing the buildings of the Sound Country. Almost there, she told herself. As she entered the country, she slowed down, and for the first time, looked behind her. There was no one. Her running speed was at least 40mph, even though she could go faster, but she didn't want to waste her stamina in case she had to run a very long distance. She caught her breath and walked towards the village. Then she saw Kakashi there, leaning against the side of a building. Setsuna straightened herself. What now? Run some more? Attack? Then Kakashi spoke, stopping her from doing anything. She instantly looked away to hide her eyes.
"Put down the kid; unless you want to be killed. There's no way that Uchiha Sasuke is going to be in Orochimaru's presence with me around." Setsuna stepped back.
"I must bring him back to Orochimaru no matter what…" She talked back. "But I do not wish to fight you because I don't want to die… Please don't kill me. Orochimaru must have Sasuke back." Setsuna was thinking of what to do as she talked. Her goal was to waste time with him talking so that maybe help would come for her when they fight, if they fight.
Kakashi was confused. A sound ninja begging for mercy but still refusing to surrender? How… stupid. "Sorry but that's just how life is. I can't let Sasuke in Orochimaru's presence…" He tried getting a look at her face perhaps… or his face? The sound ninja was clothed in black, and comparing that with the night was not an easy thing to distinguish. And if this ninja was a woman, she sure had a deep, mysterious voice. Something about this ninja reminded him of Sasuke. She kept on hiding her face when Kakashi tried to see though.
"My name is Linko Setsuna…" Setsuna said as she kneeled, laying Sasuke on the ground. Then she disappeared, without a word. Kakashi was totally confused. He slowly but cautiously walked towards his unconscious student. On his third step, Setsuna was on his back, a knife in his shoulder. "Hakke shunzi no jutsu!" He heard her whisper. Instantly, Kakashi disappeared into a log. Setsuna looked around, forming a seal at the same time. 'All I need is one hit with Hakke shunzi… then he'll go unconscious.' She was so good at using Hakke shunzi because she's been using it so much lately to make the sand/sound believe that she has killed for her missions. It was her technique that made the opponent seem as if he died. She looked above her, and Kakashi came down, holding a kunai.
Setsuna was too quick for him. Kakashi was surprised. Who is this person? Usually I would have killed a normal sand ninja by now… he was thinking. Then, Hatake Kakashi fell unconscious just as his hand moved closer to his left eye. "…I was expecting more from you, Sharingan Kakashi. How pathetic. ::Humph::" She walked to towards Sasuke. She gasped. "Sasuke!" Sasuke was consciously standing, totally confused. His eyes were wide, staring at Setsuna.
"Sis! What-" Setsuna instantly was behind him, cup-holding his mouth so that he couldn't talk.
"Sasuke… I am not you're sister. You don't have a sister. My name is Linko Setsuna." She laughed at him. "You fell for my magic. Now you belong to Orochimaru, so don't worry."
Sasuke's eyes widened in fear and tragedy just as he was knocked out cold again.
* * *
As the hour passed nine, Naruto and Hinata found Shino and Sakura sitting on the ground, gasping for breath. "What's going on?! We have to get Sasuke back! And we have to get that girl for what she's done to us!" Naruto said loudly.
"Naruto… we lost them… we're tired… let's go home and sleep…" Shino said as he walked off.
"NO! I'm not giving up!" Naruto said back as he chased onwards. But Sakura grabbed his arm.
"There's no use… you don't understand how much I want Sasuke-kun back too, but… Varlene and that sound ninja are too fast for us. We should inform Kakashi-sensei about this before we get into this seriously, anyway." Sakura had a point. They were nearing the outer boundaries of Konohagakure.
Naruto sighed loudly and slammed a fist on the ground as he fell to his knees. He was going to say something, but then Hinata stopped him. "N-Naruto-kun… Please don't worry. We'll get Sasuke-kun back. Sakura-sama is right. A Jounin should know about this before we take any serious action." Naruto slowly agreed. "Varlene-sama may even be tricking the enemy."
Shino already gone, the three ninja's walked tiredly back to the village. Sakura abruptly started walking extremely slow. She fell to her knees, sobbing. "Sasuke-kun!" She screamed.
Hinata bent down to calm Sakura. "Sakura-sama!"
"I can't… go on… Sasuke-kun…" She trailed off in sobs.
Naruto grinned. "Come on, Sakura-chan! You said yourself that we'll get Sasuke back. And with me around, then there's no doubting it!" He smiled at her. "Let's go home to get some rest." Sakura looked up at Naruto with a teary face. "I'll carry you home…" Naruto suggested.
With one last sob, Sakura nodded and agreed that she could no longer walk. Hinata sighed, blushing as she looked jealously at Sakura.
* * *
"Orochimaru-kun…" Linko Setsuna walked up to the creepy lord. "I have brought to you Uchiha Sasuke." Sasuke was unconscious in her arms as she bowed. Setsuna now had sunglasses to hide her Sharingan eyes. She was creeped out by this dark guy.
Orochimaru studied her confusedly. "Tell me you're name." He ordered.
"Linko Setsuna, my lord. I come from the Sand." She bowed.
Orochimaru was suspicious. But there was indeed Uchiha Sasuke. What more could he say? A sand ninja bringing to him what he wanted like a manipulated servant. He walked up to her and stared. Then he began laughing. "Finally! I can finally use my arms again! Kabuto!" He called. Instantly, Kabuto was in his presence.
"Yes, my lord…" He gasped when he saw Sasuke. "You-!" He ran up to get Sasuke in his own arms, bringing him into a certain room. Orochimaru followed evilly.
Linko Setsuna quickly walked away from the building with an evil look on her face. She was definitely up to something…
Who is Linko Setsuna? What's she up to, and which side is she on?! …review and maybe I'll tell you in the next chapter… if there are enough reviews for me to make a next chapter… XD In other words, PLEASE REVIEW BECAUSE I REALLY FEEL KINDA LEFT OUT HERE! ::only has 3 reviews and one person that reviews for her::
