I Go Blind: Team Eight

Chapter Six: The Loner Lies Low, The Lonely Lull of Longevity!

Listening to the songs of the birds, Hinata lied on a blanket with her round chin reposed in her crossed arms. Beside her sat Kurenai with her knees to her chest and arms hugging her legs. A leaf fell on her hand. She peered up and saw Shino standing upside down on a branch with The Art of War in his hand. "Shino," he dropped off from the branch and landed close to the blanket, "why don't you join us?" She patted the blanket.

"Another time, prehaps," Shino flipped the page, "I'm too dirty at this moment."

A small bark preceeded the arrival of Kiba and Akamaru. A cloud of dust stalked them and the first thing they did was to roll over the blanket. Hinata roused her head when Kiba used her shoulder as a pillow, though he did not intent to offend her with his doglike mannerism. His feet raised on the knees of Kurenai pushed the limits of friendliness as she put them off lightly and rested her legs overtop them. "Good-day, Hinata. Good-day, Shino. Good-day Kurenai." Kiba said.

"Since you two are here," Kurenai addressed the guys, "you are prepared to take the test. I'm not to going have you go through with it, because we are running short on time. There is an unregistered ninja called the Loner who heads from town to town healing children who are deparately ill. I met him for the first time when I was a genin. During a mission, the team I was on and I were seperated from our teacher. With the other two members dying, we stumbled upon the Loner who agreed to save my teammates. One of my teammates was a member of the Uchiha clan. He has the secrets of the Sharingan."

Shino licked his index finger and flipped another page. Kurenai found it irritating but not worst than Kakashi's habit. The Art of War by Sun Tzu was a text from that ninja's based their training and philosophy. "If the secret of a bloodline is concerned, the Hunter-Nins should be involved." Shino said. "They are best prepared."

"Don't give this chance up! Do you want to go back to picking up garbage?" Kiba snickered.

"It is my responsibility to take care of the business of my teammates." Kurenai said. When Hinata heard this she smiled. "Are you going to come or not?"

"I'll go where my teammates need me." Shino responded.

"Good. Follow me." Kurenai stood up and bolted. Kiba rolled overtop Hinata's shoulders and jumped away too. When Hinata got up, Shino obstructed her path and adjusted his sunglasses. Hinata gave him some space. She held a string from her coat collar and plucked it with a finger.

"Yes?" she started. The book folded up and went into his pocket.

"Are you on edge?" Shino asked. Hinata thought for a while and swayed to her sides. "You knew that you would have to leave the blanket behind when we start the mission, so seems sensible to have not bring it at all. Are you covering up for feeling uneasy about this mission? I hope that I'm wrong."

"Yea," she admitted. It usually annoyed her when people scavenged immaterial things to come to deep meaning about a person, but Shino had never appeared to impose on people. "My father said that I would kill someone soon."

"And do you feel that if you do end up killing someone that he would have been under his guidance?"

"Huh-huh." She softly stook her heartbroken head.

"One day you will be with the one you love." Shino forecasted. Hinata hindered her breath but bestowed a small sober smile. "When this happens, will it be due to me or you? Your father just wanted to tell you that you wouldn't die because you couldn't kill a person on a mission."

"Thank you," she said silently to herself because Shino had left the scene.

Shino and Hinata caught up with Kiba and Kurenai. Kurenai had stopped to see which direction to head. Kiba squated on the tree with his hands on the branch. He looked over to Hinata and saw her look at Shino and smile. "Damn Shino," he thought, "he cheered up Hinata. Motivation is the chore of the leader of the group."

Akamaru detected the blank stare that Kiba gave Shino. The dog jumped off Kiba's head and walked up to Hinata. Next to Hinata's feet, he wagged his petite pointed tail and released a small yelp. Hinata directed her eyes from Shino to the dog and picked him up to her arms. Shino who had stood beside her jumped next to Kurenai. In the distance, Kiba saw that Shino was conscripting his pet bee to her orders. "You must be a very kind person," Kiba mentioned to Hinata, "Akamaru only lets people pick him up if they are special."

Hinata giggled and stroked Akaramu under the chin. Suddenly, the dog slipped from under her arms. "Shino is allegric to dogs." She exclaimed and brushed her coat off from dog hair. "If I have to help him, I shouldn't have dog hair on me."

"Hey," Kiba walked over to Hinata and picked up The Art of War, "he must have dropped it."

He turned through the pages and picked out a quote: "In making tactical dispositions, the highest pitch you can attain is to conceal them; conceal your dispositions, and you will be safe from the prying of the subtlest spies, from the machinations of the wisest brains." Kiba laughed. "What a load of crap."

His ears peaked as Kurenai called them again to follow her. Kiba placed the book into his pocket and pursued.

A-------------------

The Hokage, Iruka, and Hiashi sat down in an open room where the wind could blow freely. Hiashi held a dignified unexpressless face in the company of the two. "I demand that the Genin teams change." He said. "I am unsatsified with the results of the teams. I impose that Sakura transfer to team eight and in exchange, Hinata join team ten under the supervision of Kakashi."

"And what brings upon this request?" Hokage asked.

"Master, I discovered that Aburame Shino is on the same team as Hinata. The members of the Aburame clan are not to be trusted." He responded. "They are more ninja than ninja. Their secretive ways pass even you. The least noblest house should not meddle with the royality of Hyuuga."

"I have never had a more sophisicated student cultured in the way of the sages than Shino." Iruka argued. "When presented with the choice of who my students most admire, above other ninjas and family members, Shino had picked Lao-Tzu."

"Despite his acquaintance with the sages, my mind is made. If Shino is not isolated from Hinata, I will pull her out of the Academy's hand," he stood up and walked into the hallway. Haishi turned around to see a man wearing dark glasses and light brown overcoat. "Aburame, why are you here?"

"Karma?" The man voiced ambiguously. "I did not wish to disturb you with my company."

B-------------------

In the tall grass field, grasshoppers creaked. The Loner sat close to the fire with his back to the field. His dozen vessels sat on the other side of the fire close to the tree line. "Here are the two new members," his young voice said under his black wool scarf that covered the lower half of his face. "They have joined our ranks of not feeling or aging and be blessed with achieving indifferent wisdom. Your concentration can be freed from the distraction of noise and feeling; this will bring right concentration and enlightenment."

Ripples in his eyes formed as the larva crawled. They swirled in movement and with a hand gesture. "Byakugan!" he said. His vision darted out into the woods and it captured the faint streaks of activity. "Enemies approach. Hide in the tall grasses."

Kurenai halted her squad and looked at Hinata. She nodded in reply. "Byakugan!" Her head snapped to catch all of the scene ahead of the team. "A dozen of them hid in field and one has headed into a forest. Their charka is not normal, and instead it is like Shino's. Each has a little worms crawling in them."

"Understood. Hinata and Kiba, you will engage the rear enemies since you will have the easiest times sensing where they are hidden. They should have the power of the Byakugan and have to be killed. I want you, Shino, to hang back and use your bugs to battle the larvae." Kurenai dismissed Kiba and Hinata. Shino reached into his pockets and pulled out two scrolls. His hands then recoiled into his sleeves. When his hands came out, spiders crawled in his palms. They twisted their web together and shot off into the dark. The web weaved into a strong rope that wrapped around Shino's wrists. He grabbed the rope ready to swing. "You know that this ninja most likely has a tie to your clan?"

"I'm more worried about Hinata." He said and stepped off the branch into a swing.

The spiders hung onto a branch as Shino swung under and around it. He fixed his posture and reeled the spiders back into his coat. Bugs scurried over his face and leaked out from his clothing onto the tree. In his mind, he gave his orders to the swarm: "Surround the area... leave a path for his escape but not towards his allies." Shino watched the Loner jump over a bush and confront Kurenai. "We mustn't make him desparate."

"I'm here to bring nature back to my teammates," she declared. He rolled up his white armbands that were stained with dirt and blood. His appearance was cold, dead, and white. Maggots fell off his wrist and into the ground.

"Are you ready to join them?" The Loner said.

The firepit lingered with smoke. Kiba, Hinata and Akamaru emerged from the forest. Kiba gradually sniffed each odor of the land. The exhaustion brought composed him. His hood was drawn back and he closed his eyes. Akamaru stood up and patted Kiba's leg. In a blind search, Kiba pulled out two soldier pills. One fell out of his hand, so Akamaru walked over it and comsumed it. The fur on his back redden and pricked. Finally Kiba shallowed his pill. Hinata detected the brightness of their chakra. It flooded through their body. Kiba dropped down to all fours. "Quadraped no Jutsu!" Akamaru jumped on Kiba's arched back. "Beast-Human Clone!"

Before they dashed into the field, they clashed together to see who went first. One snapped his teeth at the other and growled. This did not stun the other Kiba as he ran his crawls down his face. The victor entered the field and the scarred one soon followed. To Hinata, who held back, the vision of battled looked like an infestation. The only thing she could hear were her father's words: "You will kill an enemy soon."

Ten web strings shot out of his sleeves to his sides. Shino prepared for Kurenai to determine the first move. When the white eyes of the Loner gazed into the genin, Shino suddenly snapped and entangled the his overseer in a cocoon of web. A mutilated arm reached out from the web and tugged the string to cause Shino to soar out of the area. When Shino passed over the Loner's head, he broke the webbing and remarked, "You brought a member of the Aburame clan with you."

Kiba furrowed through the tall grassed. From behind, he tackled a kid and broke the neck on impact with the ground. He puffed a few heavy breaths, and wiped the maggots off his face that feed on his cut. This spread the maggots to his hands. He jumped back and reached into his pocket. He pulled out Shino's copy of The Art of War, and swat it against his face. The pages felt apart into bugs once it hit his face and rid Kiba of the maggots.

The smoke had vanished from the fireplace but Hinata had not. She froze. "I can't leave Kiba and Akamaru alone to fight," she thought. Her eyes watched for the right moment to enter the whirlpool of maggots that sweeped the place. Two kunais came from her pouch, and she threw them in the field to disturb the flow. She chased after them. Her attention reverted to the space between the forest and tall grass. A clutter of bugs that she recognized as Shino, hurtled through the tree tops and towards her. The maggots clung to her while she stood still. She rushed with her arms over her face and catch Shino. The infestation sounded like rain. Shino dropped into Hinata's waiting arms.

Above the grass, two wild corkscrew weaved in and out of the field. One stopped and saw Hinata covered in destruction bugs. They popped off her and entered the circle of maggots. "Kiba!" Hinata shouted. His head shook in disagreement. She looked on his face that were covered in tiny bites but not claw marks. "Akamaru?"

Blood gushed from Akamaru's mouth and he returned to his dog form. Behind him stood a boy with long black hair. "NO!" She lamented. She dashed with her arms recoile and her right palm sprung on the assailant's forehead. She looked down on the dog, who winched. From her point of view, she had seen Akamaru in the form of Kiba with double the amount of chakra flowing through their path. The system could not have taken any more substance. She wiped her tears on the collar of her sleeve. Her lips flutter and she raised her hands to her face. "What's happened?"

Kiba revolved out of his tornado and smelt the air. "Shino's bugs are gone." He inhaled again. "Yahoo! Victory! Hinata? Akamaru? Were are you?" He admitted to himself, "Nothing's moving and the blood of the enemy has flooded the field."

Bugs crawled up Shino's legs as he had his back against the tree concealing himself from the Loner's area of view. "He must think that I'm in the field." He reflected. "His actions to dispense of my presence means that he has interest in Kurenai." His pet bee flew on his outreached finger and then he released it. He spoke aloud, "Still..."

"I know so much more about you." Shino looked up and a black scarf dropped down and wrapped around his neck.

Kiba entered a path along the grass that lay with dead bodies. He ran and heard the faint noise of crying. Hinata sat with her feet under her and cried into her fingers. Kiba rushed over to her. "Hinata."

She grabbed onto him and he lifted her to her feet. "I'm blind." Hinata weeped into his shoulder. She pushed herself away from him. "Get Akamaru; he's hurt."

Kiba looked around and spotted his dog covered in blood. "Akamaru," Kiba said and picked him up to put into his hood. "Let's head out."

C-------------------

Over the passage way to the Aburame residence hung a sign that read: "The Gateless Gate." Team eight had returned home without Shino. "What is it Kiba?" Hinata asked as they stopped to read the sign. Kiba released her arm he used to guide her since their return and scratched his head. He grumbled.

"There's a sign above the passageway that says the gateless gate." Kiba explained. "I think they're adversiting for a gate maker."

Kurenai held back a laugh. "A koan: The Great Way has no gates, a thousand roads enter it. When one passes through the gateless gate, he freely walks between heaven and earth."

"Ninja's learn that crap?" Kiba patted Hinata on the shoulder and laughed. Kiba sniffed the air. "Shino's father?"

When he walked into the path of stones scattered with leafs heading out under the passage way, he turned and looked at the visitors. "The gate isn't going to open up any more than that," he mentioned and carried on his way. The group followed him in his garden, "I'm happy I didn't lead you up the garden path."

He splashed the water over the hedges next to the tree. "Your son, Shino has been losted in unoffical action. It is a true misfortune."

He replied, "Maybe."

She returned alone the next time to bring him the news of his son's return. She acknowledge his switch of luck. "Maybe," was all he could say.

When he visited the hostipal, the doctor said that he had lost all of his bugs. "Tragedy always come to the young of today."

Kurenai stood next to where he was sitting reading a magazine. She crossed her arms and looked at him. "Maybe," she shouted in annoyance along with his calm voice. She looked over to the door of Shino's room that swung open and slamped shut. The doctor who left the room walked up to the other doctor. "I can't get in there."

"Why not?"

"There are destruction bugs swarming the room." The doctor accounted the situation.

"They are gathering to see who will enter him. He should employ stronger bugs for reasons I don't know." His father said.

"He's back in action?" Kurenai said. "Great!"

"Maybe," he caught her in surprise.

"Maybe?" She asked. "How can you say maybe it is great that he gets his bugs back?"

"It is good that he will be able to help people in need," he stated, "it is bad that he will have to face the option to use voilence. Together, it is a maybe. At this moment, who can say what caused Shino to scarifice all of his bugs?"

D-------------------

Kiba stared into Hinata's eyes. They had lost their full blue and black coals reverted from their once blue crystal perfection. This morning, the operators had removed four bugs that caught in her eyes. "Kiba?" She asked. "Are you still here?"

"Yes, I am." He responded.

"Sorry," she said, "if I'm talking more than usually. I used to be able to tell what people were saying by what I saw in their actions."

"Has your father visited you yet?" He changed the subject.

"No," she told him that it was a bad subject to which he diverted. She heard the window break and Kiba scream in pain. "Kiba!"

Her bed shook and she guided her hands down the railing of the bed on the side that Kiba had sat. He felt his hand, grabbed it in her hand, and could not feel a pulse. "Kiba," she tears rolled down her eyes and her vision emerged in a blurry array of colours. Soon she could recognize shapes and Kiba vanished. Kurenai walked into the room.

"I apologize you had to go through that, but you had to cry to reverse the side effects of your blindness." She said. "It took me a while to get the information from your father. You don't need to worry, Kiba is fine and attenting to Akamaru right now."

"What caused my blindness?" Hinata asked.

"We thought that the bugs that got into your eyes was the cause but your father told us that when using Byakugan and crying will make the user temporarily blind." Kurenai explained. "Akamaru is doing fine too."

"And Shino?"

"He's being the typical Aburame paradox."

-------- End of Chapter Six ------------

Next Chapter: The second mission is complete, but still a mystery to be revealed in the next mission. Hinata has helped her teammates though to do so she had to kill someone. Kiba is next to take the spotlight and you can bet that he is going to use his time to shine in his crazy way. Next time: Dogs: Team Eight!

Notes: Shino's father (still don't have a name yet), uses a pun when Kiba, Kurenai and Hinata follow him into his garden. To lead one up the garden path is an English phrase that means "to deceive". It would be absurd in the literal sense since he was leading them up the garden path, but like all good Tao sages, he uses a witty paradox. His words were correct but also equally incorrect. A correct meaning of what he says was that he was glad that his visitors weren't deceived when he said that his gateless gate couldn't be opened any more. They should let themselves in.

In a reference to a toaist story, an old farmer is surrounded by a circle of misfortunes and luck and each time someone refers to something being one way or the other, he says "maybe". The farmer loses a horse, then the horse comes back with three wild horses, then his son breaks his leg riding a horse, and finally his son is not enlisted to go to war because his son has a broken leg. When the neighbours tell him that things have turned up all right, yeah, he says "maybe".

Predictions: How can a predict the crazy Kiba? I can give you a hint that he is going to sing a song that has "Dogs" in the title. Pink Floyd? Maybe.