-I just have to say, ANYone who reads this.. PLEASe rite a review... even just to say how much it sux...ThnX . i REALLy 'preciate it.. -
--- Chapter 3 ---
"That- that sounded like Sakura!!"stuttered Naruto. Shino looked towards the right side of the cave wall, where the sound was coming from.
"It's coming from in there!"he said, "they must be in the other tunnel somewhere behind this rock."
"What happened to them?"asked Hinata, her eyes wide, with her both her hands clasped in front of her chest.
"I dunno, but we have to save them!!!"cried Naruto running along the tunnel, as fast as he could.
"Wait, Naruto, wait, it might be dangerous."called Shikamaru, but he didn't chase after Naruto.
"Why don't you go after him, Shikamaru?" wondered Hinata, squinting through the darkness.
"Just wait... I'll bet he forgot about them..."grinned Shikamaru.
"Wait? Wait for what?"Hinata wanted to know. Right on cue, there was a resounding ' thumP'
"There." answered Shikamaru, with a huge grin on his face. He walked towards the noise. Shino and Hinata followed wearily. Naruto came into view, he was lying on the ground and groaning. He was using his arms to try and push himself up.
"Naruto-kun? Are you ok?"said Hinata, who was trying to keep her face straight. She helped Naruto up. Shino and Naruto were laughing. Naruto looked angry. He was trying to brush the dirt from his clothes.
"Who the HECK put the trap there!!" he asked angrily, pointing to the thin string of wire, a few inches away from him. Shikamaru and Shino only laughed harder. Hinata was grinning now. Naruto looked from one person to another, getting angrier still.
"Well? Who was it??"
"You!" Shikamaru gasped, finally managing to stop laughing.
"Wha..? Me?"asked Naruto, now confused, "Why would I want to trip myself?"
"You set that trap up when we stopped to rest."
"Ohhhh..." Naruto turned red, then remembering the scream he cried, "Sakura!" He was attempting to run off again but this time Shino grabbed him by the shoulder. "Let go! I have to save Sakura!"he yelled struggled.
"There's no point!"said Shikamaru, impatiently.
"Just because your heartless, doesn't mean I am!" protested Naruto, struggling out of Shino's grip.
"Naruto, listen to me!" said Shikamaru firmly, "The two tunnels may be next to each other, but they aren't joined together! You can't get to Sakura!" Naruto stopped and turned around to face him.
"It's not? How would you know?"
"Because my team had a mission that had to do with these tunnels. When we got here, we didn't know which tunnel we were suppose to enter. We split up and decided to see if there were any paths that intersected them in the middle. There wasn't." explained Shikamaru, grimly. Realization dawned on Naruto, then he yelled-
"WELL I'LL MAKE A PATH, THEN! RASENGAN!" Shikamaru's eyes opened in fright. He leaped in and grabbed Naruto by the wrist.
"You IDIOT! Don't you know what could happen if you did that?"he growled, keeping a wary eye on Naruto's palm, where blue chakra was building up, "The cave could collapse in on us, maybe even on the other team. And you could cause an avalanche on Konoha!" The blue fire that was gathering, slowly died out.
"But- Sakura-chan is in trouble! We have save her!"cried Naruto, desperately.
"Don't you think that Sasuke will do that?"demanded Shikamaru as he let go of Naruto, "Do you really believe he will do nothing to save her?" Naruto opened his mouth to protest but then close it again. Yes, Shikamaru is right, he thought to himself. He walked over to the side of the cave and put his hands on the rocky wall. I'm counting on you...Sasuke. Naruto looked up. Hinata was looking concerned. He smiled at her, reassuring her that he was fine.
"Let's go! Hinata?" She nodded and started heading off. Naruto and Shikamaru sped along with Shino at the rear.
------ Meanwhile ------
Sakura turned around and screamed. She stumbled back a few steps. Sasuke whipped around, and pointed his kunai at the enemy. His mouth opened in shock. There, standing not 2 metres away from him was the most eerie thing he had ever seen. It was like a huge pile black goo, which in a way resembled jell-o that had no difinte shape or size. It had bloodshot red eyes that seemed to stare at everyone.
Sasuke could see how the thing managed to sneak behind them so noiselessly. It slithered towards them noisily and then flattened itself so it bacame part of the shadows that covered the caves and snuck behind them.
Huh, thought Sasuke, let's just see how powerfull this thing is! He jumped up into the air and struck the blob with his kunai right between the eyes. He tried to pull the dagger out but it was stuck fast. Sasuke let go of his kunai and jumped to the ground.
" Sasuke!"exclaimed Sakura, "I think you got it!" Akamaru growled.
In a soft voice Kiba hissed, "No, not yet." Sasuke looked at the beast again. There was his kunai stuck in the monster, but there wasn't any kind of blood coming out. When Sasuke looked closely, he slowly backed away from the thing.
"What is it Sasuke-kun?"asked Sukura nervously, seeing the expression on his face. "Sasuke-kun?" He did not answer, nor take his eyes away from The Shadow. He merely pointed with a shaking hand. Sakura turned her head slowly towards the monster and instantly clapped her hands over her mouth.
Sasuke's kunai was sinking into it's flesh. The thing did not seemed injured. There was amusement in it's eyes.
"Heheheehehehe..." It's voice was strangely high pitched and when he heard it, Akamaru whined and jumped into Kiba's hands. Sakura felt something cold sliding down her spine. Ino had not taken her eyes off the monster. Now she shivered. Maybe this will help she thought as she put her shaky hands in front of her to make a little window with her two index fingers and thumbs. She aimed it at the slimy creature.
"Shintenshin no jutsu!"she cried and then collasped on to the dirt ground, before anyone could catch her.
"Ino!"cried Sakura, "Ino!" She looked expectantly at The Shadow. There was silence. Then-
"Hheehehe," it laughed in it's chilling voice.
"Is that Ino?" asked Kiba, cautiously.
"Hehehehe," it went on, "Did you actually think I was going to fall for such as weak jutsu?" Kiba, Sasuke and Sakura all gasped.
"She missed...?"breathed Sasuke.
"No, she didn't," answered the Shadow. "But- those jutsu's have absolute no effect on me, because I don't have an actual mind!! Hehehee!"
It streched out an hand-like blob towards Ino's crumpled body. Sasuke and Kiba lept in to save her but another hand streched out and covered both their bodies. Sakura was the only one free one now. She threw her dagger at the thing in attempt to distract it and ran to Ino. But The Shadow ignored the kunai. A tenticle wrapped itself around Sakura and then it lifted all three struggling bodies in the air.
The black blob flowed over Ino, covering her. Now it looked like Ino's body was inside the beast. Sakura shuddered.
"Ino!!!!!!"she yelled and then to the jell-o she snarled, "Let go of us!"
"And what are you going to do if I don't?"it asked. Sakura didn't reply.
"GRrrrRRRRRR!!!" All three heads turned to the source of the noise. It was Akamaru. He had not been caught by The Shadow.
"Akamaru!!!" called Kiba, "Run away! There's nothing you can do! Run!" Akamaru turned to look at his owner. He was deciding whether to listen to his master or not. "Run Akamaru! Get out of the tunnel!!"Kiba repeated. But it was too late. A black tenticle, draped itself around Akamaru. Then it melted into a muzzel, to cover his snout.
"What have you done you piece of SHIT!?" Kiba yelled at the enemy, his voice shaking with anger. Then he struggled wildy against The Shadows' grip. "Let me GO!"
The red eyes focused on Kiba for a second, then on the dog. For second it seemed that there was a flicker of sadness in its eyes but then the grip tightened on Kiba and it raised him higher into the air. Before he knew it Kiba was thrown into Akamaru and momentem smashed them both against the wall. They both fell, unconscious.
Sakura gasped in horror. "KIBA!!!" she cried in dispair. "Let go! Please!" Sasuke didn't say anything, nor did he struggle. He was looking closely at those red eyes. They seem to stirr a memory inside him. He exclaimed softly when the memory came back to him. How could i forget those eyes? he thought to himself, They remind me of...Itachi.
"Itachi? Is that you?" he whispered. Sakura heared him and stopped trying to get free. She looked at Sasuke, then back to the thing holding her. It's him? she thought horrorified, it can't be. It just can't be. The thing, which had also heard Sasuke stopped, then raise its arms above, what looked like, its head.
"Itachi? Who's that? Never heard of him, sorry." And with that, it flung Sakura and Sasuke across the ground with all it's might. They were both knocked out. After checking that they were all unconscious, it crawled away at a rapid speed with Ino inside its body.
------ Hours later ------
Team 1 was still running. As more and more time passed, Shikamaru got more and more edgy. We should stop for a while he thought, looking at Hinata. She was gradually slowing down.
"We should have a rest!" he called to Hinata, Naruto and Shino.
"But I can still go on!" protested Naruto. Not wanted to say he saw that Hinata was getting tired Shikamaru simply just said,
"If you tire yourself out then, what will happen when we get to the end and there's our enemy, waiting for us?"
"He does have a point you know." replied Shino, from the back, "let's stop." They all stopped but Naruto was still grumbling. Shikamaru looked at him.
"If you're not tired then go do something for me." he offered.
"What? What?" asked Naruto, instantly hyped up.
"Go set up the traps."
Naruto- .#
"Go on, Naruto."urged Shino, with a grin. He held out some wire for Naruto. Naruto took the wire grudgingly and walked off. When he was gone Shikamaru sat next to Hinata.
"Are you alright?" he asked, concerned, "Or should we rest here for the night?" Hinata looked at Shikamaru, with shock. Why is being so nice? she thought. Shikamaru, who saw the surprised expression on her face shrugged and turned away embarassed.
"It's just that- we're a team and all, so we havta look out for each other... you know?"he said quickly. Hinata was still looking at Shikamaru. "If you say to stop for a night I won't think you're weak or something because I know that Byakugan takes out a lot of Chakra, and you're really important to me- I mean the team..." he trailed off.
Shikamaru bit his lip. Damn that Naruto! he thought bitterly.
- hehehehe.. get the hints? lol til nxt chapter -