No More Dead Heroes
Chapter 11: Melancholy
It's war now, and yes, it's hell. Oh how the times have changed; there aren't many smiles in this hidden village anymore. People are being separated from their loved ones left and right, either by death or duty, and some are starting to lose what hope they had left. But some are still holding out for that better day, whether it's ever going to come or not.
Hinata didn't want to open her eyes that morning. The only thing waiting was a sore, bandaged shoulder, and a waking nightmare. She and the Genins had returned to Konoha late yesterday night. They had first gone to the Jounin camp, but Hinata knew that Tsunade needed to be informed of Hotaka Kaburo's death, along with his family. Also, this meant that the rest of the Genins would be called back to Konoha, so that they could be divided into their teams now, instead of in two weeks from now.
Hinata wasn't so sure she was suitable to be a team leader anymore. Under her watch she had let one of her Genins die, and they had only been facing three enemies. Who was to say she wouldn't be put into situations with her team where they were up against ten enemy shinobi, or twenty? Tsunade had tried to tell her it wasn't her fault, that there was no way she could have been prepared for that, but it didn't matter. The fact remained that twelve year-old boys were not supposed to die.
And he had died doing what she was supposed to do. He had protected his teammate from being killed, at the cost of his own life; he had been doing what a shinobi was supposed to do. Hinata opened her eyes, sighing. She lay on her back, staring at the white ceiling of her room. She had slept in this same room for her entire life; it seemed to be the only constant in a rapidly changing world. She couldn't even count on her family to stay the same.
She had to get up sometime; the other Genins would be arriving in the afternoon, with Ino and Choji as well. Tsunade had sent out two messengers, one to each camp, as soon as Hinata had told her what happened. She wanted to have them in their teams by this evening, so that they could begin training together tomorrow. Hinata hadn't been able to find her voice to protest. She wasn't ready for this yet; the Godaime had to see that. It would be better for the Genins if Tsunade just assigned the job to someone else, someone who would be able to take care of them until they could do it themselves. Hinata wasn't that person.
Besides, they were one Genin short now, so couldn't two teams just have four members instead of the traditional three? That would free up one more Chuunin on a list that was getting tragically short. The most recent version had been edited even since she had been away at the Jounin Camp. It was hard to believe that Aburame Shino, of all people, was a missing-nin. She hadn't seen Kiba since she had returned, but apparently he had also gotten back yesterday, and heard the same thing she had.
Tsunade had told asked her to keep an eye on him, when she got the chance, but Hinata was reluctant to even go near him. She had tried to comfort Neji, after Gaara's death, but soon learned that the last thing her cousin wanted was someone following him around, constantly asking him if he was alright, when it was so painfully obvious that he wasn't. It would probably be better if they just let him deal with it on his own, not crowd him and all that.
Hinata sat up reluctantly when a clock alarm went off, signaling to anyone in the room (only her) that it was two. She had to be back in the Hokage's office at two-thirty, which meant she only had fifteen minutes to get ready before she had to leave if she wanted to even be close to being on time. When had it gotten so late anyway? This was the first time in several years she had actually slept in, but she really shouldn't be so surprised. Only yesterday she had had to fight not only for her life but for the lives of five children. Just because she failed didn't mean she wasn't tired.
She swung her legs of the side of the bed, flinching as they hit the cold floor. It may have been May, but this part of the house had always been colder than the rest, for no apparent reason. Rotating her wounded shoulder carefully, Hinata considered the bandage. It had bled for a while directly after the needle had pierced it, but had stopped once she actually paid it enough attention to wrap it. It had bled a little during the night when she had tossed and turned, but not enough for her to want to bother with changing the bandage.
Pushing her blankets away, Hinata stood up on shaky legs. Stumbling slightly, she worked her way across her room to the closet. It wasn't the wound that was making her tremble, well, at least not the physical one; it wasn't even serious enough for Tsunade to waste chakra on to heal it. Given a day or two her shoulder would be as good as new, which was good because she didn't need that on top of the incident at the Jounin Camp to make her look weak in front of her students. She could only pray the Godaime gave her the two-man team.
Hinata pulled her pajamas over her head, wincing as her shoulder pulled. She put on a pair of knee length tan shorts, a long sleeved mesh shirt, and a tan vest. Bending down to wrap a bandage around her thigh to put her shuriken pouch on, she caught sight of a large purple bruise on her lower back, and it most likely ran up to about her neck as well. Well wasn't that just wonderful? It was definitely from when she had attacked the remaining shinobi yesterday, the one who had killed Kaburo. He had managed to get her into a hold and had slammed her back against a tree. Fortunately this had given her a chance to land a blow directly on his heart, killing him easily.
She ignored the pain as the bruise was stretched, first rolling the bandage out around her right short leg, then taking two others and wrapping them around her calves. Securing these with black bands and attaching her shuriken pouch, Hinata straightened up. Ten minutes left, giving her time to grab an apple or something after she washed her face and brushed her teeth. Of course, that meant she would have to sprint all the way to the Hokage's office, but she hadn't eaten since breakfast yesterday, and Tsunade probably wouldn't be thrilled if she arrived there on time only to keel over a few minutes later.
Sighing, Hinata pushed her door open and stepped into the washroom. The cold water felt amazing on her face, and her teeth had desperately needed cleaning as she had been far too wiped out last night to even bother with personal hygiene. She had literally changed and fallen into bed. Even that had almost been too much effort, but her clothes had been bloodstained, dirt stained, and torn, and sleeping in them wouldn't have been too comfortable. Five minutes before she absolutely had to leave, hopefully the refrigerator wasn't totally empty.
Hinata arrived in the Godaime's office with two minutes to spare, amazingly enough. Of course, she spent those minutes trying to catch her breath, hanging onto the wall for dear life. Tsunade thankfully hadn't commented, but let her take her time. Ino, Choji, Jirosa and Nanashi were already here, along with all of the Genins. Hinata, once she could stand unaided again, noticed that her four looked significantly more downcast than the others. Understandable, considering what they had been through yesterday. It was the first, and definitely not the last, time any of them had seen a teammate and friend die in front of them.
Tsunade coughed softly, commanding the attention of everyone in the room immediately. "If you're all ready?" She waited for them to nod before continuing. "Good, then it's time to place you fourteen into your teams. There will, unfortunately, be one team of two, on account of the death of Hotaka Kaburo. These five will be your leaders; Maruki Jirosa, Rohku Nanashi, Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Choji, and," she paused for moment. "Hyuuga Hinata. I've divided you by skill level, so that each team is approximately equal in overall strength. The two-man team is made up of the two strongest Genins, and the strongest instructor, as they will always be short one person." Hinata sighed, looked like she wouldn't be getting the smaller team then, not if it was going to the strongest of the five of them.
"Team One, team leader: Akimichi Choji, team members: Akiji Sumiko, Nobu Daichi, and Rendetta Ichiro. Team Two, team leader: Maruki Jirosa, team members: Hachiro Jiro, Minoru Shiro, Taro Kazuko. Team Three, team leader: Rohku Nanashi, team members: Akamu Yori, Kenichi Momoko, Nibori Kohaku. Team Four, team leader: Yamanaka Ino, team members: Akio Rin, Sho Michi, Yoshiro Kori. And last, but not least, Team Five. Team leader: Hyuuga Hinata, team members: Katsuo Takumi and Ryota Kin."
As soon as the Godaime stopped talking, the Genins started chattering amongst themselves; the five team leaders just sort of stood there, slightly shell shocked. None of them had expected Tsunade to pronounce Hinata as the strongest of them, least of all Hinata herself. Finally Ino pasted a smile on her face and clapped the Hyuuga on the shoulder. "Well congratulations then Hinata. Have fun with your monsters, okay?" Hinata gave her a weak smile in return, wishing she had the same enthusiasm as the Genins.
Tsunade again called the room to attention, this time by rapping her knuckles against the wooden surface of her desk. The team leaders stood at attention immediately, the Genins following suit only a few seconds after. "You have two days to get acquainted with each other, make your fighting styles mesh, and hopefully pick up a new trick or two. On the third day, May 8th, I assign you your first mission. Team One, be here at seven, Team Two, seven thirty, Team Three, eight, Team Four, eight thirty, and Team Five, be here at nine. Be prepared to leave Konoha from there. That is all, Genins, find your team leader, and go where they tell you; I will see you all in two days."
It was Lee who saw Sakura first; Sakura, and an ANBU. The taijutsu genius sighed, no matter where he went he couldn't escape the elite shinobi, might as well stop trying. Maybe that reverse formula he used in the Chuunin Selection Exam would work here as well. When the pink haired kunoichi was about two hundred yards off she raised one arm above her head to give them an energetic wave. Lee smiled, and waved back, ignoring, or maybe just not seeing, the look Tenten gave him.
"Hello Sakura-san!" Lee called, his voice carrying across the flat of the field. "What brings you out here?" He wasn't too surprised to see her, the road they were on was one of the main ones in and out of Konoha, and the one most people used when traveling in this general direction, whether they were leaving the hidden village, like Sakura appeared to be, or just arriving, like Lee, Gai, Tenten, and Moriko.
"Who's that?" Moriko asked from her position under Gai's arm, a kind of half sneer on her face. "Looks kind of weak, fruity even." Lee turned to face the Sound-nin, scowling, but Gai interrupted before he could hurt their prisoner. They need to give her to Ibiki before he started torturing his own men and women out of boredom. The Jounin waved a finger in Moriko's face, grinning.
"You're welcome to test that theory of course, but it's probably not worth your time, seeing as I can tell you that that weakling trained directly under the Godaime herself. And I'm sure you're aware that our Hokage is no weakling." Moriko fell silent, watching Sakura with a wary eye, like many people did when they learned who had taught her most of what she knew, as the girl approached.
Sakura and her ANBU guard, wearing white and bird's mask, halted in front of the team. "Hello Lee-san, Tenten-chan, and Gai-sensei. This your prisoner? Ah, stupid question. Of course she is." Sakura stopped chatting long enough to waggle her fingers in the direction of the Sound-nin before continuing. "Tsunade-sama sent me to fix her up then ANBU-san will take her back to Konoha and give her to Ibiki, I'm meant to come back with you, fix up your wounds as well on the way."
Gai dropped Moriko onto the path, gesturing at her with the arm that had previously been keeping her from running away. "She's all yours Sakura-chan, don't go to rough on her." Sakura smiled, kneeling besides the Sound-nin, who had thankfully had enough sense not to try and make a break for it when there were this many other shinobi around. One could argue that Orochimaru didn't exactly employ the cream of the crop brains wise for lowly foot soldiers, but they knew when to shut up and sit still in the name of self preservation.
"Sakura-chan, what's the news from Konoha?" Tenten asked while the pink haired girl went to work on Moriko. They had been away from the hidden village for a month and three weeks now, and for all they knew the town could have been moved a mile below ground. Sakura frowned, concentrating on a bruise on the Sound-nin's collarbone before replying. "Have, ah, the lists been updated since we were gone?"
Sakura flinched, something that didn't go unnoticed by any of the three; the ANBU didn't even appear to be paying attention to them, instead watching somewhere off on the horizon. "Yes, they have. A few times actually. Kiba's back from his latest mission now, with Iruka-sensei, but their third team member was killed, Daiki-sensei, remember him? And just yesterday a Genin died at one of the Jounin Camps, one of the ones Hinata-chan was doing preliminary training for before they were split into their teams. And, er, Shino."
"Shino-kun was killed!" Lee exclaimed, leaning forward so that he could hear Sakura better. She shook her head, and they all gave her confused looks.
"No, no, he's not dead yet." The other three flinched at her use of the word yet, and Moriko hissed in pain as Sakura apparently applied a bit too much pressure to what appeared to be a broken rib. "Sorry about that." Sakura said vaguely, moving on to a set of stab wounds in her shoulder, presumably from shuriken. "Beat her up enough Gai?" She asked, hands working quickly and efficiently, proof of her demanding training with the Godaime. "Shino, Shino is a missing-nin."
Gai was the first one to recover from this, and shifted his weight to the other side, accidentally crushing two of Moriko's fingers in the process. Sakura clicked her tongue against her teeth impatiently and touched her own hand to the Sound-nin's now broken one, healing it easily. "Could you repeat that please Sakura-chan? I could have sworn you said that Shino was a missing-nin, we've been away for a long time, tired and all that, you know how it is."
Sakura shook her head. "I don't doubt that you're tired Gai-sensei, but you heard me correctly. He left the village on May 1st, after poisoning me. Since then he's killed two hunter-nins and Kurenai-sensei."
"Neji, did you hear that?" Shikamaru whispered, casting a furtive glance over his left shoulder into the woods behind them. They had left their camp this morning, neither of them getting much sleep after that. Scuffing out their fire had been easy enough, and they had headed across the field, deciding to stay out in what limited sun there was rather than hide under the cover of the trees. They had stayed parallel to the forest the entire time, only a few yards away from the tall trees and shadowy corners, just in case.
Turning to look at the Jounin, Neji shook his head. "I didn't hear it, but I see something. There, where you're looking, there's a shadow. Can you see it?" Mimicking the Hyuuga, Shikamaru shook his head, focusing harder on the row of trees only about twenty yards back. Sensing a concentration of chakra, Shikamaru smiled slightly, still keeping his own eyes on the forests. He really envied the Hyuuga clan and their Byakugan, especially in situations like this one.
"Can you see what it is?" He asked, straining to see something, anything. He knew they were just making targets of themselves, standing here out in the open like this, but it wasn't like they would be any better off if they kept walking. The fact remained that there was something in the forest, most likely someone actually, and it was following them. Too keep walking would be counter-productive, maybe Neji could see all the way behind him, but Shikamaru didn't want to be caught unawares. Glancing up, Shikamaru scowled at all the clouds in the sky. Usually he loved to just lay back and watch the fluffy white clouds float across the sky, but today they would just limit his ability to perform the kage mane.
"A shinobi." was Neji's calm reply. "Actually, five shinobi. Three from the Sound, and two from…" He fell silent, his blank white eyes straining to see clearly through the shadows. "Shikamaru, how long have we been at war with the Hidden Rain for?" Shikamaru turned his head slowly so that he could the Hyuuga standing behind him. A look of pure disbelief had spread across his face, but when he saw the solemnity of Neji's expression, it quickly changed to horror. Calmly, levelly, Neji continued. "You only returned from your last mission a week ago, correct? Do you have enough chakra to use your kage mane on five enemies?"
Watching the ANBU carefully, Shikamaru calculated quickly in his head. "Enough to give you six minutes, no more, maybe less. And it's cloudy today, so it would take an amazing stroke of luck, of which neither of us has much, for nothing to block the sun and cause it to fail. If possible, I would like to avoid using it; it's too much of an unknown in a situation such as ours."
Neji nodded, still watching the woods intently. "Obviously they know we've spotted them, they must just be waiting to see what we do in response to this knowledge before they attack. I can't tell what level they are at, but if there are only five, we should at least have a fighting chance. However, I think we'll have a better chance if we wait for them to come to us."
"No. I need the shadows cast by the trees in the forest. I have… Another technique. It doesn't require as much chakra as the kage mane; and it certainly has its uses. And if the sun is covered it's that much better." He had pinned down one of the shadows with his eyes and was following it as it moved around in the trees behind them. They should be able to get under the cover of the forest before they were attacked, if they went now. But first, there was something he had to say. "Neji, when we're in the forest, it will be easier for them to target your blind spot. Don't hesitate to use Kaiten, even if I'm in range. I'll use kawarimi; or something to that effect. Just…" He paused, shrugging his shoulders slightly in a somewhat helpless gesture. "Don't hesitate."
He ignored the look Neji was giving him, squared his shoulders, took a deep breath; and felt his concentration shatter when a slender hand slipped into his. And as they walked into the shadowy forest, hand in hand, they didn't see the shadows that had leapt into action to arrive there before them. They didn't see the flash of pale flesh against the dark of the trees as hands hurried to be prepared. They didn't see the glint of steel as kunai were pulled out of holsters and umbrellas were lifted off of armored shoulders.
They heard the voice though. "Isn't that touching?" They heard it because it was directly followed by a short burst of flame, and only Neji's reflexes, pushing Shikamaru down and rolling away himself; kept them from being turned into barbeque. They were both on their feet before the second fire ball even had time to materialize, Neji throwing the short sword he had been trained with prior to being accepted into the ranks of the ANBU in the direction the first had come from, not intending for it to actually do any damage, just put the caster off balance so that they would have time to recover their own.
Shikamaru quickly formed a relatively long set of hand seals, his hands a pale blur in the shadows. "Kage mane bunshin no jutsu!" From the shadows beside him rose three vaguely human shapes, two dimensional and as black as pitch. Their hands had long tapered fingers, meant for the sole purpose of strangling the life out of anything in their grasp; their eyes were shadows upon shadows, indeterminable from the rest of the body. Separating themselves from the shadows they had been brought forth from, the shadow clones advanced on the enemy shinobi, targeting them easily even though Shikamaru couldn't have seen them if his life had depended on it.
He recognized immediately the dark shape against the sky as an umbrella, but it took Neji's warning, yelled from across the clearing, for him to see it as a threat. And then it started raining needles. A bright glow of chakra from Neji's direction, and the needles flying away from there, told Shikamaru everything he needed to know without having to remove his attention from where it was needed; right here. Throwing himself behind a tree, ducking low beneath its bottom branch, he managed to avoid all but three of the needles.
The Jounin winced, pulling the metal slivers out one after another, watching the blood drip down them with a kind of morbid fascination. But he couldn't let himself be distracted, or he'd soon be dead. It was right about then that he noticed the face only inches from his. "AH-mph." A hand clamped itself over his mouth, stopping the surprised shriek that had escaped from between his treacherous lips.
"Shh now," the Sound-nin said, recognizable as such from the forehead protector draped nonchalantly around his neck. "We don't want to bring your pretty little boyfriend running." About to snarl a reply, Shikamaru realized it would be far more productive to just bit down on the hand, in a reaction vaguely reminiscent of Kiba and Akamaru. Swearing, the other shinobi elbowed the Jounin in the gut, but the hand that remained over his mouth stopped his grunt from emerging. Shikamaru could hear sounds of struggle out in the forest, but did not bother trying to turn and see what was happening; the Sound-nin had a tight hold on him. Which was going to make this all the worse for him.
Or it would have if Shikamaru had reacted in time to stop the hand with a damp white cloth in its grasp from replacing the hand over his mouth, extending to also cover his nose. The shadowy hand that had been inching up the Sound-nin's back towards his neck speed backwards, returning to its original form. And elsewhere in the clearing, the three shadow clones appeared to melt back into the shadows they had come from. And the Rain-nin they had been holding down used this chance to get Hyuuga Neji in much the same way when he didn't see the retreat of the shadows quick enough to stop his forward movement, straight into the waiting arms of the enemy.
a/n: Well, here it is, only what, two days late? –sigh– I'm sorry, but I didn't manage to get this finished on Wednesday night, which meant I couldn't post it on Thursday morning, and then I had to go to night school on Thursday evening because I'm graduating a year early, so I couldn't post it on Thursday night or Friday morning. So I typed it as soon as I got home today (Friday), and hopefully will have Friday's chapter by tonight or tomorrow morning. Of course, I then have a Peace Conference until 4 in the afternoon on Saturday, so Saturday's chapter will be up either that night or the next morning, and then I have a lot of homework to do, so hopefully Sunday's chapter will be up that night, and then Monday's on time. And then it starts all over again, as I have night school on Monday's too. –sigh– This is going to be interesting…
Smoking Panda: Glad to see none of you want to kill me… Too badly anyway. Aww, thank you! And yes, I feel sorry for Kiba too. Not to mention Shino, Naruto, Kakashi, Genma, Shizune, Tsunade, Sakura, Lee, Gai, Tenten, Neji, Shikamaru, Hinata… Need I go on?
Dameus: Ah, but you forget, all they need to do is hold him still for a second, and then Sasuke steps in with the Mangekyou Sharingan… Twice a day remember.
E. Vanity: End with a tragedy? What would make you think that! –shifty eyes–
Hujin: Me too. Though, I always loved Neji, so that doesn't really count does it? And he does. For a while. But I just can't resist the temptation to make them suffer, y'know?
Bunch-o-Nuts: Thanks! I did… Decently. Okay, no I didn't. I got an 87. –sigh– My math teacher was like O.o… Anyway, glad you liked it! Even with the lack-of-fightiness and the Kakashi torture…