Self betaed and hot off the press so what you see is what you get for now. Not the longest update I've ever done, but it's the most I had time to squeeze out.
With a mouth of four inch fangs coming at her, Sakura reacted instinctively, driving a vicious fist into what felt like the underside of its jaw. The flesh was rubbery and unyielding, but the hit seemed unexpected enough to have the monster reeling.
They wasted no time enacting a strategic retreat, stumbling forward through the expanding passage without a clue what was ahead. But there was no mystery about what was behind them. Having detached itself from the ceiling of the cave, the beast was loping after them, its footsteps quaking the walls a bit.
"This isn't going to work," Tobirama said from in front of her. "We have no way of knowing where we're going and we're in the monster's lair."
Sakura didn't slow, didn't grant him the angry look he deserved. "Staying still to think up a plan isn't really an option!" Her mind felt like every step had it bouncing around in her skull. The shrill sounds of the creature in pursuit echoed throughout the passage, reminding her how very little time they had. At one point she could have sworn its slimy, barbed tongue rasped at the nape of her neck, repulsion shuddering through her from top to toe. "This tunnel is too wide; we're not going to lose it like this!" she realized.
Tobirama grunted in affirmation. "Then we'll make it narrow."
In the faint bit of light from sporadically glowing chunks of crystal, Sakura saw him extend his arm, chakra dancing at his fingertips. He dragged them against the rock walls, and she instantly knew his plan. Without hesitation she too focused on pushing chakra into the walls around them, never stopping her sprint.
The ground shook harder, nearly lurching them sideways as The Under had the same reaction to the chakra as it did before. A peek of light up ahead sparked a miniscule amount of hope in her chest, and Sakura dared to look back for the first time.
As the walls contracted, the chalky white monster had less room, its wide shoulders already barely fitting through. It opened its cylindrical mouth to hiss, the rows of teeth on display as its long tongue lashed out. There were no eyes in its face, none that she could spot anyway.
The pinkette noticed it flap stubby wing-like arms, trunk legs propelling it forward despite the walls shrinking the space.
She slammed a palm into the rock once more, desperate for the passage to close up quicker, and the next pulse stopped the monster so abruptly it nearly toppled over. "Let's hurry," Tobirama commanded, drawing her attention back to the end of the tunnel and the fact that their way out was disappearing rapidly.
The futilely struggling beast roared out. The two shinobi brushed shoulders just as they reached the exit, Tobirama vanishing into the intense light right in front of her eyes. It was something so simple, one miscalculated half step that sent Sakura's world toppling end over end. The tightness coiling around her ankle as she hit the ground hard forced a wheeze from her lungs that dislodged something for all she knew.
Her nails scraped uselessly, and when she twisted, all she saw was the creature's pink mouth open and glistening with saliva, tugging her back into the limited and still closing space of the tunnel with it.
Placing both hands around the thick, slimy appendage, Sakura's first instinct was to tear it off. But if the thing had the same immunity to chakra as the structure of the realm itself, that'd likely just make it incensed.
Passively waiting to become its last meal didn't appeal any stronger, and so she let passion stoke the inner flames that transformed her flesh into scales. The talons obtained much better purchase than her fingernails had, making a pained squeal echo around them. Although the victory was short-lived.
For her resistance, the kunoichi was lifted and slammed into the rock, her body convulsing as sharp jolts of electricity stabbed through every inch. The scream she emitted was a choked rasp of agony, the blue arcs coursing from its body into hers making her eyes roll back. She'd thought that surviving the blights' corruption was comparable to being flayed alive, but it had nothing on this.
'…N-no…' Sakura felt consciousness and air slipping away, and she knew she had failed. Either she would be eaten, or she would be crushed, but The Under would claim her corpse regardless.
"Ha…runo!" There was a faint recognition tickling at her wary brain. She knew that bellow. In fact she could almost swear she saw the hazy face of the surly man it belonged to.
Heat with the intensity of a roaring furnace wisped almost gently past her face. A smoky, charred scent trickling into her nose.
Maybe her father had burnt breakfast again…he did that sometimes.
Eyes bleary, Sakura coughed, a tight hand squeezing at her shoulder. "You aren't seriously going to die like this, are you?" Struggling to collect herself, green orbs slowly came back into focus, realizing that she was peering up into a familiar face. Deep ruby eyes, defined tattooed jawline, taut lips and all.
"…You… came back?"
He shook his head, jaw ticking. "Its weakness is fire. It's at least frightened off by it. A regular katon attack might not be enough, but yours could be."
Sluggishly nodding, she tried to work past the splitting headache and all the painful places it felt like her skin was peeling off, waiting for the acidic heat to travel up her throat.
The spew of green light was so bright it was hard to believe it came from her mouth. Blasting the monstrosity in the face, it wriggled against the unyielding walls that trapped it. What Sakura could now see was a tongue finally loosened, and she wasted no time scrambling away.
Her senses were fuzzy, but she knew Tobirama was more or less dragging her through the tiny space of the exit. He shoved her through first, his body colliding hard with hers forcing them both out of the gap.
The glittering inferno lit the whole cave emerald, the smell and squelch of burning flesh stuck to rock searing the air. Then, totally spent, Sakura let herself collapse backward, not expecting the hand that darted to her shoulder and slowed the descent. It was a surreal moment where nothing was said, because nothing could be.
The pinkette stared up at the man crouching beside her, her heart not yet aware that it could stop attempting to gallop out of her ribcage. Sakura wanted to lay back, rest her eyes, but she couldn't.
Not with the huge rush of adrenaline numbing everything and urging her to action. Sakura looked past Tobirama's shoulders, nearly gaping at how different their surroundings now were.
Where before they had been in a dank, desolate cave riddled with horrors that hid in the dark, they occupied a spacious room. "This is really still the same place? Or did we both die back there?"
The space was comparable to a peaceful forested glade, strange flowers in shapes she had never seen lining a serene lake with a gentle shimmer of green. The touch of dirt and spongy grass under her knees had never been so miraculous.
Tobirama was predictably unimpressed. "Quiet." The Senju hissed, holding a glowing hand toward her forehead. Sakura pushed it away, wary of any sudden movement.
He clicked his teeth, tense and annoyed. "Stop it and stay still. Don't be a child."
His pale hand surrounded in a soft hue of green once again drew closer, and Sakura's brow rose as she finally recognized what he was attempting to do.
"Are you running a diagnostic on me?"
The sharp slash of his eyebrows drawing down was his first response. "Neither of us have any idea what that creature could have been carrying, and it clearly zapped you. You're not going to become a liability."
A scowl slid into place. 'So much for any hint of concern.'
"Then why even come back?" she muttered. Louder, she scoffed. "I can do it myself." In the privacy of her own head though, there were doubts. He wasn't wrong in the fact that a brush with that monster and its subsequent attack to her nervous system had done damage.
Sakura flushed a little to notice the parts of her clothing that had been ripped in the struggle, random bits of bare skin exposed around her stomach, sides and back. But frigid Tobirama was good about ignoring that as well, so she followed his lead and pretended it didn't bother her.
"This isn't the time to make a point of trying to survive separately." he said after the pause. "One of us alone would never escape this realm. And I'm closer than ever to the man who orchestrated that pox. I don't have plans to die here."
Tobirama had stopped checking her over, moving his hand back. There was an expression there she couldn't place again. A small amount of satisfaction that he apparently hadn't found anything concerning maybe?
In the irritating way he often did, his harsh logic wasn't entirely wrong. Had she been a liability by coming away from that fight infected somehow, it would have done more than slow them down.
But, for the span of time it took that look to disappear from his eyes, she could almost imagine there was some concern about her wellbeing beyond her simply becoming a burden.
Sakura activated her own medical ninjutsu, deciding to start by healing her head. Getting slammed around had her thinking nonsense. Tobirama tolerated her at best, and the working relationship they had (if it could even be called that) was far from a friendship.
The shinobi got to his feet, but didn't move far. Sakura continued to silently flush out the stiffness and pain. The bubbling, peeling flesh of the attack was smoothing out, thankfully. Had the damage inflicted by attacks sustained here been resistant to ordinary medical ninjutsu, Sakura approximated she'd have collapsed from her injuries in a little over a day.
Speaking of time…
"You have a point," she conceded, drawing a long glance from over his shoulder. "But since this is really a different realm, then how do you think time is working here?" What would happen if they found a way out, only to discover years had gone by in their absence from the world above? There were so many things she wished she'd been able to ask Mizuchi!
"There's no way to tell that yet." Tobirama had completely set his eyes to the lake. He sighed, drifting slowly closer. Sakura couldn't feel anymore danger close by, and at the very least it was brightly lit "day" so they could see. "The focus should be finding a way to navigate. Wandering indefinitely isn't getting us any closer to leaving."
Finished repairing herself, Sakura crossed her legs and placed her cheek in one palm. "That's sensible and everything, but it'd be a lot easier if we knew more about the lay of the land here." The best way to get that was to go forth boldly and explore, ready for anything of course. But after her last close brush with death, sitting still didn't seem so bad.
Adding to her day of surprises, Tobirama sat down by the lake, speaking calmly, "Well it's never that easy in hostile territory. But you and I make a functional team, differences aside."
Sakura blinked, pinching her own thigh on the off chance she was in a genjutsu. "Kai," she whispered under her breath. Nothing. "That's…almost complimentary."
"Take it however." he said. "This is a matter of partnership increasing survival."
It was so very pragmatic and Tobirama, Sakura couldn't help her short laugh. "I can't argue with any of that. But you still don't trust me." Maybe it wasn't the right time to blurt that, all things considering. But the topic was worth revisiting if they could finally come to an understanding.
Sakura knew he held her at arms' length thanks to her connection to the very same deities causing so many issues, and the danger that presented. And stubborn as he was, even he had to see that despite that she'd ended up the exact place as him. Thrown into some deadly, forsaken nightmare realm to fight for survival.
"No, I don't." Tobirama replied, his tone bordering on boredom. "The events of my life up until now have taught me to be cautious of wildcards like you."
Like so many shinobi of the era, a large amount of the Senju's overabundance of caution was the harsh reality of everyday life. Reading about children being sent to war at a younger age than most genin was nothing compared to living it, and he had.
Sakura could understand the sentiment. If a stranger appeared under mysterious circumstances and everything kept changing, she wouldn't be able to accept it right away either.
She couldn't say she'd go about it in the same ways he had, but the devotion the Second Hokage had for the village was well documented in textbooks. It was only frustrating he couldn't see they were really on the same side, more than he realized.
Perhaps the feelings he had were the same factor motivating his resentment for the Uchiha?
"Who told you that?"
Sakura hadn't thought her wandering mind would lead her to utter something like that aloud, but Tobirama wouldn't be staring her down with such cold, piercing eyes otherwise.
"I-It's just…something I've observed." she swallowed.
"The history the Senju and Uchiha share was a long bitter one until the treaty shortly before the village was founded. Assigning a word like hatred to the feelings I carry is far too simple."
Unable to stop herself knowing she may never get the chance again, Sakura leaned forward. "Then could you explain it?"
Tobirama wasn't feeling inclined to share judging by the warning gaze he shot her. But she pinned him with an unrelenting stare, unwilling to let it drop. He couldn't back away from opening up this time. This time neither of them were going anywhere.
"I can't remember the exact age I was when I first saw a battlefield, but I remember the carnage." Between the low tone of his steady voice, there was a rawness from reliving that moment. "I remember people I knew lying dead and I remember what it felt like to kill my first enemy. She was a child just like I was, but she came at me with a sword, so I struck her down first."
Sakura tried to imagine herself not as a medic nin who had been trained by a sannin, or as a bright-eyed genin on Team 7, but as a timid academy student self-conscious about her forehead and desperate to make friends.
If someone had strapped her in armor and put a weapon into her hands, thrusting her onto the chaos of a battlefield, would she have truly been able to fight for her life? It had taken years to find her courage, so she couldn't see the little pink-haired girl of the past doing much more than cowering. Waiting to be killed.
"That was the first time I saw an Uchiha activate their Sharingan." Tobirama continued on, his face flickering with muted emotion before it was tucked away again. "Her brother was obviously enraged by her death. I watched him cut through five adult shinobi to get to her."
Sakura nodded, but didn't dare interrupt. "He didn't make it, Haruno." he revealed. "My father killed him without mercy. He berated me for not being more focused, and then he told me I shouldn't expect any more saving from him." Stopping, he stared directly into her face. "Although I can still see how that Uchiha dragged himself to his sister's body, and died holding her. That was when I came to the conclusion, no clan loves more than the Uchiha."
Love? Sakura hadn't truly ever thought of it. What drove the Uchiha to become so single-minded in their goals? Tobirama surmised it was out of love…
Thinking back, Sasuke had spent all his life seeking revenge. He had embraced darkness for the chance to exact punishment on the man who robbed him of everything. He had severed bonds with Team 7, left his home, made a deal with a heinous person like Orochimaru, and become a man on the run. All because he couldn't bear the thought of his family's demise going unavenged.
Sasuke's motivation felt like hatred toward his brother, but it was only natural that the flip side of that coin was deep love for his family.
And Obito…he too had fallen down such a dark path. One that caused him to try fighting the entire world. Sakura was able to piece enough together to understand love for a girl named Rin had started it all.
The fact that Tobirama might have understood the Uchiha more than imagined was tough to digest. "Well, am I wrong?" Tobirama challenged. "Your attachment to Izuna and lately your affiliation with Madara means you understand how seriously that clan takes bonds."
"You're right." she said quietly.
"The more I fought them, the more it all seemed off. They feel love just as deeply if not deeper than the Senju, but our ambition to eradicate them were always made out to be nobler. …I've seen the way an Uchiha self-destructs when they lose what they love most. I know how quickly everything we've strove for could evaporate should the day come when they feel wronged in a way they can't get over."
"All this time it's only been precaution?"
Tobirama rose, a faint pop coming from his shoulders as he flexed them.
"We've already wasted too much time here. We need to move on and establish a direction to take."
Sakura climbed to her feet with great reluctance. Everything he said gave her a better understanding of his attitude but it didn't erase a lot of the questions about him she wish she could puzzle out. Another time.
As if the conversation had never happened, he was already headed off ahead.
It could have been any other forest on earth, almost. The only thing keeping Tobirama from buying into that illusion, aside from common sense, was the fact that on occasion he could see things peeking out at them from treetops.
Strange things. His guard was high, ready to attack or defend at a moment's notice. But nothing came at them. Since their discussion, in which he explained far more than he had ever intended to Haruno, she had taken point.
Surprisingly quiet for the time being. He couldn't say he was complaining. She didn't seem to understand she vexed him as much as he vexed her. There'd been no reason to explain himself. Haruno had nothing to do with and he owed her nothing. It was as if her pointing out the irony of expecting a partnership while offering no trust had subconsciously effected something.
Tobirama had no problems disclosing information when it felt needed. If knowing a little more about his history with the Uchiha caused her to be more compliant in the partnership until they escaped, so be it.
"Wait," With the uncanny timing he was starting to ascribe to her, Haruno spoke up. "It's going to sound weird, but I know we've passed those boulders before. The shape is really distinctive."
The young woman had stopped, her back now to him as she studied a small clustering of three boulders. The largest one sat in the middle and reminded him of a curious hare up on its hind legs.
"Haruno,"
"I know what I'm talking about." she insisted. Jabbing a finger down, she declared, "We've passed this before!"
"We did not."
"Your eyebrow just twitched. You're not convinced either…" she crossed her arms, shaking her head. "I'm not taking another step until you admit we're lost."
Tobirama wasn't sure how it was possible, but thinking about it she was right. But he'd never been one to lose his sense of direction. He'd carefully kept a close eye on every turn they made, every right or left up until now. So how—
An obnoxious giggle, the sensation of being watched, and Tobirama was flinging one of his remaining kunai in the sound's general direction. He cursed the damn place that seemed to be dampening his sensor abilities. Haruno's head whipped around, panicked voices making it obvious they weren't alone. A tuft of fur dropped from above, and before he could say a word, the kunoichi was already reaching up to tug it.
"They've gotta hold of me!" something wailed, a furry animal dropping into Haruno's arms a second later.
Tobirama studied it, coming away with the impression that it was something that belonged on a child's shelf. Stuffed.
But based on the amount of whining and wiggling it was doing, it was no toy.
"Shuddup!" screeched a second voice, and then another one dropped much more gracefully from the same tree.
Tobirama was beyond put out. Talking badgers had nearly gotten the drop on him.
Haruno held the one in her arms out in front of her, eyes big with amusement. It flailed its tan paws theatrically. "This is it for me! Eaten by a two-legged…er, what're you?"
"You first," Tobirama spat, showing the badger a kunai.
"They look just like badgers." Haruno mused. Under her breath he heard her say something along the lines of, "So fluffy~"
"Hold your tongue, pink fleshling!" The slightly larger, darker of the two creatures stood on its back legs to appear bigger. It did nothing to make it more intimidating, however. The creature had a large brown nose at the end of a pointed snout, a fang peeking out from under its lips. "We're mujina!"
Dark vertical strips covered both its round eyes, and the ears on its head were fluffy and bear-like. They stood the same height as ordinary badgers, their hefty coats doing nothing but making them soft. Haruno sat the one in her arms down.
"What're those exactly."
"They're us." The one she'd been holding graced her with a dopey smile, ears twitching. "I'm Ubagabi and that's Tsubute!"
"No, stop!" Tsubute slashed at the loose-lipped mujina, and he leapt away. "Are you really going to tell these fleshlings we don't even know our identities?"
"I thought it'd be okay." Ubagabi sniffled, looking worried. "You told them we were mujina…"
"Talking rodents." Tobirama sighed. "This is already tiresome."
"Oi, you're in our domain." Tsubute got down on all fours, puffed the fur along his back, and bared his fangs. His eyes glowed silver and for the first time, Tobirama felt something ominous. "Show us some respect. We're powerful shapeshifters and masters of trickery. We could be anything. You're seeing our true forms, but it doesn't mean we can't be something ferocious enough to eat you whole."
"Don't do that." Ubagabi begged, clasping his paws together with pitiful eyes. "This is only the second time I've ever seen fleshlings."
"Stop calling us that. We're humans." Tobirama wasn't about to take lip from overweight raccoons with an identity crisis. It wasn't that kind of day and he refused to lose any more ground.
"Right. Fleshlings, like we've been saying." Tsubute snickered. "You sure don't belong down here, eh?" He moved to sniff at them, until the Senju reared back his leg, the silent threat of bunting him away should he get too close.
"That's exactly why we're looking for a way out." Haruno told them, her hand twitching as if she wanted to reach out and touch them. If she knew what was good for her she'd keep her hands far away from such shifty creatures. "You're the first sentient creatures we've seen."
"Not everything down here's as smart, that's why." Tsubute got back up on his back paws, a proud glint in his eyes. "Some monsters down here only know how to chomp, chomp, chomp. But not us. We know what's what."
"We know a way out," Ubagabi volunteered, his tail thumping the ground.
Haruno gasped, kneeling down close to the rodent's face. "You do?"
"Sure do." Tobirama eyed the smug one that seemed to be the leader. He didn't trust its beady amber eyes as far as he could smell the thing. "We won't be showing you, though." he cackled.
Reaching down, Sakura snagged the creature by the scruff with a stern look, raising him to be eye level. "It's in your best interest to rethink that answer."
"Are you serious? We haven't had entertainment in millennia and we're supposed to let you leave?"
"Well, we did use an illusion to get them confused so maybe we cou—"
Tobirama wasted no time in seizing the second one, his chatter stopping abruptly. "That was because of you shits?" He knew it. He knew his sense of direction hadn't left him.
"We were bored!" yelped Tsubute. "You don't understand what it's like, being stuck down here for millennia. And sure we know the way out, but it's impossible without a deity's power."
"We have that." Haruno assured, dropping him unceremoniously. "I'm a godslayer."
Ubagabi wriggled until he had craned his neck to sniff the air in Haruno's general direction. "I smell it now! At first all I smelled was Pale Neck saliva, but—"
"Don't…remind me."
"The real deal, huh? Last godslayer came through here was in a rush, and we kept out of his way. Scent that tainted never belongs to nobody good."
"What did he look like? A sword? A mask?" Tobirama all but shook the doe-eyed rodent.
"N-No sword!" Ubagabi cried. "I…I feel dizzy…" He clasped his paws over his snout like he was fighting down nausea. Afraid the beast might vomit, Tobirama dropped him to land on all fours.
"He came through harvesting material. A long time ago, lots of gods and goddesses did. There's a lot of raw iron ripe for the taking if you want a divine weapon. Ores and jewels too."
Haruno eyed Tsubute in interest. "Alright. How about this: if you lead us to the iron, and then the exit, we'll let you come along."
"Guide humans around? How's that benefit us?" Ubagabi frowned, nose wiggling.
The kunoichi gave him a conspiratorial look, and he had to admit he admired her acting. "Don't you want to get out?" she bribed.
They stared at her like she was the talking rodent. Tobirama threw in a disbelieving glance of his own. She'd better have no intention of keeping that promise…
The animals were bizarre and crafty and there was no telling what they would try to do topside. He'd have too much to do once he returned to the surface world to chase down crazed badgers.
"You'd let us out?" Ubagabi crawled closer, his tail swishing slowly.
"As long as you show us the way." Haruno reminded.
"…You'd let all of us out?" Tsubute clarified, a twinkle in his eyes.
"All of you?" The Senju didn't like the sound of it. The look of it. If this situation had a taste he was positive he'd hate that too.
"You thought we were the only two around?" Ubagabi laughed, numerous heads popping out of the foliage.
Last chapter I received some comments I'll address here. I think some readers mistakenly believed me mentioning reviews meant I was looking for feedback of some kind on how I could improve to get more. I mentioned them to point out when reviews seem slow it lets me know that it's better to use my time to devote to other things first, and sometimes that may not leave a lot of extra free time for updates. These chapters are lengthy, take a while to write until I produce something I'm satisfied with, and quite frankly this story has already far exceeded the amount of time and creative labor I expected to put into it when I conceived it as a pet project. I love writing it, but it's easier to continue to do so when people interact with the story positively.
That being said thank you kindly to everyone who did and does so whenever they can. Also, some people have issues with the side characters being such a large part of the story, and some people feel that this hasn't delivered on its promise as a romance fic because there hasn't been anything I guess "major" enough for them. Both those things have been addressed numerous times. This is slow burn and due to pacing of this fic, it's happening surely but gradually. And side characters are here to stay. If either of those things bother you, by all means, find stories that you like better… I'm going to continue to follow my vision for my writing. The majority of readers express investment in the story, including in those elements.
Moving on, the first creature our two heroes encounter is strongly based off a khezu from the Monster Hunter franchise. When I was trying to determine the appearances of some of what they'd find, that one strongly stood out.
Tobirama finally gets a chance to kind of talk and explain why he is the way he is (to an extent). To me it'd be inevitable that they get to the bottom of the frostiness settled between them, even if a lot of that comes from one grouchy red-eyed source. I really felt it was important for Tobirama to explain to her in his own words about his history with the Uchiha clan.
It's going to be pretty important soon and Sakura making her own decision about whether or not she thinks his feelings are fair may lead to whether they grow closer or further apart in the ordeal. But, as promised TobiSaku will walk away from all of this closer and with mutual respect, and that's all I'll say.
An ubagabi is normally depicted as a type of fire ghost yokai, and it has its own tale. But, I chose it as a name here. More on that later. Mujina in general are supernatural animal-like yokai in folklore. In real life they're basically Japanese badgers, sometimes they're mistaken for raccoon dogs. But in the lore they're badger-like creatures that have powers. They're shapeshifters and can play cruel tricks on humans when they want to. But they were introduced in Tobirama's POV and he thinks they're talking rodents, so that word was thrown around. Doesn't mean they really are rodents per se.
Thank you for all the support loyal readers continue to show. It's a major reason I continue to try and make time to keep updating despite my schedule. Also, thank you to everyone wished me well at my new job. It's a very meaningful position to me that I've been striving to reach for some time now. Super kind of all of you.
