Natsumi looked around as they headed toward the Village gates, lost in thought. She stopped suddenly to look down a side street. Naruto saw her and stopped.
"Natsumi? Are ya coming?"
She smiled and nodded. "Yeah. I just saw Yuki and I want to ask her to come with us. They say cats have the ability to sense spirits."
"Okay."
Natsumi gave a short wave, then hopped away and out of sight for a moment. A few seconds later, she rejoined the group with a pout.
"She wouldn't even let me finish asking." She made a face. "She said that grooming herself was more important."
Naruto rolled his eyes. "Some Ninja Cat. She doesn't even listen to you."
Natsumi shrugged. "Well, our contract is that she helps me on missions and stuff. She doesn't have to come with me everywhere I go, but it would be nice sometimes."
"If you say so. That cat is pretty rude."
Natsumi giggled. "I like having her around. Sometimes she says what's really on my mind but I'm just too shy to say. She helps me come out of my shell."
The Genin reached the lone cabin in the thick of the woods, not far from a small stream. The full cloak of night had fallen and the only light was from the moon. The area seemed too quiet— almost eerily so— and the home was in a state of disrepair from the many years it had been abandoned.
"This... This is it." Sakura's eyes widened at the ramshackle building.
For a while, no one did anything until Lee stepped in front of the group with his eyes bright.
"Let's go inside already! We have to help the Princess!"
"G-Guys..." TenTen trembled and pointed to a nearby tree. A length of rope hung from a thick branch, long dry-rotted. Its end was hastily cut, and the remnants of a noose could be seen on the ground, buried partially by overgrown moss.
A chill ran through the group.
"That's..." Natsumi swallowed. "That's where he took his own life..."
Lee shuddered. "E-Even so... we can't stop now. T-The P-P-Princess needs us..."
"So..." Shino muttered. "Who's going in first?"
There was silence until Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"I'll go." He stepped forward with his hands in his pockets. "There's no such thing as ghosts. You're all being ridiculous."
Sakura and Ino blushed faintly, and Sakura watched him approach the door. It sagged on its hinges and had patches missing from rot and infestation.
"Sasuke's so brave!" Sakura clasped her hands together and held them close. "He's not afraid of anything!"
He stepped coolly onto the old, creaking porch and glanced back at the group. They watched in anticipation, most of them trembling. He scoffed under his breath, then gently opened the door to step inside the doorway. "Those fools are embarrassing."
"Stop shaking and get in here." He looked over his shoulder. "There's nothing—"
His eyes widened suddenly and he let out a cry of surprise as he was pulled inside the house and the door was slammed shut.
The group screamed and the color drained from their faces.
"GAH!" Naruto screamed and grasped his hair tightly. "The house ate Sasuke!"
"Sasuke!" Sakura's eyes widened and they rushed to the door to pull it open, but the door was stuck.
"I-It won't open!" Naruto tugged on the knob and Akamaru whimpered and stepped back from the house with his tail in between his legs.
"S-Sasuke..." Ino's eyes fluttered and she nearly fainted, leaning against Shikamaru for support.
Choji licked the chip crumbs from his fingers and stuck the balled-up empty bag into his pocket. "Let me try."
They stepped back and Choji held up a hand sign. "Partial Expansion Jutsu!"
His right hand enlarged and the group moved further away as he drew his hand back, swinging it at the door. It shattered into splinters and a large gust of dust exploded from the hole. They coughed and waved the air, and, when the dust settled, they could see Sasuke.
They stepped over the debris and hurried over to where he struggled against invisible restraints. He stood quickly, scowling, and wiped his arms angrily as he looked around.
"Sasuke!" Sakura reached out to dust a cobweb out of his hair and he swatted her hand away. "Are you alright?"
"W-What happened?" Naruto looked around carefully and shuddered.
"I don't know." He muttered irritably. "I felt someone grab me."
Sasuke dusted himself off and looked around. "I don't see any wires or traps."
"B-But no one's here." Ino held her arms in close to her and glanced around.
"Did you see anyone?" Shikamaru began to walk around slowly, the old floors creaking under his feet.
"No." Sasuke muttered.
"C-Could it be...?" TenTen gulped.
"A g-ghost?" Hinata whispered and hid, standing behind Naruto instinctively as she trembled.
"I don't see any signs that anyone has been here but us." Shikamaru commented and examined rotten food left on the table, then drew away from the smell.
Sakura made a face and looked at the furniture. "The dust is over a centimeter thick, except where Choji busted down the door."
"Spread out and look for any clues." Shikamaru looked at them. "A journal, maybe, or any kind of notes."
"It's hard to see much without any light." Lee frowned slightly.
Natsumi smiled faintly and picked up a lantern that sat on a shelf, then searched for a match in the drawers. After several unsuccessful attempts, she was able to light the lantern and its soft glow illuminated the area.
"That's better." She held it up to look around and then let out a quiet scream.
"Natsumi! What's wrong?!" Naruto turned and his twin pointed at the walls. Long, angry scratches covered the walls, accompanied by dried blood.
"I-I think... he did this." She spoke in a barely audible squeak and screeched as a mouse ran between her feet, stirring up the dust and revealing human fingernails on the floor.
Naruto's face whitened. "Y-You mean h-he... scratched until his nails fell off?"
Natsumi gripped his sleeve tightly and stood closer to him. "This is so creepy..."
He nodded in agreement and Natsumi noticed Hinata hiding.
"Hinata, are you okay?"
"U-Um... Y-yes, I'm fine." She stammered.
"I'm creeped out, too." Natsumi held out her hand and smiled faintly. "Do you want to hold my hand?"
Hinata's eyes widened for a moment and then she took Natsumi's hand. "T-Thanks."
"You're welcome." Natsumi leaned closer and whispered. "I'm really glad you said yes because I was actually pretty scared. This whole place is spooky." She shuddered and smiled sheepishly. "But it was my idea to do this, so I can't just back out now."
"You're really brave, Natsumi-chan."
"Me?" She laughed quietly and shook her head. "I'm not. If everyone weren't here, I wouldn't have come in on my own."
A quick succession of clacking scurried on the roof above them and the sound echo around the Genin. Natsumi yelped quietly and leaned closer to Hinata, squeezing her hand.
"W-What was that?!" Naruto looked up at the ceiling.
"Some kind of animal, probably." Sasuke scoffed. "We're in the middle of the woods."
The group carefully continued to search the house, listening intently for any noises. The house remained silent.
"Anything?" Shikamaru looked between them and the shook their heads.
"Nothing important, anyway." Sakura crossed her arms in thought and touched her chin. "If he kept a journal, I'm not sure where else it could be."
Natsumi's eyes widened slightly and she looked upward. "I might."
Releasing Hinata's hand, Natsumi gathered some Chakra at the bottoms of her feet and walked up the wall, on the vaulted ceiling, and examined the joists and beams from above. Carefully pressing against the old wood, her finger passed over a button disguised as a knot. Upon pressing it, a small section of the beam opened to reveal a secret cache.
Several pouches of gems and outdated currency had been stuffed inside, as well as a leatherbound journal. Her mouth twitched in a smile and she picked up the journal, blew off the dust, and held it up for them to see.
"Does this look about right?"
Shikamaru nodded.
"How did you know it would be up there?" Naruto chuckled at his twins' success.
"I just remembered something Kiri had told me about hiding things. 'It either goes over your head or is right under your nose.'" Natsumi giggled and stopped suddenly, letting out a cry as she slipped from the ceiling and fell, landing on Sasuke in a pile.
"Natsumi!" Naruto helped her up and she shuddered and clutched the journal close. "What happened?"
"I-I don't know." She shuddered again. "I-It felt like someone pulled me down."
Sakura gulped and their eyes wandered upward.
"I-It was probably just my imagination." Natsumi forced a laughed and held out the book to Shikamaru, who took it from her.
"Or a ghost." Ino whispered to Sakura, who squeaked inadvertently and then glared at her rival.
Shikamaru opened the journal and scanned the pages, turning them delicately until he reached the middle section of the journal and pointed to the first line on the page.
"He wrote about being assigned the mission here, and then it cuts off." He turned several pages before the writing continued and his eyes widened slightly.
"What is it?" Natsumi asked and his expression shifted as he read.
"It's... a confession." He answered simply.
Their eyes widened and they leaned closer to look at the writing.
"What does it say?" Lee asked Shikamaru remained silent as he read.
Natsumi moved beside him to read aloud.
"I never meant to kill her. I never meant to kill any of them. All I wanted was the amulet.
The way it shone in the sunlight and hung around her neck, it beckoned to me. It tempted me with its presence alone. By the end of the second day of travel, it was all I could think about.
She was asleep. I only wanted to take it and slip away. Why did she have to wake up?"
A piece of furniture shifted several centimeters across the floor and her head turned up to see it. "U-Um..."
"Y-You saw that, right?" Ino asked under her breath to Choji, whose stomach gurgled.
"Y-Yeah." He nodded.
Natsumi's eyes fell back onto the passage and she began to read it aloud once more, stuttering quietly.
"I stabbed her without thinking before she could make any sound of alarm. It wasn't until her blood poured over my hands that I realized the full extent of what I had done.
I had killed Princess Akahime."
A chair in the dining room tipped over and a chill ran up their spines.
"I-I don't like this place." Sakura murmured.
Naruto's skin crawled and he gulped. "C-Can we go now?"
"We haven't found the information we came for, yet." Shikamaru gave the house another look, then glanced back at the book. "There's still more."
Natsumi started again and let out a slow breath to steady herself.
"I took the amulet from her immediately. I wanted to flee. I wanted to escape with my shame and my prize. I knew my brothers would stop me. I had no choice. One by one, they each died by my hand, until only I, the youngest, remained."
Natsumi paused for a moment and continued.
"I believed that it would be easy to get away with my crimes. Creating a false story of an ambush was simple. Wounding myself to avoid arousing suspicion was even easier. Hiding the amulet for safekeeping was the easiest of all. I dared to glance one final time into the carriage to look at her corpse, so tragically young and lovely, and I saw her spirit emerge from her body.
It recognized me with a scream and rushed at me. We fell from the carriage and struggled. Then, her spirit looked over the corpses of my brothers and fled into the woods. I thought that I had seen the last of her. I was mistaken.
As soon as the search party found the staged scene and we returned to Konoha, I began to see her face everywhere I turned. I felt her blood coating my hands at all times. No matter what I do, I cannot be rid of these memories. The amulet has cursed me, I know it.
Hammer, nor sword, nor stone would destroy the cursed pendant. Not even fire could free me from this waking nightmare.
I can never make amends for my crimes, and now she has cursed me in death. I can't step into the woods without hearing her weeping."
Natsumi cleared her throat, finished, and shuddered. "That's... where it ends."
Silence settled around them and Shikamaru checked the remaining pages but found them blank.
"It doesn't say where he hid the amulet, though." Lee looked over at the entry again.
"How can we find it, now?" Sakura let out a breath and Shikamaru reread the passage.
"It says right here." He looked up at them and quoted the entry. "'Hammer, nor sword, nor stone would destroy the pendant... Not even fire could free me.'"
"Fire." Shikamaru repeated and turned toward the mantle.
Natsumi's eyes widened. "Of course... he tried to burn it."
Sasuke's eyes fell on the mountain of soot and ash and approached slowly, then stuck his hand inside. A moment later he grasped something and pulled it out, holding it up into the light of the lantern. "So... this is it?"
"The pendant!" Naruto gaped.
"It's real..." Natsumi stared at the pendant as Sasuke studied it.
A large, golden stone was set inside of an ornately carved wooden pendant. Its leather cord had been destroyed by the fire, but neither the wooden pendant or the stone were charred.
"Amazing." TenTen leaned closer to examine it as Sasuke brought it over.
"It looks too plain to be important." Kiba made a face and tapped the stone. "But, a jewel this big's sure to be valuable. What is it?"
Natsumi reached out to touch the stone, then held the amulet in her hand as if determining its weight and then sniffed it. Her eyes widened. "It's Amber!"
"Amber?" Naruto looked at her. "What's that? Is it valuable?"
"Fossilized tree sap, you dunce." Sakura nudged him.
"Tree sap?" He made a face. "The amazingly powerful amulet is... tree sap?"
Natsumi gazed at her reflection in the amber. "It's so pretty."
A soft glow flickered in the core of the stone and the furniture around them pulled away simultaneously, creating an empty circle.
They shrieked and quickly ran out of the house with their hearts pounding in their chests.
Natsumi held the amulet close to her as she recovered her breath. "I can't believe it's actually real." She looked down at it. "So much suffering and death, all for this."
They stepped away from the cabin and took in large breaths of fresh air.
The clearing quieted and a faint skittering and clacking echoed around them from the trees. They stood closer together, and a branch snapped off of a tall tree behind them and fell to the ground. Moving away from it quickly, they looked into the forest ahead and froze.
Through the trees, a girl with long red hair and a formal gown could be seen from a distance. She was too far to distinguish any detail, but they knew immediately that it was the Princess.
They watched as the figure drew farther away and disappeared, though the woods filled with the soft sound of crying.
"D-Did you see that?" Naruto's teeth chattered.
"The Princess' ghost." Lee's gaze remained fixed at where she had been.
"She's real." Natsumi murmured under her breath.