It has been, exactly 3 months and 8 days. I really didn't plan this big of a gap between these two chapters, but circumstances (with some hint laziness) caused this anyway. And I deeply apologize for that. I did have my semester exams, after which I upgraded my laptop, which then caused my laptop to malfunction and die. I thought I would have to write this chapter all over again since I had already finished half of it by then. But somehow, I was able to revive it by myself without any data loss. But I could have finished this chapter in July itself, after which I would have to take the break. So I'm really sorry.
I would not be answering reviews here. Everyone who reviewed after chapter 19th will probably get their answer by the time this chapter is online unless you are a guest.
Naruto franchise does not belong to me.
Chapter 20: Human-fish? Or Fishy-humans?
Land of Sea
After searching for Haku some more and not finding any sign of him, the rest of the Team 11 had to return as a thick mist was starting to form that would have made searching even more difficult.
A short and restless sleep later, the team was again looking for their lost member, this time with an awake Hinata, but to no avail. After regaining consciousness, Hinata had apologized profusely to her team, blaming herself for losing Haku. Her sensei though was having none of it.
"It was an ambush Hinata. An ambush we ALL got caught in. If anyone was at fault, it should be me for taking you to a place where there was confirmed danger at that time of the night. I've told you many times, don't be so hard on yourself." She had scolded. Hinata, haven't still completely forgiven herself, nodded anyway and aided her team in finding their teammate.
Finally, they decided it was better to have more eyes looking for Haku and went to the captain of the fleet they were supposed to guard. It also made sense to inform him of the exact situation.
"I understand your situation. Your colleague is missing and I'm sure you are all worried about him." Hitode said.
"Yes, did you get any information on where he might be?" Anko asked him.
"Unfortunately, I have yet to hear any such report from any shipwreck survivor." He answered solemnly, "Unfortunately we cannot delay our departure any more than today afternoon. I hope, you can understand that our relationship with Land of Water lies in jeopardy if we do so."
Anko nodded, "I understand. We will try to find our teammate till then. We will meet your ship this afternoon for guard duty with or without him. And one more thing, while our excursion yesterday to look for this Demon of the Ocean you told us about can be called a failure, we are almost hundred per cent sure that it does not have anything to do with a demon of any kind. What we are dealing with is definitely Shinobi. Or at-least something Shinobi related. It might very well be a summoning animal of some kind, but whoever let it loose has to be a Shinobi."
Hitode contemplated on what he was told, "That would explain why mostly the ships carrying valuables were targeted. But it doesn't explain the disappearances that have happened throughout the village."
Anko shook her head, "Rogue shinobis don't always do this kind of stuff for money. Many times, they are hired by someone to do their dirty work. That work may even include human trafficking or slave trading. We won't know for sure until we catch one of them. But we will do our best to solve the problem during our stay here. If we can't, I'm sure Hokage-sama can lend another team of specialists to do so."
"We would be forever grateful," Hitode said bowing his head.
Haku was not prepared to see a roof over when he opened his eyes. Though, if he was being true to himself, he was not expecting to open his eyes at all. This was a far better alternative to that.
He sat up, causing a wet cloth to fall from his head on his lap. His memory was hazy, he was trying to recall what happened to him to land him in his position. He looked around the small space he was in. It certainly didn't look like the Inn his team was supposed to stay in for the night.
That's when his memories started to flow in like water from an open flood gate. He remembered being dragged underwater while losing his chakra. Then everything blacked out. The next thing he remembered was seeing a black pupil before losing consciousness again.
His recalling halted when he heard the door to wherever he was slid open. He was shocked to see the same eye, two of them this time, he just recalled. Taking his eyes off them, he realized he was looking at the bandaged girl that he and his team saved earlier.
"I see you're awake." The girl asked him. The emotionless tone she used reminded him of his younger self. He recalled that this girl was apparently 'spirited away' as the villagers called it. That was probably the reason -or at least one reason- she spoke that way, he guessed.
"Uh, yeah. You are the one we met yesterday. You must be the one who saved me. Thank you very much." He expressed his gratitude genuinely.
The girl looked down meekly, on being recognised or being thanked like that, he didn't know. "It was just a coincidence." She replied in a small voice.
"Well co-incidence or not, it is the truth. I owe you one, I guess. I am Haku by the way. Can I at least get the name of my saviour?" Haku asked, instantly regretting afterwards. Jiraiya's influence got slightly out of hand over there. That line came out a lot cheesier than he wanted to.
The girl though didn't give any outward reaction to it. "Isaribi." She simply answered.
Somehow, not getting any kind of reaction out of her unsettled Haku. He didn't consider himself a flirt or anything but Jiraiya had certainly rubbed off on him. It always bugged Jiraiya that while he couldn't land a lady with his skills, Haku almost seemed to not even need much of those skills to do so. Jiraiya would later realize, thanks to an aloof Uchiha, that women, young girls especially, were more interested in guys that were actually NOT interested in them.
But back to the matter at hand, Haku was now dressed in his usual garb and sitting in front of Isaribi, who was pouring some food she had made in a bowl for him.
"So," Isaribi started with her usual tone, "What were you doing in such a remote area?" She asked while handing him the bowl.
Haku had to stop himself before he answered the question truthfully. Yesterday her team had concluded that this girl probably had to have some relation to this Demon of the Ocean. While a single girl coming back may have been a case of sheer happenstance, or luck, the fact that she may have had any contact with this demon was of great importance.
"I and my team are actually on a mission from our village," Haku answered without giving much out. He decided subtility was the key here. Interrogation was just one of the things their sensei specialized in and had started to teach some of it to them.
"What kind of mission?" Isaribi pressed on. While her tone did not change much from before Haku could tell she wanted to get something out of him as well. He smiled internally. It seemed they both were trying to make the other spill the beans.
"Nothing much. Just to guard a shipment." Haku answered trying to not sound too guarded at the same time trying to make her drop her guard.
Isaribi herself had to make an effort to not click her tongue. She knew that the town didn't have enough funds to hire a team of shinobi to guard mere fishermen. They had to be here to guard the shipment that was planned for Water country. Deciding to try and maybe scare the genin in front of her off, "It would be best for you to give up. There is a demon lurking in the ocean. You'll never survive an encounter with it."
Haku almost smirked at that. Taking up a contemplating look on his face, "Oh yeah! I heard about it from the town folks. But don't worry about that. I and my team will be able to take care of this demon." He assured before continuing, "Speaking of the demon, you wouldn't have any information about it, would you? It will really help us a lot if we knew what we are up against." He sprung the trap.
Of course, taking last night's encounter into account, it was clear to Haku that whatever this Demon of the Ocean was, was manmade. If that was the case, then all the cases of people being 'spirited away' were cases of kidnapping. And Isaribi's return meant that either she somehow managed to give her kidnappers the slip, which was unlikely as they would have made sure to silence her by now, or, and Haku hoped it was not the case, that Isaribi was in some form working with them.
Sadly, Isaribi shook her head and stood, "It seems you are feeling better now. In that case, when you're finished with your food, please leave." She told him before stepping out of the house.
With her back turned to him, Haku didn't try and hide his frown. It was understandable that this demon was a sore spot for her, but to him, it looked like she put her guard up to hundred per cent as soon as he tried to pry even a little bit into it. He quickly finished his food and hurried back after her.
"Wait! Isaribi-san…" He stopped abruptly on seeing the shack that was apparently her home. Splotches of paint littered the walls, glasses on the windows broken. Words like 'Monster', 'Demon' and the likes were written all over the place.
For Haku, it was a remainder. A sign of how his life would have been if he somehow survived the onslaught of the villagers and continued living in his home country.
During his travels with Jiraiya, he had at one point asked to go back to his home, just to see if there was anything left there and to at least give his mother a proper burial. Once there, he saw there wasn't anything much left to signify that an almost one-sided massacre took place there. The ice that Haku had subconsciously made to save himself had melted long ago. The dead bodies were probably taken away either by Kirigakure shinobi or the relatives of ones who died there, save for a single bony carcass that probably belonged to his father, but he did not dwell on him that much. The only thing that signified that the other villagers visited the place was the state his old home was in. Broken down almost to bits with only one remaining wall littered with words not that different from the ones that adorned Isaribi's house.
Sadly, his mother's remains were nowhere to be found. He could take a few guesses on what may have happened to her, but he didn't want to think too deeply on any of them. And seeing that making a memorial for her in that place would just give the villagers another thing to vandalize, he decided to just keep her in his heart for the time being.
Back in the present, he could see Isaribi was saying something to him. Apologizing for spacing out, he politely asked to repeat what she had said.
"I said don't worry about those. You should go back to your team." She suggested before walking off.
Haku too turned and started to walk towards the port, but stopped again when heard someone yell, "Look! There's the monster."
He knew that in no case the monster would just show up in broad daylight like that, but the fact that it came from the direction that Isaribi went in, made him want to check on it anyway.
What he came upon though was not what he expected. Children, no older than 7 years of age, were yelling those words at Isaribi. He saw a kid take a rock and threw it at her. It was not a throw from a ninja. So even if Isaribi was not one, she should have been easily able to dodge such a bad throw.
That was not what she did, however. Haku watched, shocked, as the rock hit her on her arm that shielded her face, which was the only action showing her reluctance at being pelted. When he saw another boy pick up another rock, his body moved on its own and before he knew it, he was holding the rock and standing in front of her.
"Knock it off! I'm not going to let you take your pranks too far." He claimed.
"Yeah? And who are you? A friend of the monster?" One of the kids asked.
"A monster?" Haku asked back.
"Yeah. Everyone knows that Isaribi secretly went off and joined up with the Demon of the Ocean." Another one of the kids elaborated.
While anyone else would have chalked anything they said as childish drabbles, it did give some credence of what he had concluded earlier. Still, wanting to give Isaribi the benefit of doubt, he said, "You shouldn't make up things like that."
A kid, that looked the youngest of them all, seemed to think he could sneak up on a ninja and went for a kick to Haku's shin. Wanting to show them that little kids shouldn't mess with someone they themselves thought was a Monster or Friend of the Monster, he casually lifted his foot, making the small boy miss, lose his balance and fall to the ground.
He looked down at the boy with an evil smile, "Kids shouldn't mess with monsters like us."
The little boy scrambled to his legs and ran after his already fleeing comrades, yelling about how the monster and its friend was going to eat him.
"You didn't need to do that. You should just leave me alone. Lest you get ended being labelled as a friend of the monster." Isaribi told him after getting up from the ground.
"Don't worry about me. I've been called worse. But if those kids keep doing it I ca-" Haku tried to say but was cut-off by Isaribi who yelled at him, "DON'T YOU GET IT! IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!"
Haku was taken back by her outburst, which gave Isaribi a chance to explain her situation, "They are right. I was taken away by the spirits." She looked down and continued, "It's only natural people think I'm strange."
"But that wasn't your fault. It's not like you wanted to be taken away." Haku argued. For long, before Jiraiya had taken him in and even for some time after that, he had thought the same. That it was his fault that his father came to know about his and his mother's Kekkei-Genkai. Every time he scrapped the streets to live the next day, he thought he should have been the one to die instead of his mother. Only after many years of spending his life with Jiraiya, meeting the Senju twins, did he realize that it was not exactly the case. Though he still blamed himself for his mother's death, he now lived and trained to prevent anything of that sort happening again.
Isaribi's answer reflected the thoughts his former self had, "That doesn't matter. The truth is most humans would never associate with someone as different as I am. You don't know." She finished with a sigh.
'But I do!' Haku wanted to yell but only managed to do so in his head. As much as he wanted to tell her that, there was still a chance Isaribi was working with the enemy. And giving the enemy any extra titbits to work with would be a big folly on his part.
The rhythmic sounds of hoofs striking the ground broke the atmosphere. Both looked up to see what looked like a Samurai riding a horse along the coast. He soon rode past them paying them no mind.
If Haku had paid attention to Isaribi instead of the Samurai, he would have seen her eyes narrowing. As it stood, he didn't and without any more words, Isaribi continued to where she originally left off to. Haku wasn't able to do anything to stop her, seeing no reason to. He could tail her and maybe find out what or who the Demon of the Ocean was. But decided against it. The sight of the Samurai had reminded him of the actual mission they were supposed to do.
With their sensei off to look for their missing teammate alone again, Hinata and Sai employed one of the oldest methods to gather information. They asked around. Truly though, if Hinata had used her Byakugan at that moment she probably would have spotted him. But as it stood, she didn't and now they were stuck using the slow way.
"So, you say that your friend was lost at sea last night?" The women they were asking, asked back.
"Yes. We thought that if a boat left port last night, someone here probably would have seen something." Hinata answered.
"I'm sorry, but I don't think I can be of any help to you. Lately, the villagers have been staying away from the sea at night because they are all scared of the Demon." The woman explained.
"Oh! I see." Hinata said disappointedly.
"He has been taken away by the spirits." Another older woman spoke getting everyone's attention on her. "I'm afraid the Demon of the Ocean has taken another victim."
"Mother, don't frighten them like that." The younger woman admonished the older one, apparently her mother.
"We've heard of this 'Taken by the spirits' at the port. Can you tell us what you know of it?" Sai was the one to ask the question. He knew it was not the case. Mainly because they knew of the exact cause of Haku's disappearance. But if that was how everyone else was 'taken by the spirits', then it would give more credence to their theory of shinobi involvement even more.
"I can, but what good will it do? Talking about that won't bring your friend back." The women answered rather guardedly.
"But still…" Hinata requested.
The woman looked uncomfortable, "Please, you must forgive us. This subject isn't something we can discuss with outsiders."
"We might be able to help your village. We are in-fact tasked to get rid of this Demon of the Ocean." Sai told her.
The woman looked shocked, "R-really? You are?"
She contemplated for a bit before relenting, "Alright then. For as long as I've known, generations of fishermen have told the legend of the demon island. The legend warns against even going near the isolated place they call the Island of Demons. From the beginning, the waters of demon island were rich in fish, but the hidden reefs there made it too dangerous for boats. Most people heeded the legend and stayed away."
"But one unusually cool summer around 10 years ago, the fish disappeared from the sea. We had no choice, so I and my husband ventured into the treacherous waters. We caught many fish, but when I returned to the surface, I was stunned! The boat was empty. My husband was nowhere to be seen. Since then, one by one, everyone who approaches that island has disappeared. Even those who went to search for the missing."
Sai and Hinata were shocked after hearing the tale. But it was not the fact that people were disappearing that shocked them. They already had some knowledge of the machinations behind that. No, what shocked them was the fact that this was happening for 10 years now and nothing had been done about it.
"But we heard something about a girl who returned from being taken away," Hinata asked.
"Oh yes, Isaribi." The woman answered.
Hinata looked at Sai. They both nodded to each other.
"Please, will you tell us where she lives?" Hinata requested.
After meeting with their sensei, who they had to search for first, they informed her of everything they had gathered. Not willing to waste any more time all of them raced through the trees to Isaribi's house. Though they had to stop midway after spotting the said girl walking along the beach.
"Sensei, that's her." Hinata informed her sensei before asking, "What do we do, sensei?"
"Let's find out where she's headed," Anko suggested.
Isaribi just walked forward, but the few cautious looks she gave around her made her behaviour suspicious to the team.
"Let's follow discreetly. We don't want her to know we are following." Anko ordered before leaping down from her perch, her two students behind her.
They saw Isaribi walk into a cave which prompted Anko to turn to Hinata.
Hinata getting the signal turned on her penetrative and telescopic vision to keep Isaribi in sight. Sadly, those features of her Byakugan together made using the 360-degree sight a difficult job. Hence making her miss Haku who was closing up from behind them.
The team moved on to follow Isaribi into the cave when Hinata gasped.
"What is it?" Anko asked.
"I'm not sure how but she seems to have transformed into...something not completely human. She has what looks like fins on her legs and arms. There's also one on her head." Hinata answered, shocking her team.
It didn't take them long to visually confirm the fact. The cave was short and opened into a small basin covered by walls made of rocks. There they saw what Hinata had described but in more detail. Not only Isaribi had those features she described, but her whole body seemed to be covered in scales.
Their arrival surprised Isaribi making her hiss at them before diving into the water to flee.
Hinata and Sai immediately followed to capture her. But their sensei seemed rooted in place. A sudden pain, which was acting up quite frequently in the last two days, made her grit her teeth and clutch her shoulder. The sight of Isaribi's transformed body made some memories surface. Memories that were buried so deep that no amount of prying could get them out. She saw images of a similar-looking creature in a glass tube floating in amniotic fluids.
Meanwhile, her team gave the transformed Isaribi a chase. Isaribi's swimming speed though made their chase difficult. They were running against her swimming and they still couldn't catch up. Lacking any long-range techniques, Hinata took out a kunai with an exploding tag on it and threw it at a top of a small hole in the rock formation that was surrounding the basin.
The kunai hit true, though it wouldn't have mattered much since its main purpose was what happened after it. The tag on the kunai exploded, making the rocks crumble and block Isaribi's path out.
While Isaribi managed to dodge the falling rocks underwater, she was quickly bound by ninja wire as soon as she surfaced, courtesy of Sai.
"Give up Isaribi-san. There's no escape." Sai told his prisoner.
Hinata just looked sadly at her. Isaribi growled at them before all their attention was diverted to the recently arrived Haku, who ran towards his team.
"I've been looking all over for you." He told his team.
"Haku-kun! Thank goodness, we were worried about you." Hinata said quite relieved to have finally found their last team member.
"Unfortunately, you are a bit too late Haku-san. As you can see, we captured the Demon of the Ocean." Sai informed his last teammate.
Haku turned towards the captured 'Demon' and looked at her sadly, "So I see. I suspected that Isaribi-san may have had a connection to the Demon but didn't expect her to be the one."
Isaribi couldn't look up anymore and was more looking like she was trying to hide herself.
"Isaribi-san, just tell us why do this?" Haku asked.
"Or more importantly," Anko added coming up to her team while still clutching her shoulder, "Who did this to you?"
The question shocked Isaribi. It was natural and easier for people to assume that she was just born that way, that she was not human to begin with. For her to ask that question meant that person knew more about the matter than other people. That was obviously the case here since Anko's team looked at their sensei incredulously.
Not willing to risk her goal, Isaribi showed that the scales on her body were not for show and tore through the ninja ropes before swimming away again.
Haku moved to stop her but stopped on seeing a figure form out of water. Two figures to be exact. One was Isaribi in the hands of another person that was easily recognized by the Genins. It was one of the mask-wearing ninjas that they had saved Isaribi from earlier.
"I don't know who you are, but hand over Isaribi-san right now." Haku, not willing to give Isaribi up so easily, demanded.
The ninja laughed, "You must be dreaming. She is an important lab rat. If we lose her, I'm the one who will be held responsible." He said before forming a hand seal. Similar to their encounter on the previous night, a whirlpool formed around him and Isaribi pulling them underwater.
Haku moved again to stop them but was in-turn stopped by Anko, "Don't chase him too far. Remember yesterday."
Haku gritted his teeth before he thought of using a different method. He made a similar hand seal, but instead of forming a whirlpool, the water around him started turning into ice starting from his feet. Sadly, he couldn't direct it to go in a straight line, so all the water in front and around him started to freeze in an arc which made the process slower. Also, the sheer volume of water added to that slowness, which ultimately made him lose his target who vanished underwater just before it turned into ice.
Adding to their problems, his sensei soon after collapsed on to the water surface for reasons completely unknown to him. And his team was supposed to meet the shipment they were supposed to guard in a matter of few hours.
Reduced to nursing their sensei back to conscious was Hinata, her teammates not being able to do anything. Meanwhile, they also discussed what they had gathered so far with Haku sharing his encounter with Isaribi.
"So, Isaribi-san was the one who saved you from drowning?" Hinata asked after Haku finished his explanation.
"Yes. If it wasn't for her, I'd probably not be here." He answered.
"That may be, but it's clear that she is in league with the enemy. She may also be the reason for all the disappearances happening in the village." Sai commented.
"No, she's not behind those." Anko's voice startled her students.
"Sensei! You are awake! Are you feeling okay?" Hinata inquired worriedly.
"Yes, I'm alright. But more importantly, as I was saying she is not the cause of people disappearing. In-fact she is also a victim." Anko clarified.
"What do you mean, sensei?" Haku asked.
"She and many others did disappear mysteriously 10 years ago. But it wasn't because of any demon. They were being snatched up and used as test subjects. In experiments conducted by Orochimaru. This demon is a result of those experiments." Anko explained shocking her team.
It was difficult not to have some knowledge about the traitorous one among the three Sannin, it was taught in the academy after all. But they didn't teach about the depth of inhumanity Orochimaru went up to. Hinata was close to one of the Sannin, but they didn't talk much about Orochimaru in the Senju house, except for how you should stay away from him or in case you can't, how to best fight him. Sai was not that up in the chain of command in ROOT to know about the dealings between Danzo and Orochimaru, but those deals were one of the charges placed against him for his execution and were made public. But that was still just the surface.
Haku was the only one of them who had heard exactly what Orochimaru had been doing. Or as exact as Jiraiya knew of them. Being his teacher, Jiraiya ensured his student knew about what he considered as one of his biggest failures in life, and that was not being able to stop Orochimaru's descent into darkness. He was building Haku to take his place and it was vital for anyone in his place to know as much about Orochimaru as possible. Just in case he failed to correct his mistakes it would be up to Haku to take the snakes heads off.
"So Orochimaru is mixed up in this? I was already aware of the kind of experiments he performs, but this is the first time I've come across one myself." Haku admitted.
"The first that you are aware of," Anko added solemnly, confusing him along with the others.
Anko clutched her shoulder, where the cursed mark resided. She had to tell them. She was responsible for their safety. While she didn't want to believe that Orochimaru could control her using the mark in any way, the truth was she didn't know. Nobody exactly knew what the mark was for. Nobody except for Orochimaru that is. That was one of the reasons many were opposed to her appointment as a Jounin sensei. They couldn't trust her enough.
And frankly, even Anko couldn't. She was loyal to the village. That was without a doubt. But without knowing what this cursed mark was for, she wasn't sure if Orochimaru could make her do something she didn't want to. But her Hokage had trust in her. And after a month of training together, so did her students. That was why she had to tell them about it.
"Orochimaru…was my Jounin sensei," Anko started surprising her students more, "Before being found of his crime, he took me with him for a mission. Or at least he told me it was a mission. He brought me here, more specifically to the Demon Island and showed me the experiments he was working on. I did find them horrible, but he told me that the Hokage already knew about those. And I believed him, like a fool."
Silence spread over after her admission. All of them contemplating on what she admitted.
It was broken by Hinata, "I…I think it is natural for a Genin to believe in their sensei."
Haku agreed, "Yes, you had no reason to believe that he was lying. Orochimaru was a respected shinobi at that time. Even if you were not his student obeying or believing him would have been natural. But you said something about Isaribi not being the first of his experiment that I encountered, what do you mean by that?" He asked.
Anko was happy that her students believed in her, but she had still not told them everything, "I don't remember much of what happened after that, except that some ANBUs from the village found me on the island and I had a mark on my shoulder. That mark was put by Orochimaru. It is called a cursed mark." She said making Hinata gasp.
Turning her attention to the shocked Hyuuga, "No one knows what the mark really does, except for causing me pain that is, but what you are thinking may be true as well, Hinata. While different looking, this cursed mark might have features similar to the mark used by your clan." She looked at Sai before adding, "Or it might be something like the cursed mark used by Danzo on his ROOT." She looked away before finishing, "Or it might be something completely different. That is why I want to ask you something."
"If this mark ever turns me into an enemy of the village, I want you to kill me." She told her students seriously stupefying them.
"W-what? B-but sensei…" Hinata tried to argue but Anko cut her off, "No buts Hinata. I know it may be a lot to ask, but I don't want to be the reason for your deaths or anyone in the village."
"Don't worry sensei. We won't need to do anything like that. Because you won't give up against Orochimaru and we will defeat him before that." Haku reassured.
Anko smiled, 'I wish I had that much confidence in me'. She thought. She stood up before saying, "Enough of that now. I think we should pay a visit to this Demon of the Ocean first."
"But sensei what about our mission? Our first priority is to guard the government's money." Sai asked.
"That's right. And what do you think we need to guard it against?" Anko questioned back with a smirk.
It didn't take a genius to figure out where the enemy's base was. Just looking at the name of the enemy was enough to tell you that their target should be on Demon Island. The fact that most disappearances happened whenever someone got close to that Island was just another clue.
So, Team 11 headed there. This time, their target clear, they didn't waste any time and crossed the waters to the demon island as fast as they could. Hinata's Byakugan combined with Sai's life-given painted mice added to Anko's reacquired memories of the place, easily found them the entrance to the supposed 'Lair of the Demon'. Though, truth be told, it was a simple cave entrance which was quite easy to be found by anyone. The enemy was probably relying on the fact that no one dared to approach the island.
With Haku in the front followed by Sai then Hinata and Anko at the very back, the team moved deeper into the cave where they encountered a very obviously suspicious looking ajar door. Nodding to her team, Hinata signalled them forward.
Walking into the room the male portion of the team was shocked to see more half fish-half human creatures floating in the amniotic fluid-filled glass containers. Hinata had already seen them with her Byakugan, but seeing them up close horrified her nonetheless.
Close by, Isaribi was waiting for someone from the team to walk up to any of the containers, but it seemed like none of them was compelled to do so.
"Come out Isaribi-san, we already know you are there," Hinata called out.
Isaribi's eyes widened. She didn't have any knowledge of the penetrative vision of the Byakugan and was surprised that someone already knew of her presence. Already discovered, there was nothing else she could do but to walk out of her hiding spot to face the team.
Sadly, Isaribi was not a ninja. She was never trained as one. Being captured by Orochimaru early on and then experimented, the only powers she had were the ones her fish form gave her. None of the planning was done by her either. She just followed orders and did what she was told to. So, she forgot the fact that in addition to three Genins there was usually a Jounin with them.
The result was a kunai to her throat, courtesy of Anko who had hanged back, out of the room just for this moment. As Hinata had already said, everyone on Team 11 was already aware of Isaribi's presence in the room as well as the hidden traps in front of the glass containers. Since they didn't want to hurt Isaribi without knowing what role she exactly played in all this scheme, they decided to lure her out instead of directly confronting her and starting a fight.
Isaribi gritted her teeth. The second trap was not supposed to be used so early, but she had no choice. She moved slightly forward, making the kunai hit her throat. But instead of a cut that should have appeared, the bandages around her neck tore off showing black scales that were normally present in her fish form. Apparently, the scales were quite hard, since the kunai just clang harmlessly on them. Getting enough leverage, she pushed herself back directly into Anko, knocking the Jounin back with her. As soon as both of them were out of the room, she closed the door and ran off.
Anko couldn't decide if she should chase after the girl or see what kind of trap she had sprung on her Genin. A loud sound from the room made the decision for her. Unfortunately the door had already locked itself.
"Are you guys alright?" She asked through the door.
A second passed before Haku's voice answered back, "We are alright Sensei. Go after Isaribi-san."
Sensing no sense of danger in Haku's voice, Anko relented and ran after Isaribi.
Inside the room, Isaribi had indeed activated a trap. After the door closed, one side of the wall rose up to let out three creatures which from the outside looked feline in nature but had some features that never should have been on them.
However, no matter how much intimidating they looked, the Genin of Team 11 were hardly affected. They were already aware of their presence, thanks to Hinata again. Though truthfully even Hinata didn't know that the wall could move. She only saw three odd creatures in a room. The retraction of the wall was a surprise even to her.
That is when they heard their sensei, "Are you guys alright?" She asked from the other side of the door.
Haku looked at his teammates, who shrugged, "We are alright Sensei. Go after Isaribi-san." He told her. They heard her footsteps going far from them.
"Well do you think these kitties hate being wet just like the regular cats?" Haku asked his team with a smirk.
Anko limped forward because of the increasing pain caused by the cursed mark. She reached a door, not unlike the one they found before. Peeking in she saw the silhouettes of two people, one sitting on a tall-backed throne-like chair, the other standing beside it, both in the dark part of the room hiding their actual identities.
'Found him!' Anko thought.
Walking into the room, she moved forward calmly towards the other two occupants. Excepting a familiar, but completely unwelcome, face to greet her, she was nonetheless surprised when the person hiding in the shadows though familiar turned out to be completely different than who she was expecting.
"What the?…what's going on? Amachi!?" Anko gasped in surprise.
This Amachi walked out of the shadows. He was a plain-looking guy with grey hair and was wearing a usual scientist's garb.
Amachi smirked, "Welcome, or should I say long time no see. I have to admit, I'm a little surprised that you returned after all that happened back then."
Anko gritted her teeth. He obviously remembered whatever she had forgotten, "What are you talking about?" She asked.
"You mean, you don't remember?" Amachi asked back taunting her.
"Look I don't have time to waste on you. Where is Orochimaru?" Anko demanded.
"Orochimaru?" Amachi asked in fake confusion.
"Cut the act he is here, isn't he?" Anko asked through gritted teeth when another bout of pain raked through her body.
Amachi looked contemplative, "So the curse mark is acting up even after he split. I wouldn't have guessed that was possible. Well, you are half-right. Orochimaru was here, but that was well over two weeks at this point."
It was unknown if he lied or not. But anyway, "I… don't believe you." Anko didn't believe him.
Amachi smirked, "Believe whatever you want, it doesn't matter to me."
"So, you mean to tell me that the pain I'm feeling right now, is from him being here almost a full month ago," Anko asked.
Before Amachi could answer, the door opened again letting the Genins of Team 11 in. They stopped and took positions beside their sensei.
"Well well, you brought Genin. Look at you, you are all grown up now Anko." Amachi said slyly.
"And, who are you supposed to be?" Haku asked.
"Meet Amachi. He is a medical ninja who has teamed up with Orochimaru and conducts research here. His master's not around though. This all rigmarole is Amachi's doing." Anko explained.
"So, he is behind this all. You are behind all these crazy experiments." Haku stated.
Amachi for the first time now looked slighted. He didn't like it when someone insulted his experiments, "Crazy!?" He exclaimed, "This isn't a joke. I've devoted my entire life to this research."
Haku sneered, "Research?"
Amachi moved sideways to reveal Isaribi standing behind him, "Look here!" He said while pointing at her, "This girl is capable of adapting to an aquatic environment. Combining the ability to breathe underwater with advanced strength and agility. It's always been my dream, a ninja core for underwater warfare. And this girl here is the first step."
The whole team 11, except for Anko, was stunned. Anko knew how deranged Amachi was, so this didn't surprise her. Though it did help her solve the mystery of the Demon of the Ocean.
"A…a ninja core for underwater warfare?" Hinata asked still shocked.
Amachi made a crazed expression, "That's right! An unparalleled military force that could move freely above the land as well as in the sea. Once I've done it, we'll spread across the nations and take complete control of marine shipping routes." He exclaimed, "Astounding, isn't it? With that kind of strength, the world will kneel before me. And Orochimaru will rue the day he abandoned my work. But it will be too late by then!"
Everyone, including Isaribi, was disgusted with Amachi's crazy plan.
Haku was the one to express it, "These are people you are talking about, not your tools." He said.
"Oh! That's a shame. I figured someone your age would be able to grasp the importance of my work." Amachi said feigning sadness, "Oh well, no big deal. Your just another bunch of brainless guinea pigs. Who cares what you think."
Haku clicked his tongue before taking out senbons to throw at him. His hands were halted by Isaribi jumping in the way.
Amachi laughed, "Thank you, Isaribi."
"Isaribi-san. Please, out of the way." Haku requested.
"I'm not moving," Isaribi replied.
"Why are you protecting him? He is the one who did this to you." Hinata beat Haku in asking.
"I know but…but I don't have a choice now. He is the only person who can turn me back to normal again. He promised me that he would." Isaribi told them. She proceeded to remove the bandages from her head showing the team the scales that covered some parts of her face.
"Look at me." She started, "People in this world judge others based solely on their appearance. They stay away when they see me covered in bandages. Imagine what they'd do when they saw a monster covered in scales. I just want my body back. I want to be human. I will do whatever it takes to be myself again."
Haku's face softened, "But you still are human." He said shocking her. "It doesn't matter what you look like. And yet you are attacking ships with these people and sending them to the bottom. It's not the face that makes someone a monster, it's the choices they make in their life." Haku tried to explain.
"Just shut up! Stop it!" Isaribi cried out covering her ears, "I don't want to hear anymore. Just shut up. Why does everyone have to be so cruel to me?"
"You…you don't get it. You are just like how I used to be earlier. We are alike." Haku tried to reason but Isaribi wasn't willing to listen anymore.
"Be quiet! You are human, aren't you? You have no idea what I'm going through. I…I only wish I was like you." She said kneeling on the ground holding her face in her hands, tears rolling down her cheeks.
Amachi, seeing his chance to keep Isaribi faithful to him longer, walked forward and spoke as truthfully as he could, "Now, now don't cry. I'll have you back to normal in no time, Isaribi."
Anko suddenly perked up and dived to cover Hinata who was standing on the far left of her, when the wall on that side blew up, burying the whole team under the debris.
A black-haired, spectacle-wearing man stepped out of the hole that was now created in the wall after that explosion, "That paper bomb was right on the money. Thanks for distracting them for as long Isaribi." He said.
"Take care of them, will you. Isaribi let's go." Amachi ordered while walking away, Isaribi following. The new man was left with the rest of Team 11, which was mostly buried under the debris of the wall.
Hinata who was under Anko asked, "Sensei, are you okay?" She only got a groan as an answer.
Meanwhile, the guy walked up to Haku and picked him up. His arms, oddly enough, extended and warped around Haku squeezing him.
"Haku-kun!" Hinata exclaimed.
Sai, who had remained quiet in all this, made a hand seal making a tiger drawn on his scroll come to life and circle around the enemy.
The enemy, in turn, was shocked, "What kind of weird jutsu is this?"
"You are one to talk!" Haku remarked through gritted teeth, his right hand forming a seal as well.
The temperature of the room dropped, especially for the glasses-wearing ninja who was holding onto the source of it. He was forced to let go of Haku because of his muscles growing numb due to holding the super cold Haku.
"What…what is happening?" He screamed backpedalling away from Haku, unfortunately directly into the claws of Sai's ink tiger.
A few accurately placed senbons by Haku as well as a few Juken to vital points by Hinata later he was immobilized for good measure.
Their victory was short-lived however when the whole building began to shake.
"Shit! They're trying to take us out with the building." Anko who was still in pain, from the curse mark as well as from taking the full brunt of the previous explosion said.
"We have to evacuate. Hinata-san, me and Sai will take sensei, lead us to the nearest exit." Haku said. With a simple nod, both boys supported their still prone sensei and followed behind Hinata who had darted through the previously made whole in the wall.
Thanks to the Byakugan, it didn't take them long to find the exit. But just before they could get out though, the mouth of the cave caved in blocking their exit.
"Shit! Hinata-san are there any other exits?" Haku asked.
Anko, now standing on her own power, said, "There's no time to look for it." She bit her thumb, made a few hand seals and slammed her palm on the ground, "Summoning Jutsu!".
The cave was filled with smoke before the whole team found themselves standing on the fleshy tongue of a snake.
Closing its mouth, shielding the team, the summoned snake broke through the wall of rocks and reached outside before opening its mouth again, releasing the unharmed Team 11.
"Finally, fresh air." Haku breathed out in relief.
Anko sadly was not able to share the relief. Using chakra to summon triggered her cursed mark again restarting the pain. It caused her to palm her shoulder and kneel on the ground.
"Sensei!" Hinata exclaimed in concern.
Anko though waved it off, "Let's go, there's no time to waste. It's already time for the fleet to depart."
Haku's eyes widened in realization, "Oh yeah! The fleet's sailing into a trap. We have to reach them before its too late." He looked around and spotted a conveniently docked rowboat, "Let's use that boat."
His sensei and team agreed.
With the fleet to the Water country
"Still no word from the leaf ninja? They were expected to accompany the fleet into port. What could have happened to them?" Captain of the fleet, Hitode thought out loud.
His two crew members that were with him did not have an answer.
But one another thought he did. He ran towards his captain with a scroll in his hands, "Captain, we just received this!"
Hitode took the scroll and gave it a read. Whatever was written definitely filled him with joy as he laughed loud before showing the scroll to his crew, "Well, well it seems we were wrong to have ever doubted them. They drove the Demon of the Ocean out of these waters last night."
Just like him, his crew too rejoiced. They were relieved to finally being able to sail without the fear of the demon.
Seeing that it was already getting late, the captain immediately ordered to depart, which they did unknowing of the trap that they were sailing into.
The fleet was crossing the reef infested waters of demon island when they were caught by surprise. The two escort ships in front of them suddenly started to move towards each other, heading for an imminent crash. Hitode, who was in the ship behind, the one with the correct cargo, saw all of this happen without any idea why. Realising they too were directly heading in the direction of one of those ships, Hitode ordered to steer theirs away, "Quickly, hard to port!"
The crew member on the wheel tried to do so but found he couldn't budge it.
"What are you doing? I said hard to port!" Hitode commanded again.
"I'm trying sir, but she is not responding." The crew member replied.
"What? What are you talking about?" Hitode asked. All the while their ship was turning towards the one before them which had stopped for some reason.
"Can't budge it, it's no use." The crew member informed.
Seeing no way to avoid a collision, Hitode told his crew member to brace for impact. Which ultimately it did, destroying both the ships for good measure.
"Must be the demons doing." Hitode thought out loud again.
One of his crew members came forward, "Thank you for delivering the ship." He said confusing Hitode.
"What do you mean? What's going on here?" Hitode asked still confused that his crew member would say that.
The crew member though was suddenly covered in white smoke which, after it dissipated, revealed a completely different person garbed in a scientist's coat.
Hitode's eye widened before his face took an angry expression, "Who are you? What you do want?"
"This fleet and its cargo. Hand it over peacefully and I'll spare your life." Amachi answered.
Seeing one of his crew members moving to attack the enemy, Hitode continued to speak to distract him, "You are out of your mind."
Unfortunately, that crew member was blown away by a jet of water before he could even get close to Amachi, turning everyone's -except Amachi's- attention on the preparator. What they saw scared them to their bones.
A fish-like humanoid monster with black scales covering its body was growling at them while hanging off from the side of the boat. They got even more scared when it climbed the ship and started to stalk towards them.
They had to look up though when a huge fireball started to form just above them. They were no ninja nor did they used chakra like some samurais, so it was impossible for them to know that the fireball they were seeing was just an illusion. So, when that fireball descended and spread all over their ship, they panicked and abandoned it by jumping into the water.
Though it seemed that was not the best decision either. As soon as they jumped into the water, a whirlpool formed around them trying to suck everyone up.
They were saved however when the person responsible for causing the whirlpool got distracted by a bird slamming into his face and, oddly enough, burst into black ink covering it.
Sai smiled at the ninja who had taken Isaribi away from them before, "I'm sorry, but I'll have you fight me now." The ninja just glared at him.
Saved from being drowned, the crew members as well as their captain where being directed to the only floating boat by Hinata. They needn't worry however since the ever-dangerous reefs were this time saving them by giving them a place to stand on.
On the ship, Amachi was obviously not happy that his plans were foiled. His unhappiness increased when he heard Anko's voice saying, "Man, that's really low, even by your standard's, weirdo. Though I'm glad you showed up, I still got a few questions I want answered."
"Isaribi-san, please stop this." Haku's voice cut in snapping their attention, "If you keep doing this, you really will be a monster."
Isaribi was conflicted. It's not that she didn't know that what Haku was saying was true. But at the same time, her desire to become human again trumped any other kind of feelings that she had. So, when Amachi ordered her to take Haku out, she did so without hesitation.
She ran at Haku, intending to send him into the water where she had more advantage. Haku, trying to harm her as less as he could, tried to stop her with well-placed senbons. Unfortunately, the scales on Isaribi's body proved to be harder than the senbons. She passed through them, the senbons bouncing off of her scales harmlessly, and successfully tackled him along with herself into the water.
Haku tried to reach the surface as fast as he could. He knew he was at a disadvantage in water. But Isaribi grabbed his legs and pulled him down with her.
Haku had to quickly find a solution before he ran out of the short amount of air that he was able to take in before he got submerged. That's when he got an idea, 'I may not be able to breathe underwater, but I know who can!' Haku thought while making hand seals, 'Water Style: Water Clone Jutsu!'
The water around them started to collate in multiple places before forming into exact copies of Haku.
Seeing the clones, Isaribi let go of him since it would be impossible for her to fight this many enemies with her hands busy. She used her advanced agility underwater to duck and weave under the water clones' assaults, while Haku swam to the surface using that as a distraction.
Finally surfacing, Haku had to take long breaths since he wasn't able to take in a lot before getting tackled into the water. He swam and reached the nearest surface where he could stand. He didn't have to wait long before Isaribi surfaced as well. He had to give it to her, and Amachi even though he didn't want too, she was indeed a force to be reckoned with underwater.
"Isaribi-san, what will I have to do so you would understand that you are putting peoples lives in jeopardy? Don't you care about them at all?" Haku asked sadly.
"Since you asked, no." Isaribi answered frankly shocking him, "Their lives mean nothing to me. Your life means nothing to me." She said before shooting a jet of water at him from her mouth.
Haku stood there unintimidated. The water jet hit him, making him take a step back but at the same time, it seemed that the water literally broke apart into crystals as soon as it touched him.
Isaribi was surprised to see that.
"You lie, Isaribi-san," Haku said making her grit her teeth. She jumped up from the water landing on the rock behind Haku.
"Do you think I care who gets hurt? Who drowns? There's only one thing I care about, and that's being returned to the way I was." Isaribi claimed. She ran at him, wanting him to be in the water again. But this time Haku was ready. She was fast in the water but her speed above ground was that of a normal human. Maybe slightly more, but far lesser than Haku. He easily sidestepped her.
"I think it's about time somebody woke you up to see reason," Haku said before chopping her on the back of her neck. It was only because of the reinforcement given by her scales that she was just knocked down on the ground instead of getting completely knocked out.
It was also because of those scales that Haku didn't come out unscathed from such a simple move. Some of her scales had come off and pierced his hand.
Haku looked at the scales that got embedded in his hand, "Believe me. I know how painful it is to be treated like a monster, when you are not needed by anyone or how painful it can be to be all alone." He said sadly while picking the scales out, "But that still doesn't justify hurting others." He looked at Isaribi's prone form and yelled at her, "You saved my life! I know you still have kindness in you, Isaribi-san. You do still care!"
All the while, Isaribi just stayed silent. Listening to the words, that the rational part of her always used to think, coming from someone else.
Meanwhile, the scientist that was in the middle of all this was not faring so well against his opponent. Obviously, since even though he was a medical 'nin', his fighting prowess could be said to be at most at Genin level. Against someone like Anko, he didn't have any chance. Unless of course, he had a trick up his sleeve that could change the tide of the battle.
Which he did. He jumped back from Anko and took out a jar filled with some pink substance and threw it at her.
Anko though was also an expert in using things like poisons and stuff and knew that you should stay away from things you didn't recognize. So, she jumped back as well, avoiding the pink gas that came out when the jar broke on hitting the deck floor.
Amachi clicked his tongue but used this time of run off in the direction of Isaribi and Haku. Anko naturally went after him.
Amachi landed on another reef close to the one Haku and Isaribi were on, "You are useless. What the hell is taking so long?" He asked Isaribi getting their attention, "He is just a Genin, how hard can it be to finish him off?"
Isaribi lowered her head, "I'm sorry, its j-" She tried to explain but Amachi cut her off, "Be quiet I'll do it."
Haku, though wasn't interested, "As much as I want to beat you into a pulp, it seems I won't get that honour."
"Wha-" Amachi tried to say but had to jump away to avoid getting bit by multiple snakes.
"Now, now don't think I'm letting you off that easily," Anko said after landing at the place that Amachi had just vacated.
Amachi scowled, "Isaribi, take care of this nuisance."
"I'm sorry, but Isaribi-san won't be available from now on," Haku said confusing everyone including his sensei.
Isaribi went to ask what he was talking about but a sudden chill all over her body stopped her. Soon after, her whole body got encased in ice leaving only her head out.
Even though the situation was quite serious, Anko couldn't help but comment, "My, my Haku-kun. I didn't know you liked your women tied up~. As expected of Jiraiya-sama's student though." Haku's, as well as Isaribi's faces, turned red.
"T…that's n…n…not what this is, sensei. Please, f…focus on the fight." Haku was probably embarrassed, but during narrating this to Team 8 he said it was the chill of the ice that he had made that made him stutter.
Anko just chuckled in response. Amachi clicked his teeth, "I am getting sick of this now. I was going to dissect her and harvest her organs for further experiments." Amachi confessed shocking Isaribi, "But that's not necessary anymore." He finished before gritting his teeth.
Everyone watched in shocked silence as his clothes tore off showing scales not different than Isaribi's. But what was different however was the increase in the muscle tone of his body overall. He not only got taller, his upper body got beefed up by muscles before developing scales all over. And unlike Isaribi his face also changed completely to that of...something, robbing him off of anything that would define him as human, except for the fact that he was still bi-pedal.
"As you can see, I have already transformed myself into a fully reformed model. Perfected for mortal combat. I call this my Kaima form." Amachi claimed proudly.
Contrary to his feelings on his transformation, Haku and Anko were just disgusted.
"Perfected, you say? I would say you just got uglier." Anko snorted out.
Amachi just laughed off the taunt, "That's why I'm different than you simpletons. This form isn't meant for aesthetics, it is for battle, both above ground and underwater."
Isaribi couldn't believe what she was hearing however, "B…but you said you will turn me back. YOU PROMISED!"
Amachi continued to laugh, "And you believed me? Really how naïve could you be? Why would I do that? Among the hundreds of specimens, you were the only one that lived and was successful. I obviously had to study why that was. So, I had to keep you around. But now that I am successful, your usefulness has come to an end." He admitted before shooting a water cannon jutsu at her.
And just like the time when Isaribi did it, the water jet turned into ice and then small crystals before reaching her.
"You won't be harming her anymore," Haku stated.
"And I will be harming you a lot." Anko picked up before sending her snakes at him again.
Amachi swiped his left arm, shooting scales at the incoming summoned snakes dispelling them, only to get hit by the same jutsu he used on Isaribi earlier. Though his beefed-up body absorbed most of the force, it didn't stop him from glaring at Haku.
Haku smirked, "How do you like being at the other end of your own Jutsu?"
Amachi clicked his tongue again. He wanted to answer but had to jump away when he felt intense heat approaching him.
"Aww~ I was going to roast you well." Anko fake whined when her great fireball didn't hit him.
"Enough of this!" Amachi spat before biting his thumb, drawing blood. He made some hand seals and slammed his hands on the ground, "Summoning Jutsu: Umibozu."
The water around them started to move before a large portion of it swelled up. Anko and Haku braced themselves for anything that may come up but nothing did. Three shapes formed on the blob of water resembling something close to a mouth and two eyes.
"Meet my latest creation, the sea monster: Umibozu." Amachi told them proudly, "Now Umibozu, finish them off." He ordered.
Some water from the blob extended and formed what looked like an arm, and went to grab Haku, who was the closest. But because of its consistency, it was slow. Too slow in-fact, and Haku easily jumped away from it.
Unfortunately, when Amachi had mentioned 'them', he didn't exactly say who the 'them' was and after missing Haku, Umibozu went for the incapacitated Isaribi, who had by now undone her transformation.
"Isaribi-san!" Haku yelled as he saw her get trapped in the water blob. Because of the higher temperature water surrounding her, Haku's ice melted quickly freeing Isaribi. She redid her transformation allowing her to breathe again and tried to swim to the surface of the water blob. Though she quickly found out, that the surface tension of the water was too strong for her to break through.
Amachi laughed at her futile attempts to escape, "Don't bother. Umibozu's body consists entirely of water. It's almost like a mobile water prison. Its surface is as strong as steel."
Not believing Amachi's boasts, Anko threw a kunai at it anyway. Sadly, Amachi's admission rang true and the kunai bounced off of the creature harmlessly.
"Haku, can't you just freeze this slime?" Anko asked.
"Well, I'm not sure. That is a lot of water. What's there to stop it from using the water below it to melt itself? And besides Isaribi-san is still…wait a minute. I got it." Haku answered before yelling, "Isaribi-san, swim down into the sea. There should not be any surface tension there."
Even though his voice came a bit muffled due to all the water around her, Isaribi heard him anyway. She faced down and swam as fast as she could and just as Haku said, didn't feel any resistance when she entered the vast water of the sea. She quickly changed course and swam far away from the monster.
"What!?" Amachi was shocked. He was a scientist and still didn't realize the obvious flaw that his monster had. Though in his defence, most people wouldn't be able to breathe that long enough underwater to make that kind of escape.
Anko laughed at Amachi's shocked expression, "Hahaha! Serves you right, weirdo."
Haku used this chance to amass as much chakra as he could. He formed the hand seals for his Jutsu and yelled, "Here goes nothing. Ice Style: Ice Prison Jutsu!"
Again, the water below his foot started to turn into ice. Although quicker than before. But this time his enemy was not quick enough to escape anyway and soon all of Umibozu's body had turned into ice.
Acting quickly, Anko threw a kunai with an exploding tag on it, which exploded and turned the Umibozu Ice sculpture into million pieces.
"NOOO!" Amachi screamed, shocked that his powerful creation was taken down so easily. He didn't get enough time to wallow however when he got hit by high pressured water from behind, courtesy of Isaribi. The water slammed him onto a rock leaving him unconscious as well as turning him back to human.
Haku, having used up almost all of his chakra to turn that big amount of water into ice, wobbled and fell face-first onto the water and with no chakra holding him onto the surface he started to sink.
Anko moved to get him out but Isaribi had already beaten her to it and pulled him onto land.
All this while, Sai and his opponent were at a stalemate. Sai's ink creatures were not suitable to fight in an area filled with so much water and against a ninja who used water-based attacks. And the enemy's main attack was sucking up chakra from opponents. But to do so, he had to be in direct contact with his target. He could not absorb chakra from thrown Jutsu.
Sadly, for the enemy, Sai was not alone, and he seemed to have forgotten about that fact.
And while during the whole fight Sai's smile had not wavered somehow, even to a complete stranger, looked like it got truer when he said, "It seems everything is over. If you don't mind me asking, what is your name?"
The ninja got confused, "You don't need to know my name. Besides you are soon going to be turned into a lab rat."
Sai's smile though stayed in place, "I see."
The ninja moved to attack again but was interrupted by a voice, "Eight Trigrams: 32 Palms!" Even though it was a close-quarter attack that he could have absorbed chakra from, he was just too surprised to do anything between getting his chakra points sealed.
"You really are as quiet as mouse, huh Hinata-san," Sai commented just as his adversary went down.
The Hinata he was speaking to, in a rare moment of defiance, glared at him before dissolving into water.
"Hmmm, I think I angered her," Sai commented to himself. He looked at his downed opponent, "And it took only 10 per cent of her strength to take him down. Well, it WAS a surprise attack."
Back on the ship with Team 8 in Present
"And then we tied Amachi and his lackey up, helped reach the money to water country. By the time we got back, Ibiki-sensei was already there with his ship." Haku finished his retelling.
"Wow man, you guys really had a tough time out there. And all we had to do for the most part of the mission was put up with that annoying brat, Idate." Kiba complained.
"And what about that girl, Isaribi?" Sakura asked them.
"She is actually on this ship right now. Ibiki-sensei had taken her for investigation, but Anko-sensei vouched for her, so she was let off for now. But it seems like she would have to provide whatever information she can about Orochimaru." Hinata answered.
"On that note, Naruto-sama," Haku asked, "Can you look at her condition and see if it could be cured?"
Naruto shook his head, "I could, but I don't think I can do anything about it. I have done my own medical research as a mandatory work from my mom, but I'm really not that much of an expert. Besides, since she is a girl, I think it would be better if Namiko or even better mom looked at her.", Naruto explained before asking, "Is that why you brought her along?"
Haku nodded, "I had hoped that Tsunade-sama could help her."
"I'm sure mom would be able to do something," Naruto assured.
With the Jounins
"So, you were able to remember?" Kurenai asked after Anko had finished her own recounting of the mission.
Anko nodded, "Yeah."
Kurenai was expecting more so when she didn't get any, she prompted, "And?"
"Well, it was not much. He gave me the curse mark as a part of an experiment. Apparently, among 9 others I was the only one who survived." Anko informed shocking her friend.
Anko's smile though caught her off guard, "But it was not him who cast me aside, it was I who chose to not go with him."
"What do you mean?" Kurenai asked not quite getting what her friend was speaking about.
"He said he didn't need me since I lacked the thirst for power and hatred, or basically because I was not insane like him. But he offered to let me go with him just because I had survived the sealing. I declined his offer." Anko said with tears streaming down her face with the smile still on her face. She looked at Kurenai with that tear-streaked face, "I chose my freedom."
Kurenai embraced her friend, who had finally regained the lost part of her life as well as had found the answer to one of the questions that had plagued her life till now.
Naruto was standing at the hem of the ship looking at the vast ocean in front of him, that was littered with several giant whirlpools. Ibiki had said they had to go through this part since apparently the waters around the Wave country were closed off for some reason. That did put some worry in him since he knew Namiko and her team were in Wave country. But he had confidence in his sister, and others in her team were no weaklings either.
"Beautiful isn't it?" He suddenly asked apparently to no one.
"It is." Came an answer from behind him anyway.
He turned to look at the person behind him with a smirk, "I was talking about the view of the ocean and whirlpools."
Hinata smiled, "Me too."
Naruto's smirk got wider, "Is that so? Somehow, I am getting the feeling that we are not talking about the same thing." He turned back before asking, "So what brings you out here, Hinata-chan? I thought you'd like to get some rest after your mission."
"I can say the same for you, Naruto-kun. In-fact I already had my rest during our journey between Land of Sea and Land of Tea. You on the other hand just finished your mission where you almost ran a marathon with another person on your back. Should I be worried that you are going to change your attire to green once you reach the village?" Hinata shot back.
"Woah! Hey there, it seems you are all in the Lioness mode right now. What got you so fired up? Maybe you should show this side of you more, so Sai won't call you a mouse." Naruto defended himself, instantly gaining himself a scowl from the girl before she looked down.
"Am I…really that hard to notice?" Hinata asked meekly making Naruto blink.
'She went from a Lioness to a Mouse in a blink of an eye!' Naruto thought with a sweatdrop.
"Are you talking about when you are hiding behind a pole or something, or when you are out in the open?" Naruto asked smiling.
Hinata ducked her head more, red spreading on her cheeks. She hadn't done that in a long while. Well, not since she discovered that the Senju twins could sense chakra since that made it a moot point.
Naruto chuckled, 'Well, you can't deny that whichever mode she is in, she manages to make it look cute.' He thought internally.
"Well yeah, unless they could sense chakra, it is quite difficult to sense you when you are hiding." He answered truthfully making Hinata sigh, "But," He added, "Only a complete idiot would not notice you when you are out in the open."
Hinata's cheeks flamed even more on hearing that making Naruto chuckle again.
"Still you came out in the cold ocean air just to ask that?" Naruto asked again.
Hinata breathed in and out to get her composure back before turning serious. She told about him all about the curse mark that was on her sensei and asked, "You think you can take it off? Anko-sensei has helped me this whole month so much, I really want to do it for her."
Naruto sighed, "What's with you and Namiko wanting me to remove cursed marks?" He whispered which thankfully was not caught by Hinata over the sound of water crashing and the ocean wind blowing.
"I would have to look at it before I can say anything about that. But as of right now, I think it's better to ask Ero-oji to try and remove it. Though seeing it is the Orochi-teme's handiwork, I wouldn't be surprised if he hasn't already looked into it. I would also understand if Anko-sensei didn't let him get anywhere near her. He IS a lecher." Naruto answered truthfully.
Hinata nodded. That was an obvious answer. Even though she wanted to believe that Naruto was a great seal master, at the moment Jiraiya was definitely a more experienced one.
"I wonder how Namiko-chan is doing in her mission. Neji-niisan too," Hinata said changing the topic. She was also aware that Namiko's mission was supposed to take her to Wave country, which as it stood they could not get into through the waterways according to Ibiki-sensei.
"I'm sure they are both fine. Namiko is strong, so are Sasuke and Kakashi-nii. Shino too. And unlike ours, this is not Neji's first C-rank, so he'll pull through. You should worry more about Neji's mentality when he is out on a mission with his team. Namiko just prays that Neji does not come back with too much 'Youthful' energy." Naruto assured her making her giggle.
Not having anything else to say Hinata reluctantly turned back, "I…will go and ask Anko-sensei if she will allow you to check on her cursed seal." With that, she walked back.
"Hinata-chan," Naruto called out making her pause, "I'm sure we can beat destiny if we really wanted to." He said which to anyone else would have sounded completely out of context.
Hinata too didn't give much outward reaction other than biting her lip before resuming her walk. Though that was enough to show that whatever the context was, she did get it.
"I know I can beat it, but only if you'll want me to," Naruto said softly sensing her moving further from him.
Author's Notes:
There are quite a few reasons I'm glad this chapter's done. This arc was so badly written, with even worse animation that it felt like torture to me to watch it over again. The seeing idiot MCs for this long, it's just hard to bear with part 1 Naruto.
Anyway, do tell how did you like this chapter. I understand this missions arc has been going on for a long time now. But if you are keeping track (A big if), you would know that there are only two missions remaining. And you have probably guessed which is going to be the last one.
Do try and guess what the context was at the end of the chapter until it is time for the next chapter. Schönen Tag noch!