Author Note: I know the chapter title is weak - but the chapter itself turned out pretty good I think. As in every story there are lighter and darker chapters and this is one of the darker ones so far I guess. Read and judge for yourselfs.
But I'm sure that none of you might have expected these things to happen ;-)
If you did, well... congratulations, your mind is even more twisted than mine and you are able to read me like an open book.
What else? Ah, right. I'm slightly ahead of my shedule and already started on the next chapter. While I chickend out the last two tries am I planning to now finally write down the first real battle in it. Hope it turns out okay in the end.
Last thing: So many cliffhangers again. I'm really good using them.
However, whatever thing you find having thoughts like "why is that" or "this could be explained" or "what the hell?" be assured that I plan to pick up every open string along the way to either explain or refer to it. It might need some chapters before that happens and I'm sure I can build in some surprises for you that way - but I won't forget to clarify open things, promise! ;-)
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A Tale of Two Sisters - Chapter 7: Adventure #2
The girls met with Naruto at the eastern gate, who was waiting for them. It seemed like they needed more time to follow him then they realized, if he was that far ahead already. They hadn't paid much attention to it, but the eastern gate was not guarded this morning and they could leave the village without problems, heading toward the forest.
"Hmm, it's so foggy today, I can't barely see five meters ahead..." Hinata said, speaking what all of them were thinking. This morning were the surroundings of the village covered in a real thick mist. "Maybe we should go back to the village? What if we get lost or if something happens? Nobody will find us..." she was totally worried by these thoughts.
Naruto got close to her, laying his hand on her shoulder, giving her a reassuring smile. "Everything will be fine, Hinata-chan. Nothing can happen if we three stick together. Besides..." he looked at her curiously. "Aren't your eyes able to see through even this thick mist?"
Hinata blinked a few times, looking at Naruto before changing to Hanabi who had a grin on her face, before looking back at Naruto again and sighing. "I... hadn't thought about that. Yes, you are right. Our eyes are able to do that." she answered his question, getting an even bigger smile from him.
"See, then there is nothing to worry about. With two pairs of your eyes won't we get lost at all!" he exclaimed happily, before walking right into the mist in the direction of the forest.
Hanabi giggled. "Naruto? Wrong direction. And... what was that with staying together?" Hinata couldn't help but smile at her sisters comment and Naruto's carefree character, before hearing a frown inside the mist.
"Yeah, right... uhm... girls? Could you please pick me up? I can't see you anymore..." he said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.
Hanabi bursted into laughter, giving her sister a sign that she shall get him. Hinata nodded and activated her Byakugan, looking for Naruto inside the mist to get him back, before starting to laugh as well. "Naruto-kun, you just walked 5 meters away. Do a simple step backwards and you will see us again." her mood increased because of this situation, letting her forget what had happened just minutes ago in Naruto's apartment.
Naruto did as told and made the step backward, looking over his shoulder to see the girls again, grinning at them. "Uhm, sorry for that. So... please lead the way."
Once reunited did Hanabi speak up. "Hey sis, you read about these ruins, right? So you kinda know about their location? You will lead the way then. Plus it will be a good practice for your Byakugan."
Hinata nodded at her sister and first checked the surroundings for the correct direction, before leading them into the mist with Hanabi and Naruto staying close to her. Even if they had two pairs of Byakugan did they don't want to risk loosing one of them in the mist.
It took them around 20 minutes walking through the forest, before reaching a clearing on which the rumoured ruins stood. There wasn't much left of them, mostly just some remainings of the walls. It must have been a slightly bigger building in the past, maybe with 7 rooms or something, but that was time ago.
"Doesn't look too impressive to me..." Hanabi mentioned, checking out the remainings. "I don't think this will be worth it at all."
"Hmm... it seems like two rooms in the back of the ruins are still intact. The roof isn't collapsed there. Since we are here already, why don't we check it out?" Hinata asked, checking out the ruins with her Byakugan still activated.
"Sure thing! That's why we came here in the first place, right?" Naruto exclaimed excited, walking toward the ruins just to be stopped by Hanabi pulling on his arm.
"And again, what was that with staying together?" she raised an eyebrow at Naruto who chuckled nervously while Hinata shook her head.
"Uhm, sorry, okay?" Naruto said nervously. "So, shall we check it out then?" he asked this time, getting smiles and nods from both girls. Once that was settled did they walk over to the ruins together.
They aimed straight for one of the rooms that were still standing, ignoring the completely destroyed ones. There wouldn't be anything to find at all, so why bother with looking for something. At the door to the first room did they stop, checking it out.
"Hmm, this door is a massive one. Wonder if it will move at all after these years." Hanabi wondered, pushing against the door with no success. "Hey you two, would you help me with that?" she asked, still trying to push the door open.
Hinata and Naruto joined her in this effort, all pushing against the door together. They could hear slight protest of the material against their efforts, but the door slowly gave up.
"It's opening. Common, just one last push." Naruto said between hard breathes, encouraging the girls to give their all for one final push. With combined effort did the door finally open, though the last push was a bit too much, having it swing open abruptly. All three of them lost their halt by that and stumbled into the room, falling over each other.
Hanabi groaned in pain, being the one to fall first, landing on the hard ground with the other two landing atop her. The pressure emptied her lungs and she was trying desperately to get air back into her lungs.
The other two were just surprised by the sudden movement of the door, but not injured at all. So out of shock did they not move at all, before they could hear Hanabi's voice.
"Get... down..." she gritted her teath, bringing out these words with much effort. That got the other out of the shock and Hanabi was finally able to take some deep breathes, calming down. She wasn't injured either, but the lack of oxygen might have been a problem, if it would have lasted just some seconds longer.
"I'm sorry, Hanabi..." Hinata quietly said, helping her sister to stand up. "It just happened so fast."
Hanabi nodded slightly, before giving her sister a small smile. "It's okay, nothing bad happened. So, let's look around, shall we?" she asked, turning to face the inside of the room, to just freeze in her movements. The other two weren't moving either, once they took a look into the room.
"That's... I don't know..." Naruto said, missing his usual enthusiasm. Hinata simply kept silent by what she saw. It then was Hanabi who started shouting.
"Are you kidding me? All this effort and the pain for... this? That's so not cool at all..." she frowned, looking around the room.
The thing that got all three of them confused and frustrated was the fact that this room was completely empty. No piece of broken furniture, no withered scroll, no lost belongings, just an empty room.
"The ruins are old..." Hinata thought out loud. "So maybe they got scavenged a long time ago. Or it got completely emptied when it was left by the occupants."
"I know... but it's still frustrating..." Hanabi sighed. She knew that her sister was right and that they would most likely find nothing at all. But she had hoped that there may be at least anything to find.
"We can still check the other room." Naruto suggested, getting nods from the girls. They turned around and left the room, heading to the second one.
This time the door wasn't as massive as the first one and it opened without protest when Hanabi tried it. This room however was empty as well, except for a pretty big rock laying in the middle of the room.
"I understand that this room is empty as well, but..." Naruto started speaking. "Why is there a rock in the middle of the room?"
"Hmm... the ceiling is still intact so it hadn't dropped down. I wonder..." Hanabi pondered while touching her lower lip, before activating her Byakugan and checking the room and the rock. A smirk entered her face when she announced. "Because there is a hidden door below it."
"Seriously? Then we might be able to still find something. That's great!" Naruto shouted happily, getting a small blush from Hinata.
"Uhm, Naruto-kun? You know that we need to get the rock away first, right?" she quietly asked, getting a confused look from Naruto who needed some moments to realize that his enthusiasm got him carried away again.
He let his head hang. "You are right..." he sighed, before looking back up. "So... any ideas?"
All of them thought about it, before Hinata spoke up. "How about we get some branches from the trees to put them under the rock and push it away this way?"
"That should work." Hanabi nodded. "Alright, let's get us some branches that might work for that."
"Got that!" Naruto exclaimed happily, leaving the room already and heading for the nearest trees.
"Naruto!" Hanabi shouted angrily, stopping him in his tracks right away. "It's still foggy. Stay together..." he sweatdropped at her statement and waited for the girls to catch up to him.
It took them a good one and an half hour to get the rock away from the hidden door and all of them were totally spent.
"Then let's have a look down there, shall we?" Naruto asked before pulling on the handle of the trapdoor, getting it open surprisingly easy. They could see stairs leading down into a basement, which was totally dark.
"Has someone thought about bringing some lights or fire?" Hanabi asked, getting negative responses from the other two. "Me neither..." she mumbled, feeling guilty for not thinking about these things before they came here.
"Aren't your eyes working in the dark as well?" Naruto asked, getting looks from both girls. Hanabi shrugged her shoulders and Hinata was the one to speak this time. "We... never tried that." she admitted, before activating her Byakugan, looking down the stairs with it. "It isn't as good as light, but it works." she said after a while.
"Okay, that means Naruto will wait up here and we are going down. Ready sis?" Hanabi asked, activating her Byakugan as well, getting a nod from her sister. Naruto waited at the top of the stairs while watching the girls disappearing in the darkness.
Once down in the basement did they stop in the entrance, checking out the room. "Hmm, seems to be just one room, not the largest either." Hanabi stated, having checked the walls with her eyes.
"What are these things?" Hinata asked, having discovered some withered furniture in the middle of them room. Hanabi was looking at them as well, thinking about it.
She needed some moments before she answered. "They look like torture devices." she spoke quietly. "There were images in one of the books. The one is looking like a spiked chair. The victim is restrained on it, being pressed into the spikes... This... might have been a room for interogation. You said it was an outpost from the time of the village founding?"
Hinata nodded slowly. "Yeah, that's what was written in the book I read. Uhm... what is that?" she pointed on one of the devices. She knew that even if it was totally dark down here was her sister still able to see her pointing and the object she pointed at. She actually never thought about it, but right now did she start to appreciate her eyes for their usefullness.
Hanabi followed her hand and looked at the object, thinking for a little while, before realizing it. It was partially withered away, but the metal atop the triangle shaped wooden object gave her the final clue. "That's... the horse." she whispered. "It's used for torturing women..." her voice was nearly down to nothing. The things she read about that device were just too cruel and remembering it wasn't nice at all.
Hinata wanted to ask how it worked, but decided against it. She felt that her sister wasn't in the mood to talk about it more than necessary. Trying to change the topic and after looking around a bit more did she speak up again. "Hey, see that table there? There is a scroll on it." she said, getting her sister out of her thoughts.
Hanabi's mind was busy with the things she read in the book about torture devices, being kinda lost in these thoughts, if her sister hadn't spoken up to get her out of them. She was looking over towards the table and saw the scroll her sister mentioned, walking over there to pick it up and put it away.
"Let's get out of here..." she said quietly. "There doesn't seem to be anything more down here and Naruto is waiting for us." Hinata nodded in agreement and both went back up the stairs.
Naruto was strolling around the room, waiting for the girls. He was sure that nothing happened to them, but waiting wasn't any of his strong abilities. The girls were down there for ten minutes before they finally got back to the surface.
"Glad you are back." he smiled at them. "So, what did you find?"
"A room filled with torture devices..." Hanabi stated, her eyes slightly unfocused.
Naruto was worried about her expression, pulling her into a hug that luckyly did the trick in bringing her back again. Seeing them in real was something different than reading about them. Hanabi needed time to sort her thoughts out.
"And we found a scroll." Hinata added. "Let's have a look, Hanabi." she smiled at her sister who for now were completely back with them.
"Sure." she pulled the scroll out of her pocket that all three of them could take a look.
Naruto took the scroll from her, trying to open it but failed. "It seems like it is sealed. We need to ask someone about it once we are back in the village." trying two more times but failing the same did he nod at his own statement and stored the scroll away in his clothes.
"At least did we find something, so it wasn't for nothing." Hanabi smiled slightly, being over her thoughts for the moment. She would think about it more once she was home and in her room. "So, shall we eat something?" she asked, looking at the other two.
"Yeah, sounds good. I'm starving!" Naruto exclaimed, looking at the girls.
"Uhm..." Hinata looked at the other two as well. "I think we forgot to bring proviant..."
All three of them were silent, looking at each other, before realizing that Hinata was totally right. They hadn't thought about something to eat as well. In fact did they go completely unprepared and the fog was still as thick as hours ago.
"Change of plans, we are heading back to the village right away." Hanabi stated, getting nods from the others.
They left the ruins and turned in the direction of the village, starting to walk back. However, after just some meters did they hear a shout. "Earth Style: Raising Walls!" and huge walls of earth were raising from the ground right in front of them and at both of their sides. They quickly turned around to see three figures standing at the opening left.
"Well, well, look what we got here. Seems like some kids walked right into our trap." one of the figures stated, the voice a deep male one.
"It sure was a good idea to spread some rumours about these ruins. It was just a matter of time before some would want to check them out." the second figure stated, the voice male as well, but pretty high.
"Two girls and a boy. I'm not sure about the boy, that will depend, but the girls should bring us some good profit." the third stated. The voice was of a female, something between seduction and slyness in it.
Hinata paled at the situation. She remembered what happened just a bit over a week ago. The difference however was that they could run back then. But now...
Naruto reacted quickly, standing in front of the girls and raising his fists. That got him a chuckle from the female. "Look at that, the boy is trying to defend his girlfriends. How cute... and useless." she grinned, getting laughs from her companions.
Naruto frowned at that, but he kept his temper. He was aware that he wouldn't be able to fight them, but he would try if he had to. What he wanted to do just now however was to cover Hanabi from view, that she could get the earpiece out without anyone noticing it. After all did they at least make a plan for when something might go wrong.
Hanabi was doing exactly that, but suddenly cursed silently. "It's broken..." she whispered. "Must have happened when we entered the first room..."
She dropped the earpiece to the ground, angered by her bad luck. So much for their plan to inform this Kakashi guy if something happened. Now would nobody know that they were in trouble and nobody would come to help them.
Hinata hearing her sisters words bit her lip. 'We are in trouble here. No... this is worse, it's life threatening to us. I know that I'm lacking confidence, I know that... but... if I'm not doing something now... there won't be another time. I need to protect my sister... no... my... misstress.' her thoughts went wild before she made a decision, stepping forward beside Naruto and entering the Hyuga fighting stance, willing to defend herself and her sister.
"Oho, the girly seems to be a brave one. Or is she just desperate to protect the little one? Not that it will help." the female chuckled again.
Hanabi started to panick, seeing her sister step forward. "No... you are too weak, sis..." she quietly said, grabbing her right arm right where her scar was, dropping down on her knees. The memory of her being nearly burned, the pain she felt when the fire hit her arm, the situation she was facing right now. It was too much for her. Still holding her arm did her expression went blank, the events finally catching up to her. She was traumatized.
Hinata could feel that her sister's emotions went crazy so she turned back around and got in front of her sister, down on her knees as well, hugging her. "Hanabi..." she whispered, holding her sister close to herself. That was all she could do now, holding and comforting her sister.
Naruto watching all this became angry. At himself, at the three figures in front of him, at the village that treated him badly, at everything. He couldn't control his rage and he charged blindly forward swinging his fists.
The female got annoyed by that display. "Hmm, the boy doesn't seem to know anything about fighting. This stance..." she shook her head. "Well, these three should bring us a bunch of money, so..." she stretched herself, before speaking a bit louder. "Do it. The profit should be high, so with them will the debt of your master be paid."
None of the three kids were paying attention to the female. Hanabi was still in shock and unresponsible, Hinata held her in her hug, not moving at all and Naruto tried to close the distance to the figures to attack. However, a fourth voice could be heard inside the fog, coming from all directions. "Ice Style: Chilling Mist" was all the voice said, before the air cooled down rapidly.
The girls weren't able to move anymore due to the cold temperature, not that they tried at all in their state. And Naruto slowed down drastically with the mist around him starting to freeze. He barely had any time or reflex to react, when suddenly one of the men appeared behind him, knocking him out with one hit. The second men appeared at the girls, doing the same to them.
A child just a few years older than themselfs appeared next to the woman, having shoulder length black hair, first looking at the other three kids before looking up to the woman. "Well done, Haku. As I said, with that is the debt of your master paid. You two are free to go now."
The child now known as Haku nodded at the words, while the men came back, the one carrying Naruto over his shoulder, the other carrying both girls under his arms. Haku was looking at all three of them, whispering. "I will remember your faces. Sayonara." before leaving the scene.
Konoha – on a random street
Ino wasn't in the mood to help her parents with the flower shop this morning. The events from the last evening were still nagging at her. She couldn't believe that her gossiping would cause her trouble, but that's exactly what happend.
She was bluntly talking about Hinata's feelings right in front of not just Hinata herself but also the target of her affection, Naruto. The worst? She simply reacted on a comment made by someone she just met.
The situation she left in a hurry was a serious one. She could feel the anger in the air inside the ramen stand. And most of it came from Hinata and was directed at the others for different reasons. She never thought that the shy girl she befriended two years ago would be able to enter such a state.
She was thinking about appologizing to her, but wasn't sure what to say. That's the reason why she was currently walking through the streets of Konoha, aiming for one special place. She knew her childhood friend would be there and she so needed to talk to him to get an advice. He wasn't easy to handle because of his lazyness, but he was smart and he could surely help her.
It didn't took her long to reach the place she was looking for, basicly just a small patch of grass slightly away from the center of the village with a tree standing in the middle. And below the tree could she see her childhood friend Shikamaru, laying on his back with his arms behind his head and watching the sky. Next to him sat the chubby brown haird boy from their class, Choji Akimichi and a childhood friend of her as well, eating some snacks.
"Hey, Shika, Choji!" she shouted, waving in their direction while closing the distance. Choji looked towards her and gave her a warm smile while Shikamaru didn't move, still focusing on the sky or more precisely the clouds. Relaxing while cloud watching, that was the best about life.
"Oh, hello Ino. It's rare for you to join us lately. Aren't you with the Hyuga girls today?" Choji asked innocently while continueing to munch on his snacks. He was a super kind hearted boy who always would step out of his way to help someone.
Ino looked at him and smiled slightly. She couldn't help it, but she liked Choji for his character. Getting out of her thoughts did she speak up. "Uhm, yeah, that's the point. I think I did something terrible and I wanted to ask Shika for some advice. You might be able to help as well, knowing your kindness. I really screwed up this time..." she said, looking at the ground.
"I always told you that you are troublesome, Ino..." Shikamaru said, still focused on the clouds and not moving at all.
"But you are saying that about everything, Shikamaru." Choji answered for her. "Well, sit down and tell us what happened, Ino. We will try to help as best we can." his warm smile never left his face and Ino thankfully sat down next to them.
"Well, to make the story short... I blurted out that Hinata is having feelings for Naruto... right in front of all three of them..." she quietly explained. "Hinata got super mad first at me, then at Naruto who apparently knew about these feelings for two years already and then at Hanabi, who told Naruto back then."
Shikamaru was listening to her and raising an eyebrow, still focused on the clouds. "So basicly is your problem that you gossiped about a topic everyone with eyes could see anyway? I don't see the problem there..." he yawned.
"No Shikamaru, you aren't understanding it. Even if everyone was aware of it did she do it in front of the affected persons and started a chain reaction with that, resulting in a mad Hinata. You need to listen more carefully to what is told." Choji explained to Shikamaru, basicly just repeating the same stuff Ino just said.
"Troublesome..." Shikamaru mumbled before finally lifting his body slightly, rolling over on his side. "Why don't you just go and appologize to her? I thought you are friends, so she should forgive you."
"That's the point... I don't know how to appologize in this situation. That's why I searched for you in the first place to get some advices." she admitted, looking at Shikamaru.
"You could get her something to eat and everything will be fine." Choji suggested, thinking about the way people should appologize to him.
"I don't think that will work with Hinata." Shikamaru stated while thinking about the matter. "But why not get her something she likes? Something small, I don't know. A stuffed animal or something? Whatever you girls like."
Ino thought about it and shook her head. "I don't think that she is into these things... but getting her something small, that might work." Ino laid down next to her friends and closed her eyes, thinking about the matter.
Shikamaru figured that Ino wouldn't bother him anymore right now and laid back down as well, going back to cloud watching while Choji just smiled, never having stopped eating his snacks. It was a mystery where he always got them or more precisely stored them while being outside, but it seemed like his supplies were unlimited.
Ino was thinking about the last two years she knew Hinata, trying to figure out what she might like as an appology. She wasn't sure how long she would need to come up with something, but it might be good if some time passed in which Hinata could calm down, if she was still upset that is. And later she would search for her. That was the plan now.
What Ino didn't knew was that she wouldn't be able to find Hinata or any of her other friends once she would look for them...
Konoha – Inuzuka Compound
Kiba was standing in the yard of the compound, covered in dirt and panting hard, bleeding from several wounds across his body. He couldn't help but think about his defeat against this little Hyuga girl on the first day of Academy. He weren't able to hit her and she toyed with him. No, she wasn't attacking at all, she just dodged his attacks. That annoyed him the most.
That's why he spent every single day after Academy training hard, trying to improve his skills. She could dodge, so he had to improve his speed even more. She avoided his punches, so he had to work on his aim. She was able to hit him while using his Kazuga, he totally needed to perfect this technique. He knew he hadn't mastered it yet, but that it would fail against a little girl...
However, right now did he need to survive. "Is this all you got, pup? I should be ashamed having you as son. You aren't even able to counter my weakest attacks, so it's no wonder that you lost against the little Hyuga." a feral looking woman with wild black hair and red markings on her face teased him, starting another rush attack against Kiba, hitting him right in his stomach.
Kiba coughed up blood and spit it out to the ground, before looking at the woman. "I already told you Mom, she fought dirty. In a fair fight would I've won without any problems!" he exclaimed, getting a fist into his face.
"Less talking, more training." Kiba's mother scolded him. "Besides, you rarely get a choice for your opponent, so you need to learn to deal with any kind, no matter how fair or unfair they may fight or which abilities they have." she aimed her fist at his stomach again, but Kiba managed to dodge this one. "Plus, from what I heard, did you fought without your partner. A foolish decision by a foolish boy."
Kiba frowned at that comment, looking at his mother. "I thought she would be weak and I don't wanted for Akamaru to exhaust him because of her." he stated as a matter of fact, believing that his mother would be happy with that reply.
He never saw her moving and suddenly felt her claw like fingersnails at his throat, swallowing hard. "And that, pup, is what will get you killed out there. Never underestimate any opponent." she whispered into his ear, before throwing her son to the ground.
Kiba grunting by the impact, but got up to his feet again, looking angry at his mother. "Okay, I got it. In understand. Fine!" he growled. "And that's why I'm training to become stronger. I don't want that to happen ever again. And I want to get revenge on her for toying with me. I won't forgive you, Hanabi Hyuga!" he shouted the last part, hoping that Hanabi might hear him, whereever she might be in the village.
His mother grinned at that statement. At least had her son some guts and the motivation. "Now that's the spirit pup. You ready for more?" she got down on all four, still grinning at her son and ready to fight serious now to push him, when another voice distracted her.
"Mom? Are you out here? You are needed!" a girl shouted, walking around the yard looking for her mother. That distracted her long enough for Kiba to charge at her and ramming his knee into her face.
"You teached me yourself to never loose focus during a fight." he grinned at his mother who wiped the blood away that was running down at the side of her mouth. His grin however vanished when he got yet another fist into his stomach. He let his guard down this time.
"Okay pup, play time is over. Train for yourself today or ask your sister if she has time for it." she said to Kiba grinning, before turning in the direction the voice could be heard from before. "Yes Hana, I'm over here. What is it?" she shouted.
Hana Inuzuka approached the fighting area seeing both her mother and brother there, one in a slightly better condition than the other. She was a girl of around 15 years and had brown hair with two strands framing her face. Right behind her was an ANBU following, wearing a familiar looking cat mask.
"Hokage-sama sent a messenger for you. Well, now that this is done I do have to care for my dogs." she turned to walk away but was stopped by her mother.
"Stay right there, pup. I need to talk to you." Hana sighed seeing the glint in her mothers eyes but stayed nonetheless. "Well, isn't it ironic that you got sent here again, Cat-chan?" she grinned at the ANBU.
Cat was used to these comments from the Inuzuka for a long time now. Maybe the Hokage thought it to be funny sending Cat to deal with the Inuzuka clan, known for their feral traits and the work with their ninja dog partners. "I don't see why this might be ironic." she said stoically. "Anyway, Hokage-sama is requesting your presence in an important matter. Please hurry to his office as soon as possible, Tsume Inuzuka."
Tsume was still grinning. She would never get tired of teasing Cat, even so she wasn't reacting anymore. But that's nature at all, for a dog to tease a cat. "Alright, got it. I need to talk to my pups for a minute and then will I be on the way."
Cat nodded at that statement. "Alright. I will inform Hokage-sama. Farewell." Cat answered before vanishing in a swirl of leaves.
Tsume wasn't able to get the grin from her face and turned to face her daughter, seeing that her son was now standing there as well. "Well, as you two heard, I was summoned by Hokage-sama. Hana, please be a good girl and treat your brothers wounds."
Hana frowned at that. "But Mom, I need to take care of my dogs. I don't have time for my stupid brother and his feelings of revenge." she normally had nothing against her younger brother, but his behavior during the last week was just annoying to her. And that just because he lost to a girl younger than himself.
Kiba glared at her angrily. "As if you were able to touch any living being in a gentle way. I really don't get why they let you become a vetenarian." he got another fist in his face, this time property by his sister.
Tsume was laughing at that scene. "Just do it, pup. And once you are done let your triplets play with him. He wants training, your dogs could get some exercise and you would be able to just watch while your brother is caring for them." her grin got some kind of sadistic touch to it and both her kids just nodded at that.
"See, now that's some good little pups I got there. Anyway, gotta go. Don't make trouble you two!" she waved to them over her shoulder while leaving the yard, not paying any more attention to her children.
Hana was looking angrily at her brother and Kiba gulped seeing his sister's expression. He was in for a long day of pain, he knew it. But right now would he accept everything to become stronger to get revenge on Hanabi...
Konoha – a park in the center
It was a sunny day inside the village and there were no traces of the mist that surrounded it. Kakashi having a free day did what he liked to do the most, hanging out and reading his books. He was currently leaning against a tree and deep in his book, not paying attention to his surroundings.
He liked these kind of days. Even so he was an elite ninja said to have mastered a thousand jutsu did he prefer peaceful days over days of fighting. Or missions. Or responsibilities. Or work. Actually, he was a lazy nature.
So a free day just like this was something he appreciated much. Good weather, a nice shadowy place inside one of the parks and a good book, nothing could go wrong. "Hey, spooky white hair guy!" and that's the point he was mistaken.
He sighed hearing this new nickname and put his book back in his bag, looking in the direction the voice came from. "You know that I don't like this name. Can't you stick with Cyclops like you always did, Cat? I don't want this new one to spread around the other shinobi or the whole village." he asked, watching her get close to him.
"While I do admit that keeping up with the old ways is important do I think that sometimes a new impulse can be refreshing. And the little Hyuga certainly got this refreshing impulse with your new name." she smiled under her mask, not that someone could see that. "Speaking of them, did you hear anything from the kids so far?"
"Hmm? No, I haven't. So I guess everything is fine with them." he shrugged. "But could you explain to me again why I'm the one who has to keep an eye on them? Or more precisely an ear in this case?"
"Again? But I just told you yesterday..." Cat frowned. Kakashi was a good guy, but hard to handle. "Okay, again. First because you are free today. Second you already got in contact with these kids and they kinda acknowledge you and third? Because you took an intrest in them as well, so it's just natural that you should have an eye on these troublemaker."
Kakashi nodded slightly. He knew these reasons, but still... "Anyway, hadn't you said you would be running errands for Hokage-sama today? But it seems like you aren't that busy at all. So why aren't you looking after them?" he gave her a big smile with his one eye closed.
Cat chuckled at that. "I am busy right now. My current order is to distract you that Hokage-sama can confiscate all your beloved books. He said that would help you being less lazy."
"Nice try, but I know that this isn't the case. Want to try again?" he still smiled at Cat, knowing that this kind of order would never be given by the current Hokage.
"Fine... I am playing messenger and collector again. Currently am I collecting the reports of the gate guards around the village. Seems like nothing strange happened so far, as usual. Want to have a look?" she asked, pulling out some papers and handing them to Kakashi.
He took them and gave them a quick glance, scanning for anything out of the ordinary. "Hmm, you are right. But... two things do catch my attention." he stated after going through the reports.
"Really? I haven't seen anything special at all." Cat said, getting a bit closer to Kakashi to take a look on the reports as well.
"Yeah. First of all do all gates report a heavy mist outside. This for itself isn't strange, but have you realized that the whole inside of the village is totally sunny and there aren't any signs of mist at all?"
Cat thought about it for some while before answering. "But with the forests surrounding the village and our high wall is it possible, that the mist isn't entering here, right?"
"Good answer." Kakashi smiled at her. "It's the second thing that really concerns me though. Have you read what the guards report for leaving people so far?" he asked her again, waiting patiently for her answer.
"Hmm, yeah, I did. None of the gates have reported anyone leaving or entering." Cat answered, looking at him curiously, not that he could see that. "What about it?"
"That's the point. If the kids went into the forest should one guardpost have seen them, right? But since there isn't any contact reported..." he left his sentence open at the end for Cat to pick up.
"...did they most likely decide to not go at all today and are still somewhere inside the village." and she finished for him, getting a nod from Kakashi.
"It seems that way, yes. That means I don't need to watch them anymore at all. Or wait for a contact or whatever." he pulled his book back out of his bag. "So if you'll excuse me, I have things to do." he gave her one last smile before getting back to his book.
'I can't believe they changed their minds... they seemed determined to me last evening. And I haven't seen or heard them inside the village today. I wonder where they are...' Cat thought to herself before continuing with her errands. If she would knew how accurate her concerns were...
Somewhere in the Eastern Forest
A lone figure was walking through the forest, dressed in a grey trenchcoat and with sunglasses on, despite the fact that it was totally foggy. It was Shino Aburame and he used the thick mist to search for some rare beetles and bugs, who would only come out at these kind of conditions.
He, like his whole family, was intrested in insects and took every chance he got to search for them. And this rare condition was a one of a kind chance for him to find some real rare specimen. After all was the mist surrounding the village normally never that thick.
So far did he not have any luck, but he felt like he was close to finding a rare one. His instinct told him that. That plus the fact that he was able to hear and differ the little sounds the insects made. It wasn't like telling birds apart by listening to their voices, it was more like the sounds the insects make while moving and these kind of things.
Though there was one thing he could tell for certain. He was already some distance away from the village cause he couldn't sense or hear the insects living near the walls anymore. But he wasn't worried about getting lost in this mist, he was able to find his way back by following the insects.
He was out there for some hours by now, but he wasn't lucky at all today. Despite the weather being perfect for some of the rare ones did he find none so far and he was thinking about heading back to the village, when he reached a clearing in the forest. The mist was slightly less thick here and he could see the outlines of a ruin.
One thing bothered him. The insects around here seemed to be restless, like something disturbed them recently. Taking a closer look at the clearing and his close surroundings did he realize that the ground was recently used. The soil was partially marked by a footprint here and there and at other places shattered around, like something moved it from underground to the outside.
He came up with two possiblities about what happened here. The first but unlikely one was that someone tried to plant something here or was searching for something. The second, most likely one was that some kind of fight took place at this location. This would explain the movements of the insects and the issues with the ground. Some Earth Style jutsu he guessed.
He knew that he should head back to the village to report his findings but decided on staying a little longer to search for additional clues. He was sure that none other than himself was around because the insects in the forest weren't reacting to any other person right now, so he should have enough time.
Walking over to the area on which the ground seemed to be the most effected by whatever happened here did he crouch down to examine it carefully. All together did he count 7 different footprints while 3 or 4 of them seemed to be from children. He couldn't say what exactly happened but he guessed that some adults might have kidnapped some children here. That was the most logical thing.
When he decided to go back and report it did something out of the ordinary catch his eye. It was just a flash in the corner of it, but he thought that he saw something, so he went in that direction, carefully searching the ground. It took him around 5 minutes to find what he was looking for and picked it up.
"Hmm, this does look like a radio earpiece. Seems to be broken. From what I can tell is it used by Konoha shinobi, standard fabric. What is it doing out here? I should hurry back and report this." he spoke to himself before heading into the thick mist in the direction of the village. The insects guided his way.
Somewhere unknown
Hanabi was having a nightmare. She was running through a forest with no end, with a huge wave of fire following her. All she could do is running, trying to get away from the fire as quick and far as she could. There were however two things making this difficult for here. The one was the fact that as closer the fire came to her the more pain did she feel in her right arm, precisely in the area she got her scar. She was already holding it tight with her left hand, digging her fingernails into it.
The second problem was another big one. As farther she ran as colder became the air around her, slowing her down bit by bit. With that did the flame get closer and closer, the pain in her arm stronger which slowed her down even more. It was a situation she couldn't escape.
Once the flame reached her did the pain explode, consuming her whole body, burning her alive. She screamed in agony, still trying to escape the flame, the pain, her fate. She could somehow see herself being consumed, turned into nothing but ash, and she never stopped screaming for the pain she felt.
That was the moment she woke up, her whole body covered in sweat and still screaming. It took her a while to realize that she was still alive, that she wasn't feeling any pain from being burned alive, that she must have had a nightmare.
The next thing she realized was that she was unable to move her body. She tried moving her arms and legs but it was to no use. She felt herself in a kneeling position and her legs were tied in it, making it impossible to move them. When she tried her hands again did she realize that they were behind her back, tied together and also attached to something behind her.
Even her head movement was restricted. She felt something around her neck that seemed to be tied to the same object behind her like her hands were. She finally opened her eyes slowly, seeing both her sister and Naruto in similiar positions tied to a post each. So she assumed her hands and neck were tied to one as well.
She could also see the worry for her well-being in the eyes of the others, who tried talking to her since the moment she screamed, but she hadn't realized or heard them at all.
They seemed to be okay to her, seeing no visible wounds on the outside. Beside of the situation they were in were they at least not hurt. On closer ispection did she see that both got rope tied around the neck, keeping the head from movements and inflicting pain and cutting the flow of air if they tried, so she guessed it was the same for her.
She blinked her eyes a few more times to get away from her diziness. When her mind was finally fully back did she try to talk to her friends, but got interrupted by a person entering the room they were in. It was a slim figure, dressed in a complete body suit, only leaving the eyes visible. Her mind worked fast and she knew that she saw this kind of suit already. The shinobi from a week ago were wearing similiar ones.
"Well, well, seems like the little one has finally decided to wake up as well. And then with such loud noise... so disappointing..." the figure said, the voice being the same female one they heard on the clearing at the ruins. "If you promise to stay silent from now on won't I gag you. If not, well, for the sake of all people here do I need to shut you up. So?" she looked down at Hanabi who glared at her, before slowly and carefully nodding, trying to not choke herself.
"Now that's a good girl. I would like to tell you what will happen now, but... sadly I'm unable to do so. You see, we can't decide anything without gathering additional information before. But from what I can tell was it well worth it to set up the trap. Two cute little girls walked right into it, that's delicious." she pulled down the cloth covering her mouth and licked her lips provocantly, smiling at all three of them who showed different emotions from fear to rage.
"Oh, seriously? Don't you know that it's dangerous to walk into a thick mist all by yourself? You can get lost real quick in it. Be thankful that we found you out there." she chuckled to herself, angering the kids even more, but they somehow managed to not voice their opinion. If they would talk back now would they most likely be gagged and not get the opportunity to talk to the others later.
When the female was starting to add more annoying stuff to her speech did she got interrupted by another figure that entered the room. It was a slender, tall man, wearing a similiar full body suit.
"Ah, I see you are back. Did you got the information we need?" the female asked the newcomer, who nodded at her question.
"Yes, I did." he answered, the voice a high male one, the same that could be heard in the mist. "The boy is, depending on how you want to put it, either the joker or a zero."
The female sighed at that. "You and your cryptic speech. Joker or zero, huh? So an orphan who nobody will miss and who nobody would pay a ransom for, right?"
The male nodded. "That's what I was saying, yes. I would advice getting rid of him as fast as possible. The next auction is in two days. We might be able to advertise him for physical labor. I hadn't had the impression that he would knew how to fight or that he had any talents at all..." he stated his observations and informations.
"What? Take that back!" Naruto shouted, unable to control his emotions by these words. Though he regreted them right away, when the female walked over to him, knocking him out again and tying a thick piece of clothing over his mouth, gagging him that way.
The male however didn't reacted to this whole situation and simply continued. "The girls on the other hand are some intresting ones. They are either like queen and jack or like ace and five. It seems like we have some options with them." he had a small smile on his face, which was rare. Not that anyone could see it with his full body suit.
The female was raising an eyebrow at that. "Wait, like queen and jack?" she looked at the girls. "Really? Like misstress and servant?" she saw both girls blush slightly at that. "At least one is talented and the other not so, I get that. Ace and five... sometimes your cryptics are annoying. But we have options with them? You got my full attention here." the female replied, waiting for her comrade to continue.
"Well, we could simply get rid of them. That might be the easiest, considering the auction is near. However, these girls seem to be the daughters of one of Konoha's clan heads, meaning they are both heiresses. We might be able to get a huge ransom for them, but that would put us in a risky situation. If they decide to act against us will we most likely loose."
The female listened carefully, thinking about her options. "Anything else?" she asked, feeling that her comrade wasn't done yet.
"Two more options, actually. One would be delivering them to Kumo. As it seems..." he pulled out a bingo book and opened it on a certain page. "...is there a running bounty placed by Kumo for living members from this clan from Konoha. The amount is quite high, but the risk of the transportation should be considered. It's some distance to Kumo."
"Okay, that is a nice option. And the last?" the female asked, knowing her comrade however did she has a guess of what he would say next.
"We could simply keep them for our own purposes. The little one shall be gifted with talents and the other one shall be shy and submissive. It wouldn't take us too long to get them useable for us. Besides..." he took a short break, mustering the two girls who both paled hearing all the things that might happen to them. "...from what I understand are these three responsible for the failed operation last week."
"Say that again?" the female raised an eyebrow. "You mean three children were able to beat our recovery team?"
"Yes and no. It seems like they somehow got in the way, found the object our team was looking for and started an escape with it. They shall have spotted our team and ran away. And they somehow managed to call for backup while being chased by our team which appeared just in time to rescue these kids and kill our team."
"I... see..." the female was breathing deeply, trying to keep calm. "I need some time to think about these options. You prepare the marks. No need to gag the girls, let them talk if they want, I don't mind." she was leaving the room without waiting for any response, knowing that the male will do what she ordered.
The male sat down at a small desk and started working on something, while the girls were watching him with fearful eyes. Both had similiar thoughts, knowing quite well what was talked about just now. After all had they stolen some books about slavery and were more or less familiar with this topic.
Once the male was finished with his work did he walk from post to post, placing a well crafted leather collar on the neck of each kid. And they quickly found out what he was working on just a moment ago. He engraved their respective names on the small name tags. No family names, just their first names.
When the male was done did both of them stayed silent, their heads running wild with all kind of thoughts. However, there was one thought crossing Hanabi's mind that would have worried her at every other time, but which she didn't realize right now in this situation cause the thought was replaced by another one right away.
'Sorry sis, I wanted to be the one giving you your first collar and placing it around your neck.' - this thought was only present for a split second and went without being noticed. But it was there, nonetheless.