Naruto: Tenth Dragon's Poison

Chapter 37

A Call to Action

The sky darkened by the minute, bringing the dark one step closer to take over in complete. The amount of time that passed since finding himself in pursuit of her traveled path became lost to him. He stayed a solid distance behind, knowing not getting spotted was one of his main priorities. Her every move was watched carefully, doing his best to figure out who or what she was clearly in search of.

"How much longer does she plan on keeping this up, you would think she would be close to reaching her destination by now," Bart thought to himself. "It almost feels like we're going in circles."

The way she surveyed the area after each blocks end was very suggestive. It was almost as if she was on the lookout for something, or someone. Possibilities began to flood through his mind. But even with that, there wasn't anything concrete to go off of that would provide a significant answer to what.

After a time of walking the length in her steps seemed to slow, implying wherever she was headed was near. He couldn't be any more pleased.

"Could it, have we finally arrived?"

…..

Everything conveyed to him was taken in. A majority of what was explained was not something he was prepared to hear. As unbelievable as it may have seemed there was no denying the truth in her eyes that was the driving force of all that was said. He crossed his arms across his chest as he breathed in deeply.

"So let me get this straight, you were sent here to Konoha by someone you described as some kind of shinigami general from a completely different world with the given mission of tracking down someone who came from your world as well," Naruto detailed while maintaining eye. "Furthermore you were told this person was someone with a hinted intent of evil, making the importance of finding this person just that much more vital.. did I miss anything?"

She simply nodded as a way of passing confirmation.

"All of what you said is pretty spot on, except for one small detail."

A questioning look fell upon his face as his hands dropped back down to his side in response to the commented.

"Which detail is that?"

"My friends and I weren't specifically sent to Konoha to search, but rather the entire shinobi world." Orihime clarified.

This broadness in realization brought an immediate response.

"Wow," Naruto spoke as he uncrossed his arms and glanced up at the sky above. "The entire nation huh, well that sure changes things.. finding whoever this person is could take longer than I thought."

The disappointment in his speech could clearly be heard, one which brought a worried look to her face.

"But you do believe we can find them right?" Orihime inquired in light of the spoken.

His hands then rose to the back of his head as he rekindled eye contact with her before replying.

"Well that all depends," Naruto noted. "For starters I don't even know who we're after; surely you have a description for what at least this person looks like?"

"Unfortunately I do not." Orihime passed with the shake of her head.

His eyes widened as his arms quickly dropped down to his side.

"What do you mean you don't know what they look like," Naruto exclaimed. "How do we ever plan on finding this guy if you don't have a clue as to what we should be looking for, you can't tell me this captain friend of yours couldn't at least provide you with something to go off of."

"That he did," Orihime said pleased to announce with the bow of her head. "Though we were not given a description of what they look like, we were told the one we're after has a unique Reiatsu."

An expressed confusion upon his face followed in response to the conveyed.

"Reiatsu.. what is that?" Naruto asked looking as clueless as ever.

"Oh that's right, the people of this world have another term for it," Orihime said thinking back to the last conversation they shared with Captain Hitsugaya before arriving. "That's right, Chakra.. the person we've been sent to find should have unique Chakra."

"Well I guess that clears things up a bit, but even so, 'unique chakra' isn't much to go off of," Naruto stated. "Well at least it's a start, while we're still on the subject you mind sharing something with me?"

This statement caught her by surprise, bringing a puzzled look upon her face.

"What is it?"

"Of everything we've gone over thus far, you've barely mentioned anything about the two you claimed to have traveled here with," Naruto stated. "Mind giving me a description on what they look like, that way we can clear some things up."

The look of uncertainty that had found way to her face changed completely after hearing this.

"Oh no, this is where he's going to imply that they're one with the enemy," Orihime exclaimed as she began pacing back and forth in place. "And then he'll probably begin to question everything I've said up until this point."

"Wait, no," Naruto denied holding out a hand. "I wasn't going to imply anything like that."

"Maybe I should ask him to help me find them, no… completing the mission is our number one priority," Orihime noted aloud. "But what if they're in trouble, they could need me.. Ohh, what am I going to do?"

A dumbfounding look came to his face in response to what he was now seeing.

"Are you really talking to yourself right now, have you forgotten I'm here as well?!"

She immediately stopped in her paced path.

"Oh sorry, I guess I got a little side tracked," Orihime giggled lightly. "So you'll really help me find them?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I?"

".. Well when you said something about clearing things up I was under the assumption you were going to imply they were involved with the attack."

He place his left palm upon his face with the shake of his head before focusing back to the matter at hand.

"I imagine it has been a difficult past two days for you," Naruto noted. "What do you say we return to the village now?"

"Return to the village?"

"Yea, you can tell me everything else there is to know once we get there," Naruto stated as he patted hand atop his belly. "I don't know about you but I sure could go for some ramen right about now, I would imagine you'd be hungry as well."

"I..," Orihime began with slight hesitation. Flushing out all doubt she simply smiled. "Sure, ramen sounds promising."

He smiled as well with a fist pump to give.

"Then it is settled," Naruto announced. "Ramen Ichiraku, we're on our way!"

….

The disbelief weighed heavily. Was it true, had everything she had learned about to them to this point been a lie? And what about all that happened in Tanigakure, was there now room to question the deduced based on the samurai's own hidden secret? All this and more synchronized through her mind as she attempted to find even ground to where it all made sense.

"It can't be, there must be some kind of mistake," Sakura stated. "There is no way the person we met here in the Land of Fire and then crossed for a second time in Tanigakure is a woman, the pitch in their voice.. the way the way the moved even would suggest otherwise."

"The paperwork I obtained contradicts what you think, no matter how unbelievable it may seem."

"None of this makes any sense."

"Did you ever consider the possibility that this is what Dosada-san wanted you all to believe?" Shikamaru questioned.

"Let's say this was the samurai's intent, the question then would become, why," Sakura said with a brief pause. "I can't think of any reasonable reason why someone would want to conceal their true gender for something as simple as investigation.. unless, unless there is something more to this than we know."

An expression of interest marked its place on his face after hearing this.

"What do you mean by that statement, I'd love to hear your thoughts."

"It is only an assumption at this point, but what if there was another reason Dosada was there," Sakura pointed out. "Could it be she was there for some other kind of mission, one that required her to keep her identity a secret?"

"While I see the thought process in that, why would she give out her name if that were the case," Shikamaru noted. "If she really wanted to keep her presence there a secret couldn't she have simply given a false name, I hardly see how hiding only your gender amounts to much."

"Or maybe it's something even more sinister."

"What do you mean?"

"What if the person we met wasn't Tezlinar Dosada at all, but rather someone else altogether?"

"You mean as in someone impersonating her in name?"

She nodded her head.

"Yes, that's the very thing I had in mind." Sakura said.

"That would certainly stem a lot of questions to be asked," Shikamaru noted. "Speaking of questions I have another for you."

"What is it?"

"I feel like there's an important element missing in all of this, during your encounter with this Tezlinar character did you notice or find anything strange about them?"

"From what any of us could tell there was nothing out of the ordinary to.. wait, now that you mention it." Sakura said with a sudden pause.

"What is it?" Shikamaru inquired

"It was on the night we discovered the deceased in the Land of Fire, after our scuffle with him.. her, it's almost as if she vanished after taking off."

"Is it possible that she might have outran the three of you," Shikamaru asked. "Or would that be putting it too lightly?"

"While that may be true, that still wouldn't explain why Hinata-chan wasn't able to track Dosada with her Byakugan," Sakura stated. "There's no way they could have covered that much distance in such a short amount of time which would have put them out of her range of sight."

"That's actually quite telling, it seems there's more surrounding this than what the surface implies."

"True, but what does it mean?"

"While we could hamper on that all day, there's more important problems we face," Shikamaru reminded. "While I fully understand your concerns let's not allow this to detract our attention away from the immediate threat that threatens our entire nation, the Shadow Revenants."

"Yes, I haven't forgotten," Sakura acknowledged. "Finding out who is truly behind all these killings is clearly our number one priority."

"And that will have its time as well," Shikamaru stated with the nod of his head. "But first, we'll need a set plan moving forward."

…..

At long last, after traveling past several buildings, and turning off of one block to the next they had finally come to a stop. The destined spot brought them to a small bridge which hung over an active river beneath. He took refuge behind a large tree, one which gave off a strong scent of oak mixed with the freshness of the stream nearby.

With nothing but the hiss of the wind and chant of the river to be heard he peaked out from behind the tree to find she had come to a dead stop at the center of the bridge. The obvious struck to mind, why had she stopped. His eyes focused in with an undeniable anticipation.

"Why here of all places, I don't see anyone within fifty feet of her," Bart spoke to himself as he looked. "There's no one around but the two of us, could it be that's she's waiting for someone?"

The longer this went on the more plausible this seemed. The deterioration of his patience was now stepping on razors edge. What was he to do now, continue waiting for something more to happen or force his hand into play?

"Oh how I hate waiting, it doesn't get any lamer than this," Bart rolled in mind. "This is downright torcher."

Even with his anxiety near its peak he found it in himself not to budge. He became lost in his observation of her as time went on, forgetting about all else even if for moment. He unintentionally found himself scanning her from top to bottom, undoubtedly marveled by her figure. Her hair waved in sync with the light wind that circulated in an indecisive path.

There was little movement from her. She stood at bridge side, doing nothing more than staring into the amiss of the active stream beneath. This daze of sorts would last for only seconds however. An informing ring came from within their left air, alerting her of an incoming call. She stood up straight from where she had leaned, pressing down to the device sitting in her ear to activate it.

"You called right on schedule; I'd be lying if I didn't admit to being pleasantly surprised by this." She remarked wittingly.

A suggestive grunt came from the opposite end, sending a message that couldn't be any clearer.

"Let's skip the jibber talk and get straight to the essentials," The voice of a man dispatched from the other side. "I've scoured the outer boundaries of the village just like what was instructed."

"And?"

"Nothing," He transmitted. "I have nothing to report from here, there's nothing out of the ordinary to speak of."

"I was afraid that was going to be the case, but being that you were the one given the task I shouldn't have expected anything more."

"You're sure one to talk run-mouth redundant; did you track down any possible leads within Kumogakure's walls?"

"I have been looking, but still haven't been able to figure out where they might have taken him," She conveyed as she raised her right arm to lay eye to a device strapped to her wrist which strongly resembled a 'watch'. "I've circled this place for hours now and still have yet to regain a signal."

"So, you've managed just about as much progress as myself?"

"We don't have time for this weightless back and forth, we need to keep searching until we find where their base is hidden."

"That's what I thought." He proudly radioed.

"We'll make contact again in an hour, do something useful for a change and find something," She scoffed in a heated tone. "Karin out."

That marked the final words of the conversation between the two individuals. Her immediate gesture afterward was to take a step back before taking a deep breath.

"It doesn't get any easier from here."

Those words would quickly be followed by a startling crack of the bridge itself. She gasped as she spun around in instinct reaction to find that it was only someone who had walked up from behind.

"It's you, you're that boy I met earlier." She immediately recognized upon seeing him.

"So your name is Karin.. well, that's certainly a start," The amber eyed speeder stated in response. "Now that we're acquainted on square one, there's something I'd like to ask."

…

In a neighboring universe a far distance away.

Hours upon hours past, and yet there was very little progress to speak of and no direct answer to what caused this latest incident of uproar. She stood at computer side, staring up at the large monitor that gave the headline: "Twenty three additional civilians recorded missing in suspected relation to the blinding flash have been found."

"At least we're making our way back, even if it is by one slow step at a time."

"That's all we can hope for," Cyborg said turning from where he was seated to look up at her. "Any luck in tracking Shazam?"

"I've searched high and far, checking any possible place he could be, ranging from his usual patrolling spots to overseas and have had no luck in finding him," Wonder Woman replied. "At this point I don't even know where to pick up from; it is almost like he vanished without a single trace."

"Not just him, but several of our other allies as well." Cyborg reminded.

"I wonder if any of the others have had any better luck than the two of us."

"The last I heard from any of them was Green Lantern who was heading further east to continue his search about two hours ago," Cyborg informed. "I haven't made any contact with anyone else since then."

"I see," Wonder Woman said as she laid eye to the monitor once more. "On another matter, is that golden sphere we uncovered at the scene safely secured?"

"Well.. I can't exactly answer that."

Her eyes rolled back in his direction after hearing this.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"What I mean is it's no longer here at headquarters," Cyborg informed. "Superman took it with him when he left several hours ago."

"What, he took it with him.. for what purpose?" Wonder Woman questioned.

The electronics doors to the room opened at that very moment, causing them both to look back to find the man in blue himself.

"Cyborg.. good to see you as well Wonder Woman," Superman said as he walked over toward the two of them. "Any update on our missing crisis?"

"Well it was reported an additional number of twenty three civilians have been found, in suspected connection to that flash of light that was witnessed across the globe," Cyborg informed. "That still leaves an estimation of just over four thousand people still missing worldwide."

"We'll find each and every one of them." Superman vowed.

"Now that we've got that out of the way, you have some explaining to do." Wonder Woman declared looking him directly in the eyes.

This was something that definitely caught him off guard.

"What is it I have to explain?" Superman inquired with the lift of his left brow.

"That gold sphere we brought back to headquarters and locked away," Wonder Woman clarified. "Where have you taken it?"

"Somewhere safe." Superman assured.

"And where might that be?"

"As I told Vic before, the less people that know of its location the better," Superman replied. "I'm almost certain Mirror Master will return and try to regain possession of it, we can't let that happen."

"While I agree, I also don't think now is a good time to keep secrets from one another."

"Like it or not, this is the route I've upon," Superman said cementing his stand. "Discussing that in particular is not what brought me here, there's something that needs to be addressed.. by us all."

The message in his tone drawled their undivided attention.

"We're listening." Cyborg said turning in the seat to fully face him.

"It's the public, they want to hear from us," Superman conveyed with the wave of his hands. "In the days following these events the Justice League has yet to speak on the matter which has brought a growing tension with the media, it's long overdue that we finally voice our side of things."

"Agreed," Wonder Woman noted with the nod of her head. "While it's wildly known of our efforts to help recover the missing, I think it is time that we shared with the world what we know up to this point."

"You're right, this is something that needs to be done," Cyborg declared as he stood to his feet. "Have you contacted any of the others about this?"

"Not yet, you're the first I've passed this to." Superman answered.

"I see."

"It's settled, call in the rest of the League," Superman stated. "It's time for us to answer the call of the people."

….

It was now a standoff, one of moments that seemed to carry out like several minutes. His right hand found way to the top of his head before finally speaking again.

"Ok.. what was it I was going to ask again?" Bart said thinking deep on it.

"Oh I've got one, why are you here," The girl come to be known as Karin sassed. "Have you been following me?!"

He grinningly dropped his right hand back to his side before responding.

"Well you see, I still haven't been able to find that friend I told you about before and.." Bart began explaining only to be cut off.

"And what does any of that have to do with me?" Karin asked all while bringing her arms to her hips.

"You see, that one is simple," Bart replied raising his left hand. "While looking for him I happened to come across you again, and from what I could tell you seemed to be looking for someone as well so I thought maybe we could."

"What are you, some kind of stalker?!" Karin snapped.

"Hey, you're the suspicious one," Bart declared as he pointed directly at her. "The way you've been walking around for the past half hour shows discreet intent."

"I hardly see how any of that is your business."

"Who was that you were talking to before I approached anyway," Bart asked. "Sounded pretty important, is something going on?"

"So now you were eavesdropping?" Karin said being more irritated by the moment.

"I promise, it was all unintentional." Bart assured waving his hands out in front of him.

"I've wasted enough time as it is," Karin stated. "And I'm certainly not going to waste any further time on you."

With her mind set she made a quick move for the opposite end of the bridge only to bump into something. Her eyes widened at who she came to find.

"Look I'm sorry; would you at least let me try to explain?" Bart asked from where he now stood in her path.

She rolled her eyes in annoyance as she turned back from where she had come only to find him blocking off her path once again.

"How did you?"

"Fast," Bart interjected proudly while giving her the thumbs up. "Super fast at that, I don't have the 'flash' in my name for nothing."

"What in the world is he talking about?"

"Please, just hear me out," Bart lightly plead as he clapped in hands together. "You're clearly looking for someone just as I am, if that's the case I don't see why we can't search together."

It was clear she paid little mind to what was said given what her next actions brought. He watched as she reached into her left pocket, pulling out a small black ball of some kind.

"What is that?" Bart immediately inquired.

Her response was to drop it to the ground. It exploded into fumes of smoke upon making contacting, blinding him from what surrounded him. He coughed out in response to whatever was inhaled, clutching his fists as he readied himself for his next move to make.

"This sure was unexpected."

With a speeding shift in his body he spun himself like a propeller, sending the smoke ball away in a matter of seconds. Once all was clear there was no one to be found on the bridge but himself.

"Ahhh…. well, it looks like she might have gotten away," Bart smilingly took note of. He then opened his right palm to reveal a device which looked like a watch. "As Red Robin always preached, when dealing with a situation of uncertainty always plan two steps ahead of the opposition."

It was then that he opened his palm to reveal a small device which resembled a watch.

"Lucky for me I was able to swap this from her without her noticing, whatever it is."

He then strapped the device to his left wrist. Without further ado he activated the device by pressing down on the notable button on the top which brought up a hologram map which depicted a large area.

"Awesome, this is so cool," Bart happily exclaimed with the pump of his fist. "If I heard her right she was using this to try and track someone which comes as no surprise in the way she was wondering around, no doubt once she realizes it's missing she'll come back looking for it."

He then took the time to try his hand in familiarizing himself with how it worked, finding himself more confused than anything.

"It would have been nice to pick up a tutorial with this thing, oh well," Bart commented before looking to the path that awaited him. "I guess it really doesn't matter which way I go, because I have a feeling that if I find the person she's been searching for.. I'll find Uryuu as well, I have a strange feeling there's something big at work around here."

He took a deep breath, reeling in a circle of confidence as a decision on where to go next was made. Looking to the opposite end of the bridge he made his first move forward.

"Now, let's see if I can find out what's going on."

….

The time of just under an hour passed since making their way back to the village grounds. Night time had finally made way. Feeling reenergized after having a bowl of satisfying ramen she gandered up at the sky as they walked. Her eyes fell upon the moon which gazed down at her with equal following. Her dose into the confines her mind would be interrupted by the one who walked step for step alongside her.

"You ok?"

The concern in his tone brushed its was past her conscious which carried over to a quick response.

"I'm fine, I was just thinking is all." Orihime assured.

"There's something I wanted to ask you."

She stopped at the note of this which brought him to do the same.

"What is it?" She softly inquired.

"It's about that 'Reiatsu' you mentioned in relation to chakra, after hearing your run down on its usage it's left me a little empty."

A questioning look came to her face after hearing this, not completely sure what it was he was getting at.

"What do you mean by empty," Orihime asked looking for clarification. "Are you saying you don't understand how it works?"

"Well.. yea, I'm a little uncertain about its properties and how it works exactly," Naruto stated. "Because from what I've been able to make of it I'd say its performance in use has its differences from chakra."

"While I could tell you what I know, I can assure you Kurosaki-kun would be more knowledgeable on the matter than myself." Orihime admitted to.

"Then I guess that just means I'll have to find this guy and ask him myself," Naruto said bumping his fits together. "So is it true what you said before, is this Kurosaki friend of yours truly some kind of shinigami?"

"Substitute Shinigami." Orihime clarified with the nod of her head.

"The more I hear the more interested I am in meeting this guy." Naruto said voicing his growing interest.

"So does that mean you'll," Orihime huffed with a brief pause. "Help me find him?"

He turned to face her with that charismatic grin of his which gave the obvious.

"As I said before, of course I'll help you find him," Naruto passed bringing his right hand to his chest. "That's what friends are for right?"

She found herself taken back by his words.

"… Friend, is that what he thinks of me?"

"We'll find him along with that other friend of yours," Naruto confidently declared. "And that's a guarantee."

".. Thank you," Orihime said a little lost for words. There was something else she wanted to ask, something she was struggling to find the exact words. "Naruto.."

"Hmm.. what is it?" Naruto asked noticing a change in tone.

"If it's not too much to ask, is it alright if we keep everything we've talked about just between the two of us?"

He said nothing at first, standing there for several seconds to pass before finally nodding his head as a display of his acceptance of the decided.

"Your secret is safe with me," Naruto promised. "Though if you don't mind me asking, why you don't want anyone else to know?"

"It's simple, the less people that get dragged into this the better." Orihime replied.

"I understand your concerns, I really do," Naruto acknowledged. "But if this person that traveled from your world poses some kind of threat wouldn't it be unfair to keep their travels hear a secret from everyone else.. for all we know this mystery person could be the one responsible for the recent unexplainable attacks that have led to several deaths in this past week."

Her eyes widened, gasping at the spoken possibility.

"What… what if he's right?"

The two of them stared into the eyes of the other, sparking a standoff of not only tension but one of uncertainty. This frozen moment in time lasted for several moments more. Their minds were intertwined in the same web of thought, but would their contemplation bring about a common decision? The shared zone between them would only be broken by the voice of someone on the outside.

"Orihime, Orihime-chan!"

The both of them turned left of where they stood to find someone in fast approach of them.

"TenTen, what are you doing?" Naruto asked as she stopped just a few feet of him.

"Thank goodness you found her," TenTen said bowing her head before focusing her sights to Orihime. "Where have you been, several of us have been looking for you for the past couple hours."

"Well, I was.. umm." Orihime fretted as she searched for words to give in response.

Naruto immediately laughed at this latest development, prompting the two of them to look his way.

"What's so funny?" TenTen asked with the cross of arms.

"Lost," Naruto laughed once more. "How is that possible when she's been with me the whole time?"

"Inoue-chan has been with you this whole time?"

He shook his head to give confirmation.

"Yep, that's right." Naruto stated smilingly.

"Well you could have told someone you know," TenTen said showing a minor visual agitation from the learned. "She shouldn't even be up, at least not until she's been assessed on her current condition."

"Is it too late to apologize?" Naruto jokingly remarked.

"Oh just forget it," TenTen said with a huff while uncrossing her arms. "Come on Inoue-chan."

"Are we going somewhere?"

"Yes," TenTen replied. "I'm taking you back to the infirmary, and I won't take no for an answer."

She understood the circumstance, nodding her head before proceeding to follow.

"Naruto-kun, are you coming as well?" Orihime asked looking back after a third step taken.

"You guys go on ahead, I'll catch up with you later," Naruto replied. "There's something I have to do first."

One final glance was shared before she turned back for the chosen path, following after TenTen who was already a good ten yards ahead.

….

Its tune slithered down the walls before tapping down to the ground, a sound which carried throughout the entire room. Even with the substantial amount of time that passed since finding themselves at this very place very little was said between them all. They all kept to themselves, not even shedding the smallest of eyes to those that surrounded them.

Their batch of silence however would soon come to an end. Something soared throughout the deep tunnel of what they assumed to be a cave, a sound which pointed to someone approaching. For the first time in several hours the vocal point for all who stood became one once again. There was a singular thought that came to mind.

"They've finally returned."

The clarity in the in sound only rose with every second that past. Each of them had their eyes locked on the opening leading to the room, watching as a dark figure panned in from the darkness into the light to reveal themselves.

"Excellent, it's a pleasant surprise to see you all still here, I thought for sure at least one of you would have run astray," Sosuke stated as he looked each and every one of them over. "But regardless of your backgrounds or what has brought you to this very moment, it would seem you all share a single intent of interest."

"We've waited long enough," Medusa declared voicing a staggering impatience. "What happens now?"

"Now that all pieces are set in place, it is time to begin."

To Be Continued