Sakura's Cage
"Let's pick up speed," Kakashi informed, jumping from branch to branch of the intertwining forest, the whole team following just behind. The whole team except Shino.
The whole team followed and Kakashi raced ahead. Naruto tried to catch up desperately. The rush of wind blew against his hot face. He sighed. Something was troubling his mind. He couldn't think straight. Come on, get your act together! He scolded himself. It was no use. He just couldn't help worrying about Shino and that strange character they had left him all alone with. "Kakashi-sensei," he said in a quiet, low tone.
"What is it, Naruto?" Kakashi said, looking back but not losing speed. His long, straight-up hair was rushing with the wind. His one revealed eye looked at Naruto suspiciously.
"It's just that," Naruto began, looking to his side. He didn't want to make eye contact with Kakashi-sensei. "What is the Akatsuki after? How come we don't know anything about this mission? And how do we know that Shino is going to be alright?" he asked, raising his voice after each question. As he spoke his words, the knot in his chest seemed to tighten.
"Naruto…" Kakashi said calmly. He turned his head forward again. "Even I don't know the answer to your questions."
The knot in his chest was even tighter now. He looked to the other teammates, and he could see they were feeling the same as he was. If he hadn't asked Kakashi, all of them might have gone insane. He sighed once again. Shino… he thought. Please… be okay…
The vines struck the ground with incomparable force. They were so steady that they were stuck in the ground. Shino dodged away just in time to catch his breath. "Who are you? What do you want with Konoha?" Shino demanded in a calm tone. His eyes were locked onto the person's robe sleeves. That appears to be where his attacks come from, he thought.
The character smirked. "The name's Akiha Taiyou. And I have no interest in your stupid town. I'm just here for a little fun," he said with a big, evil grin. Shino didn't look impressed. "It ends soon, so don't worry. Kusaton Kikou Hashira no Jutsu! (Grass Element: Season Pillars Technique.)"
Shino's shaded eyes grew with amazement as large vines and emerald green tree branches burst out of the ground viciously, and fired like missiles toward him. "Ninpou Mushi Hashira! (Ninja Arts: Insect Pillar)" Shino slammed the ground as hardest as he could with both his hands. Only a second were needed to wait until large swarms of black bugs rose from the ground to the sky, building a small pillar type shield for Shino's body.
The vines outstretched and grew, desperately trying to get to Shino, but they were failed horribly. The insects would keep Shino safe for long enough. Then they returned through his sleeves. Shino observed the field. He looked at the limp branches and vines on the ground, connecting back through the ground, and through the vines from the first attack that lead inside Taiyou's sleeves. So that's how he attacks from the ground, Shino thought cleverly. What about the air?
At that moment Shino looked up. He realized he needed a plan. He cleared his throat. "Akiha Taiyou, huh? That means Autumn Leaf, Sun, doesn't it?" Shino asked, uninterested. He figured that stalling with conversation bought him enough time to make up a plan. He wasn't as smart as Shikamaru, but according to how talkative his opponent was, he had all the time in the world.
"Yeah, what's it to you?" Taiyou said curtly. Shino could sense his anger. He must be getting angry that his attacks can't get to me, Shino thought. The though made Shino look down on him.
"Nothing… Your headband… it's not normal, is it?" Shino asked, still stalling for time, still sounding uninterested.
Taiyou scowled. "Yeah." He detached the vines from his right sleeve to point at it with his thumb. It made a faint clink as it made impact. The headband had white cloth, unlike other headbands which were usually blue or black. And the sign, it wasn't from a familiar country. It was a carved-in icon of the sun, spiked up rays protruding from the circle. Like the kind you would see little children draw. "You're probably wondering what country it's from, huh? You must be as dumb as a tree." He pointed to his headband again. It made another clink sound. "My headband's from the Grass Country. Why do you think I use vines for weapons?"
"Liar. Grass Country headbands have a different sign." Shino replied with no emotion showing at all. Just like how he always was. The fact seemed to piss Taiyou off though, since he scowled every time Shino spoke.
"Haven't you ever heard of the small city in the Grass Country called Akaranpu? It means Red Light. It's a rebel city and has their own ninja pride," Taiyou replied, letting his hand fall back down to his side. The action gave Shino an idea. "Now enough talk, let's get back to playing. Kusaton Kikou Hashira!" Yet another set of vines and branches burst through the ground, but this time it came in a smaller wave. Shino knew why.
The vines and branches struck through Shino's body. He let out a miserable groan. Then his body shivered. It shook furiously now, and departed into several black dots. Several bugs.
"Kawarimi Bunshin? Don't screw with me!" Taiyou said, reaching out his right arm again. Several vines outstretched ferociously from the right sleeve in different directions, many of them cutting through the bark of the surrounding trees, or some just missing completely. Taiyou let out a string of curses.
The vines he sent out from both arms were all pierced into the ground and forest deeply. "Fuuin!" Shino's voice cried out. Taiyou turned his head to see Shino a few feet behind him. Shino did several hand signs, and then stopped at the basic one. Bugs swarmed from his sleeves and bound his legs and feet, disabling them for the moment.
"Asshole! You really think that's going to stop me?!" he shouted out furiously.
"No. I know it will. You can't move your hands when you use your Sleeved Vines techniques." Shino said cleverly. He knew because when Taiyou stopped to explain his headband, he had to detach the vines from his right hand in order to point to it. That wouldn't really stop his legs though, but his bugs took care of that for now.
"That's where you're wrong! I can let go of my vines," he said, trying to sound clever. But it only came out normal. "Kai!" he declared. Nothing happened. "Wha- What's going on here?"
"You don't really think I'm that stupid, do you? Look closer at your vines." Shino instructed carefully. Taiyou obeyed. He looked from vine to vine and branch to branch, and found out why he couldn't let go. Bugs were on them, millions and millions of them were climbing on the vines and branches of the past attacks, walking around as if nothing were happening.
"Wha- ?" Taiyou let out in a sharp cry, confused.
"I sent my bugs to stop the chakra flow circulating in your vines. Since I know you use your old attacks to link to new ones, you have to use chakra through the vines, but if that chakra flow stops, you can't do anything." Shino said, stating out another fact. At this point, both persons knew that Taiyou had been stumped. He let out an angry growl.
"You really think you've got me, don't you?" he asked with a large smirk. "You've got lots to find out, bastard."
"Shino…" Naruto muttered under his breath as he jumped from tree to tree. He looked up. They were reaching the Valley of End, the large waterfall and lake area between the Hidden Sound and Leaf. A large mountain stood in their way, pleading them to climb. When the finally reached that top, something caught Naruto's eye. No way, he thought. Not another one. He was right. It wasn't another one. It was two other ones. Naruto grunted as he climbed up the last step, stepping up beside Sakura and the rest of them as they watched the two figures come closer.
Small portions of the evening mist had grown, and some had cleared, but nevertheless the faces of the figures were completely engulfed in the shifting fog. Swaying sounds on the water were heard with each step. They're using chakra to walk on the waterfall, Naruto realized.
The two figures were coming straight for them. The concerned team members couldn't tell out the faces, but strangely, it seemed that the two people approaching could. One was tall and normal-weighted, his large sleeves of his robe flowing behind him with the flow of the wind, his large cloak unbuttoned, revealing his inside clothes, which gave off a faint glimmer in the mist. The other character beside him was large, who seemed to bobble with every step he took. His structure seemed to be unstable, jumbling every now and then, shivering. He was much shorter than the other one, his cape a barely visible shadow.
As they approached, Kakashi's eye grew wide with shock. His voice came out in a choked out manner. "You- You!" he said, not recovering from his shock. "You're… "
"Nice to meet you again, Kakashi-kun," the tall figure said. Naruto could clearly see his face. Brown hair with a straight triangle limping down from his right side. A crossed out mist headband worn across his ninja vest, his Akatsuki cloak wide open with his sleeves still swimming against the wind. Uncaring brown eyes with a serious, grim expression on his face.
"You're- Kuramakane… Mizumaru!" Kakashi choked out in his bubbling voice. The figure beside him let out an invisible smirk. He was still covered by blackness all around, the mist only making way for the tall one to be seen. Dark eyes peered from the shadow, a hard glare on the whole team.
"What's wrong, sensei?" Sakura asked, sounding concerned.
"This… this man…" he began, voice still bubbly. "This man killed the MizuKage… twice."
Sakura gasped. Mizumaru narrowed his eyes. Every other team member looked surprised, mouths wide open in shock.
"Are we done with introductions yet, Mizumaru?" the blob figure asked. Mizumaru didn't reply. He didn't speak at all. "Ignorant as always, huh Mizu?" Still no reply. He just narrowed his eyes more, giving a hard glare against Sakura.
Who are these people? Naruto wondered in deep thought. What do they want?
"Suiton…" Mizumaru let out in a whispered growl.
Even though most of Kakashi's features were covered by his mask, you could tell his face grew tense. "Everyone take cover!" he commanded. The team obeyed, hiding behind large rocks, heads protruding out to see what was to happen.
"Ryuusui no Jutsu!" Mizumaru declared. A large wave of pressured water came shooting at them, dusting away the surface beneath their feet like a hurricane.
Naruto noticed Sakura running out from cover. "Sakura-chan!" She didn't reply.
"Shaa!" Sakura let out an agonized yell as she punched the ground beneath her. Her superhuman strength let the ground break and a large wave of force raced across the waterfall and headed towards Mizumaru. He didn't seem to care.
A large wall of blackness blocked Sakura's attack. "You won't win with such practical moves like those," the blob figure said, eyes narrowing like Mizumaru.
"Neither will you!" Shikamaru declared, coming out of his hideout, casting his Shadow Link technique rather quickly. In a few seconds he had Mizumaru and the other shaded figure in his technique's grasp. "Gotcha," he stated clearly that they had nowhere to go now. No where to escape.
Mizumaru let out an uninterested scoff. The blob figure remained silent. "Let's finish them off, Sakura. You know, get them out of our way," Shikamaru directed.
"Right," Sakura agreed happily. "Shaa!" she let out a battle cry as she raced across the waterfall with blinding speed, and got into position to knock out the blob figure. Her fist barely made impact when something wrapped around her wrist, stopping her attack. "What?" she let out in a surprised jolt. She looked to the blob figure. A hard glare stared back at her.
"Blackness Engulf Technique." He declared in a small, rasped tone. The shadow rope that tied Sakura's wrist spread out her body, giving her a feeling of dread and sliminess.
"Ugh!" she cried out, as the shadows engulfed her shoulders, her neck, then finally her face.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto cried out despairingly.
"It's over," the black figure concluded. "Shadow Strangle Technique…"