Nightmare World
Part 2
"Look, I've already told you everything!"
"Think harder. Did you see any others?"
"No, it was just that one."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I've racked my brain already!"
Neji stared hard at Naruto. "Then we have no other choice but to wait for Ino and Gaara to finish interrogating the bandits we captured."
"I captured," Naruto enunciated, fidgeting restlessly where he sat. He hated waiting around and being unable to do anything. His friends were in danger, he couldn't just sit here. Surely there was something he could do.
He was startled out of his impatient reverie when Neji spoke, "There's no doubt. If the man they fought was the only shinobi amongst them, then it stands clear that he was the leader."
"Yeah, yeah," Naruto nodded vigorously. "But how do we get Katy and the rest of 'em out of their heads?"
Neji put his hand to his chin, looking deep in thought. "Whatever genjutsu he used, it was no ordinary one. And it must be exceptionally powerful if it cost him his life to cast it."
Just then Ino and Gaara entered the shoddy hut Emiko had lent to them. Ino looked about as white as a sheep, warily eying the stone-faced Suna shinobi. "They talked," was all he said.
Was it Naruto's imagination or did Ino just turn a little green?
"What did they say?" Neji inquired, taking no notice of Ino's slight color change.
"The shinobi who cast the jutsu was called Tojiro. He was the one carrying out the threats if the villagers did not pay their 'protection' fee."
Neji nodded. "Just as I thought."
Gaara went on to explain. "Tojiro excelled in genjutsu and other illusion techniques but lacked skill in every other area. He gathered the bandits for physical protection with the promise of riches. He could use a wide variety of genjutsu, the weakest being simple illusions and the strongest being…" He glanced over at Anna, Mae, and Katy. They were placed side by side on straw mats; the only beds the village had to offer at the time. "Only Tojiro could break the jutsu he cast," the redhead finished quietly.
"And the other bandits?" Neji asked.
"Useless," Gaara sneered. "They won't be extorting money out of anyone ever again."
Ino covered her mouth with a hand before placing the other on her stomach.
Naruto looked between his three conscious comrades. "So? How do we get them out?"
"I don't know." Gaara sighed before he closed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. He appeared paler than usual. It was obvious to anyone with keen observation skills that the Sand ninja was on edge. Silence stirred in the room as the group tried to think of a way to fix the difficult situation. "If what Emiko said about the other cases applies to this one, then the longer we wait to act the stronger the genjutsu's hold on them will become."
"Let's take them to Granny Tsunade." Naruto offered. "She'll know what to do."
"Yes," Neji replied, "That seems like the only viable option we have. However the Leaf Village is over half a day away. And we must be prepared… Lady Hokage may not be able to help them." His white eyes cut over to Anna.
Gaara's shoulders stiffened. "Will they…?" His words drifted off, as he realized he was asking a question no one wanted to answer, nor could answer at this point. He slowly walked over to the mats and stared down at Katy.
Ino wrung her hands together, her stomach twisting in knots.
"We'll have to start moving immediately if we want a chance," Neji said, standing.
"All right." Naruto jumped up. "Let's go!"
"Wait," Ino cut in. All eyes went to her. "There… there's a certain jutsu passed down in my clan. I think it might be able to fix this, but…"
"What is it?" Gaara prompted, his tone laced with urgency.
Ino swallowed the lump in her throat and steeled herself. "I'm not sure if I'll be able to pull it off. It's similar to the Mind Transfer jutsu, only it's a lot more complicated than that. It's called the Mind Excursion jutsu."
"Yes," Neji said thoughtfully. "I believe I heard of that. It was used in hospitals during times of war, correct?"
"Right," Ino confirmed. "Its main purpose was to pull people out of catatonic states and comas."
"I have no idea what you're talkin' about, but whatever." Naruto pumped his fist into the air. "Let's do it! Let's pull 'em out!"
Ino shook her head. "But that's the problem! I don't know if I can. It's complicated and though I've been studying up on it, it requires a ton of chakra. Only seasoned Yamanaka who've built up their chakra reserves can successfully use it. The reason for that is because it has to be used long term- you need time to find the person you're trying to bring out. And..." She sighed. "It also means carrying in the mind of at least one teammate. You never know what you're going to find in the deep recesses of the person's subconscious. Back up will be needed."
Ino thought of the resistance she met in Katy's mind during the Chuunin exams, how she was surrounded by monsters of ice. She shivered at the very memory. And that was only the Mind Transfer jutsu. The Mind Excursion jutsu delved far deeper, deep into the darkest corners. The last thing Ino wanted to do was go back in there, where the ice penetrated into her very soul. But Katy was still Ino's comrade from the Leaf, and she felt she owed it to Mae.
"Why bring it up if you can't do it?" Gaara nearly hissed at her. His sharp eyes cut into the usually outspoken kunoichi and reduced her to a stuttering mess.
"I… I don't know. I just thought…"
Suddenly Naruto was right in front of her face. "Use my chakra!" He insisted, holding out his hands. "Take as much as you need. I've got plenty of it, trust me."
Ino's mouth hung open, speechless.
"All right," Neji stepped in. "We better get this right, and we better have a plan."
-OoOoOoOo-
They were in position. Ino had placed several chakra tags around the girls and more scattered on the walls. She sat cross-legged at the head of Katy, Mae, and Oreo. Beside her were Neji and Gaara. Naruto sat opposite of them, at the feet of the girls, powering up his chakra. Simultaneously, they began weaving hand signs as Ino instructed them. Chakra surged in the room and Ino took the moment to shout out the last instructions.
"The three of us are going to try to enter Mae's mind first, and then use her connection to the others to enter theirs, but let me make this extremely clear. The longer we stay in there, the greater the jutsu's hold will be on us, and then we won't be any good to anyone. Naruto, you have to check that timer. My best estimate is that that's how long it will be before we cross the point of no return, and if that happens you have to pull us out."
"Got it!" Naruto's eyes grew hard with concentration. "You can count on me!"
"We know," said Gaara. He had full confidence in the Uzumaki.
The transition from the real world into Mae's mind was a difficult one. After the feeling of being stretched like taffy had passed (a very unpleasant feeling mind you), they took a moment to survey their surroundings. And to them, some of it was unlike anything they had ever seen before.
"How high does that thing go?!" The thing that Ino was talking about was a skyscraper, one of many, that littered the strange city they were in. Not even the Hokage Mountain was as high as even one of those buildings. Curiosity took over and Ino scaled one of the tall buildings - thankful that at least wall climbing was not affected in this world for the time being - until she was forced to stop to catch her breath. No one could get that high! As she took a moment to rest on a small ledge of concrete she raised a hand over her eyes, unnecessary since this world's sky was rather gray, and gasped.
"Guys!" She shouted down to the others. They had also jumped onto buildings but were not as tall as the one she was on. "You've got to come up and see this!"
Neji and Gaara ran up the side of the skyscraper Ino was on, and although they were good at hiding it she was sure that at least a little part of them was as shocked as she was. This "city" was divided into three very distinct parts.
One part was a section that was overrun with plants. There were vines creeping up the sides of buildings, some crushing the stone and steel structures in a death grip leaving only twisted or broken shells of what they used to be. She could see trees bursting out of rooftops and windows. In short it was a jungle of flora ready to literally entwine itself into everything in its path.
One antithesis of this was another section of a city that looked like scorched earth mixed in with a blacksmith's dream. There were black scorch marks all over the buildings that were still standing. Other structures were reduced to their steel foundations. There was no green on that earth, but it was made up for by the blackened ground. Smoke rose from the burnt down buildings and even from their height the heat was still even a little palpable to them.
The final in the trilogy of parts this horrible city was split in was a city that looked like what would happen if a snow globe broke. Buildings were not only frosted with ice, but sometimes completely hardened by it. The snow that fell lightly on the ground was no sign of comfort, as it only served to draw the eye to the harsh environment of dead greenery, broken structures, and windows. They could feel the bitter chill that permeated from it.
In short, whatever hopes that they would be able to complete this mission unscathed was shot down. No nightmare like this - or rather the collection of three people's nightmares combined together - would allow any trespassers to escape without injury. That is if they escaped at all.
"The ice… is the farthest away," Gaara noted grimly.
"And the vegetation is the closest. We should start there."
Ino nodded in agreement to Neji. They began moving their way to the plant-infested city. Gaara stared off into the distance where the ice stood cold and dismal before following behind his new comrades.
They were led by a trail of black roads. Ino wasn't sure what it was made of, but it smelled funny and it was all cracked by the foliage bursting through it. Looking at it closely, she could see tiny black rocks where it was broken up.
Their trek into the plant city was not an easy one. Thorns and vines like barbed wire slowed their movement. They didn't want any unwanted attention drawn to them or to do any unnecessary damage to Mae's psyche, so large scale jutsu was out of the question. They had to settle with slicing away at the invasive plants with kunai. For once Ino was glad her hair was not as long as it was. It was getting snagged by spindly thorns enough as it was. She could hear an occasional grunt from Gaara and Neji when their clothes (or Neji's long hair) would get caught in the barbs.
They were exasperated by the time the black roads merged in the center of the city. What lied in there was emitting an ominous energy.
"A greenhouse? Go figure." Ino commented at what the black roads lead to. Neji quickly shushed her.
"We don't know what we will encounter in here, so speak as quietly and infrequently as possible." Gaara supplied. They pressed onward, and it quickly became apparent that this particular greenhouse was unlike most others if the gigantic plants were anything to go by. There were enormous blossoms of all different colors. There was a purple flower that was twice Ino's size and it looked like it could crush her. Yet all of the plants gently swayed from side-to-side, like they were trapped in some imaginary breeze. Ino noticed no breeze; in fact the air seemed rather stale. She also noticed there were visible green specks of what she could only describe as pollen in the air.
She almost jumped when she saw a giant Venus fly trap on her right. It stilled for a moment as unseen eyes stared right at her. Gaara and Neji stopped moving, waiting to see what it would do. Even though they knew none of it was real, there was still a good chance that they could some real and permanent damage. One chomp and they could be as good as dead. Ino slowly edged away from the carnivorous plant and back towards her teammates.
What's that? Ino thought as a light hum was heard throughout the greenhouse. They all looked at each other before deciding that they might as well investigate. The sooner they got Mae and got out of there the better.
They carefully eyed the swaying plants. Thankfully for the moment nothing seemed interested in them, and they even managed to find some normal shrubbery to hide in. They stalked deeper into the arboretum until they got a clear viewpoint of the center of the giant garden, and a clear view of the creature that was what Ino could only assume a manifestation of Mae's nightmare. Ino tensed before silently climbing up a tree to get a better look at it.
It was some unnatural, humanoid plant with roots for a lower body that were implanted in the ground in the very center of the greenhouse. Looking at it from above it almost looked like a pistil with the other plants surrounding it being the petals, sepals, and leaves. It was covered with fresh and dying leaves and vines, some parts covered with dew while others were beginning to rot and were covered with moss. The top half resembled a grown woman with prickly, thorny vines for hair. Its arms were twice the size of its torso and tiny flower buds formed on the long appendages.
There were two things that stood out most to Ino. One was the giant Cosmo flower bud on its back, and the other was that if she were just a little crazy (which if they stayed in there too long may be the case) the face of the monster looked a little like Mae's.
As it was, the not-Mae creature was humming some little tune to the swaying flora nearby, its arms long enough to reach the petals. It didn't seem to notice them, so for the moment they were safe.
"What do we do about that?" Ino let out as quietly as she could, but loud enough that the boys at the base of the tree could hear her. This was a fatal mistake. The creature turned its head sharply towards their direction, and let out a shrill wail. Suddenly the still plants began to shake violently. It wasn't long before the things fiercely sprang to life. Thorns were shot at them like a rain of senbon. Ino and Neji jumped out of the way while Gaara's sand shield took the brunt of the attack. Ino and Neji continued to dodge and realized too late that the plants had herded them to the creature.
The monster used one arm to swipe at them. They avoided, but then it used the other arm to try and crush Ino. The kunoichi rolled out of the way just in time. Neji threw kunai at the beast, but the knives embedded into the mossy flesh without its notice or care. It continued to attack with its long reaching arms. Gaara strode out into the open like there wasn't a bunch of plants trying to kill them. "Something's wrong," he said perturbed.
"Ya think?! Gah!" Ino sucked in air after a thorn pierced into her arm.
Gaara's face twisted into a scowl as he directed the sand to blast the creature. Only a thin trail managed to hit it in the face. It shook its head roughly and then continued as if nothing had happened. "The sand… it's hard to control."
"He's right," Neji said as he threw more kunai at the creature's head. "I'm having trouble activating my Byakugan!"
"Our jutsu won't work in here like it normally does. Look out!" Ino gasped before holding her hand over her mouth. The creature stood erect, the leaves and thorns on its body bristling. It opened its monstrous mouth, lined with pointy needle-like teeth, and emitted a foul purple gas. The noxious air seeped from the flower buds on its arms once its mouth was closed. The Leaf ninja jump back to Gaara, keeping their distance. "Poison," hissed Ino.
The veins in the Hyuuga's face struggled to meet his eyes. "I can't tell what's going on inside it."
Gaara stared at the thing for a moment. "Get it out of the ground."
Neji observed the lower half of its body where it was rooted into the soil. "Yes, that could work. But how?"
"Give me time." The Sand ninja replied.
The creature yowled and reached for them, its long arms growing towards them at an incredibly fast rate. Ino and Neji slashed it back, kunai in both hands. Gaara planted his feet to the ground and began making numerous hand signs. The ground began shaking and the creature shrieked. Something bumped it up once, then twice, then finally it toppled over. Sand shot up from beneath it, leaving the roots exposed. The creature twitched and then went still. Gaara let lout an irritated sigh. What normally would have been a tsunami of sand amounted to so little. But it did the deed.
"Is…it dead?" Ino carefully took steps towards the creature. The thorny vines spilled around its head like a flattened spider. "Where's Mae?"
Gaara and Neji yanked her back just as the creature roared back to life. Inky mist sprayed out of its orifices as the leaves and vines that composed it rotted. Ino covered her nose at the stench of decaying plant matter. The monstrosity plunged its arms into the ground as its hair grew wild and untamed. The dark vines curled out like snakes, lashing out at the ninja. Roots erupted from the earth. One shot up like a dark crooked finger, nearly impaling Ino. She barely managed to move out of the way and the slimy thing grazed her leg. All the plants around began to rot, and the smell was overpowering. Gaara wrinkled his nose. A maggot infested corpse would have smelled better.
All Ino and Neji could do was dodge and occasionally slash with kunai. Gaara was having trouble getting the sand to do anything but block attacks. It reminded him of that world with no chakra, where the sand did not obey his command.
"Look at its back!" Neji shouted before rolling out of the way of the whipping vines.
"Mae!" Ino shouted. There on the creatures back, nestled in the cosmos flower was the young girl. The giant flower had partially opened, enough so that they could see Mae through the gaps of the giant petals. She ran to the girl. Neji snapped her name worriedly, but it was too late. The vines from the creatures head grabbed Ino and coiled around her. The black and green matter slithered over her skin. It was squeezing, squeezing, crushing, crushing. Thorns ripped into her flesh. Ino tried to scream but the vines entered her mouth and she could taste the dirt and grime. It was going to choke and crush her at the same time.
Thin wire was strung over the vines and with a swift pull they were cut. Ino fell to the ground where Gaara quickly sliced through the vines holding her. Neji, wielding the wire, cut through more of the roots and vines. Black blood oozed from the plants and the creature screeched. "Distract it!" Neji shouted over its wails.
Gaara nodded and a rope of sand wrapped around the monster. Ino wrapped a paper bomb around a kunai and threw it in front of the creature, that way it would catch its attention but would not harm Mae. Dirt and wood shattered and the creature bellowed fearfully at the flare. While this was happening, Neji strung some wire over a dying tree limb and swung his way behind the beast. The tree limb shuddered and creaked but did not break. He held his breath from the poison before his feet pounded into the creature's back. It shrieked, the sound reverberating the other plants. The vines tried to swipe at him but a hand of sand grabbed them. The Hyuuga pried the giant flower open. Mae lied curled up in the center, stamen securing her in place. Neji grabbed the girl by her arms and tore her from the flower. The creature wailed and squirmed like a worm in the dirt. Ino ran to the back and caught Mae as Neji threw her down before he was bucked off.
Moss disintegrated and fell off in heaps and it rotted into nothing more than a husk as the last of its wails died.
"And just to make sure," Ino spat as she set Mae aside and pulled out more paper bombs. She wrapped them around five different kunai and lodged them into the husk from the head to the roots. Chunks of it rained down after the explosions and fire scorched the earth.
The arboretum rumbled.
"We need to get out of here," Gaara said as Neji scooped up Mae.
Vines rained from the ceiling like serpents. Glass sparkled and plants withered as everything broke down. A shard sliced Neji's calf but he kept running. The exit was in sight. A tree fell in their path and they skidded to a halt, narrowly avoiding being crushed. They jumped over it before bursting through the exit just as the greenhouse fell in completely. They panted and Ino wiped sweat from her brow.
"Is everyone all right?" Gaara asked them.
"Superficial wounds," Neji replied.
"Y-yeah…" Ino glanced over the cuts and tears the thorns left. "Mae." She shook the dark-haired girl. "Mae!"
The young girl groaned and opened her eyes groggily. She squinted at the three people hovering above her. "What?"
"You were trapped in genjutsu," Gaara told her before looking to Ino. "How do we get her out of here?"
"Leave it to me." Ino began her hand signs.
Mae grabbed her hands, vaulting upright into a sitting position. "Wait! What happened to the others? My team!"
"Still trapped," Neji informed her. "We will free them next."
"Let me help, I can help." Mae glanced between them all.
"No," Gaara told her firmly. "I can't allow that. It's not safe for you."
"He's right, Mae." Ino touched the girl's shoulder. "We need you to wake up and wait with Naruto. He's probably getting pretty worried by now. Will you do that? Will you look after Naruto for me?"
"I…" She looked down, quietly giving up her protests. "Okay."
"Thank you, Mae." Ino completed her hand signs and the young girl was engulfed by a bright light. A small pink flower appeared where she once was. Suddenly the plants retracted into neat little gardens, their rotting leaves becoming green and fresh. The path to the nearest city was cleared.
"Now…" Gaara stared down the path ominously as Ino and Neji stood with him.
"Yes," Neji said, his white eyes reflecting the blaze. "Into the fire."
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