White Lace
Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews guys. Yup Summonland, is my pun on Disneyland. Glad that OOC Shisui is being well received and so was the grandparent love story. Not much to say for this chapter other than the Uchiha brothers are in big trouble and naturally a rescue mission must be mounted!
Chapter Notation: Slight recap of the ANBU Ball from Hinata and Kurenai's perspective to start us off.
Chapter Three
Kurenai considered herself to be a practical woman and a good ninja. But now she was mentally kicking herself for being dropping her guard. The ANBU Ball was always fun. Who didn't enjoy dressing up and some anonymity from time to time? Anko had encouraged her to go because in her words, "Asuma wouldn't want you to turn into a fucking boring Nun. Go have some fun. I'll watch the kid."
She was actually rather proud of her snowy owl mask. She saw lots of different kinds of animals represented. But as far as she could tell she was the only one who had chosen to use that animal. Kurenai was pleased with her originality and the mask was rather pretty. She felt like a kid at a Halloween Party.
A man with a weasel mask approached her. Whoever he was, he was smart enough not to use his voice and give away his true identity. That meant that Kurenai probably knew him.
He gestured to the dance floor. Well…it was only a dance. While she couldn't see his face, the rest of him was quite pleasant to look at. He was definitely getting some appreciative looks from some of the other women. (Which was funny because she'd never thought she'd think of a weasel as sexy. But on him it was.)
He was tall. The man was neither slight, nor bulky in build. The weasel was all lean muscle. She guessed him to be fairly young. Definitely not out of his twenties.
He might actually be a real ANBU judging by the fact that when he walked, she didn't hear the sound of his footsteps. This man clearly excelled in stealth. That grace applied to the dance floor.
Most of the ninjas were rather awkward on the dance floor. They were used to fighting, not dancing. So the rare ninja who was actually good at it, well they stood out.
"Some things never change," she murmurs when she saw Naruto and Sasuke bickering.
Hinata had been dancing with Naruto. She knew it was him. That blonde hair stuck out anywhere, even with a mask on.
Naruto had many skills such as a ninja. But grace had never been one of them. To his credit, he was at least trying. She winced when he stepped on her toes again. Oh well, she'd had worse. He was never going to get better without practicing, right? Besides, he was so nice that she didn't really mind him stepping on her toes all that much.
"Mind if I cut in for the sake of her feet?" She hears Sasuke ask.
Sasuke had gone with a lion mask. It suited him. There was definitely something very feline like about all the Uchihas she noted. They all had a certain deadly grace about them similar to that of cats.
Naruto hadn't taken kindly to this. A small argument erupted. Sasuke appears to "win" this time though because soon enough he was leading her off for a dance.
"Are you and Naruto a thing?" He asked.
Hinata was surprised by the question. It almost sounded like he was asking for permission for something. She wasn't with Naruto.
She admired him. But he was completely smitten with Sakura. That and she honestly didn't think she'd ever have the energy to keep up with someone like Naruto. He was a tornado of energy. Hinata had always been calmer and you could even call her a wallflower. They weren't very compatible in that respect.
She had smiled. If there was one thing that Sasuke was, it was graceful. Her toes had been safe with him leading. Then the explosion went off and all Hinata saw was blackness.
When she awoke, she saw a medic hovering over her. She wasn't the only one receiving treatment. The bomb had done some major damage to the building. She was informed it was possible that she might have a concussion.
"What happened?" She asks.
"Someone attacked the ball. It looks like they kidnapped about twenty people. We don't know who or why they did it. Fortunately, there don't appear to be any fatalities. You should lay still. You might have a concussion." The medic explains.
"Where is Sasuke?" Hinata questions.
"We haven't been able to find him or his brother. We assume they were amongst those who were taken." The ninja answers.
"We have to find them!" The Hyuga cried out horrified.
"We will. But you need to rest. If you charge off like this, without a plan…it might only lead to your death and that won't help either of them. Your Sensei just woke up a few minutes ago." The medic offers.
"Kurenai Sensei!" Hinata calls out and rushes over to her beloved teacher to make sure she was okay.
"Hinata! I'm so glad you are alright." The older woman says and pulls her into a hug.
"Did you see what happened to the Weasel?" She asks.
"No. I'm sorry. I got knocked out by the force of the explosion. Wait what Weasel?" Hinata questions.
"The man I was dancing with. He had a Weasel mask." Kurenai explains.
"Oh. No. Did you see what happened to Sasuke?" Hinata inquires.
""I did see Naruto and Sasuke bickering as always. But I'm afraid that I was also knocked out by the blast. I haven't the faintest idea. Do you think they were both taken captive?" Kurenai wonders.
"The medic seems to think so. We have to find them before something horrible happens." Hinata says.
"We will. I imagine they are organizing a search party right now. We should join." Kurenai states, offers her hand to Hinata, and they head towards a very nervous crowd that had gathered around the Hokage for guidance.
"We were attacked last night. Twenty people were kidnapped. We do not know by who. But we should note that most of the people who were taken belonged to clans possessing bloodlines. I do not believe this was a coincidence. We are organizing a search party immediately. Those who wish to join are encouraged to do so. The trail should still be fresh. If we hurry, we might be able to find them before the worst happens." The Hokage says.
"They took my grandsons!" Aiya shouts.
' "When I get my hands on them this can is going so far up their a-," Fugaku sighs and covers his father's vulgar mouth.
Kenji glares at his son! How dare he censor him in such a fashion? He was 75 years old! His grandsons had been kidnapped. He could use whatever language he damn well pleased! Oh that boy had another thing coming. He helped to bring Fugaku into this world and he could damn well sure take him out of it!
Meanwhile the Uchiha brothers were testing their restraints. Damn they wouldn't budge. These were top notch.
"Save your energy. We can safely assume they don't want us dead or we would have already been killed." Itachi tells Sasuke.
"Just because they don't want us dead, doesn't mean we aren't fucked." Sasuke replies.
"True. But struggling against the chains won't help." His older brother informs him.
"Hey! Do you know what is going on?" Sasuke asks one of the other men who was chained up.
"It seems we were kidnapped. I overheard two women talking. Their village wants to increase its strength by having more bloodlines. So they kidnapped us." A man tells him, Sasuke thought his name might have been Shino. (Normally in his head he just called him bug boy.)
"They want to breed us." Itachi summarizes it.
"Sounds like it." Shino agrees.
"Well good news is that means they kinda need us alive." Sasuke muses trying to find a silver lining to their bleak situation.
"Not necessarily in the men's case. They just need our sperm. If they can store it properly, we aren't needed longer than it's necessary to get a sufficient sample size. For the women…they have more time." Itachi says.
"This is so…disgusting." Sasuke says with a scowl.
"I imagine by now the Leaf has sent a search party out for us. We just have to stay alive long enough for them to get here." Shino offers rather logically for a man who was being held prisoner.
"Easier said than done." The elder Uchiha brother says.
Soon enough "Kurenai" and "Hinata" walk inside. If Sasuke was disgusted before, he was even more so now. How dare she impersonate Hinata?!
Worse of all, he actually fell for it. He fell for such a simple trap like some idiotic Genin. His only consolation was that Itachi had also fallen for it.
"You're awake. Good." The fake Kurenai says.
Itachi privately shared his younger brother's sentiments. How could he have been so foolish? He should have picked up that something was wrong. Now he, his brother, and other Leaf ninjas had been captured because he'd been so damn gullible. When it came to Kurenai, his heart always overruled his head.
"I suggest if you wish to live, you release us. If not, when we get out of here, we will not be forgiving." He tells her.
"I admire your spirit. Issuing threats from chains. That's bold of you. Though I was told you were both geniuses. It's not a very smart move to threaten someone from your position." She muses.
"We can do this the easy way or the hard way." Hinata tells Sasuke and somehow unhooks his chains enough to lead him out of the room, like one might lead a dog on a leash.
She leads him to another room. The fake Hinata shuts the door behind them. Then she pushes him onto a bed and straddles his waist in a rather suggestive manner. This earned a glare from Sasuke.
"We've been watching you all for months, you know? I'm surprised that a ninja with the Byakugan couldn't see the way you were looking at her. I guess it must have been in that blind spot that it has." She says and seems most amused by her observations.
"Maybe. But if you think that I'm sleeping with you just because you look like her, you are out of your mind." Sasuke growls.
"That's quite a bit of loyalty to someone you haven't even kissed. I'd rather do this the fun way. You are cute. But it's not like sex is required. We could just drug you and take the samples." She says thoughtfully as if debating if seducing him was more trouble than it was worth.
"And you are quite desperate to get knocked up by someone you never spoke to before." He snarls.
"Our village is small compared to the superpowers like the Leaf Village. We don't have any bloodlines. But that's nothing that can't be fixed. You could join us. It'd be cruel to keep you away from your own children." She says trying to be "nice."
"You are fucking psychotic! I'm not playing house with my kidnapper." He growls.
"Tsk. Tsk. I expected better manners from someone who is from a noble clan. Hopefully your brother is less rough around the edges." She taunts Sasuke coldly.
"You kidnapped us and have the nerve to lecture me on my language? You are insane!" Sasuke exclaims in utter disbelief.
"You fooled me once with that Transformation Jutsu. But it won't work a second time." Itachi says in the next room as he eyes his captor warily.
"Oh I know you realize that I'm not here at the moment. I just thought this would be easier on you, if you were already attracted to me." She states as if she was doing him a great favor.
"I'm not attracted to you. I don't even know what you actually look like. I'm attracted to her. You are not her." Itachi responds.
"Mmm I could make a fair stab at pretending to be her. I'm sure you wouldn't even notice the difference. You certainly didn't at the ANBU Ball." She counters.
"That was different. It was only a dance. In a situation like this, I damn well would notice a difference." Itachi growls in frustration.
"How? I've been watching you for a long time. You two aren't lovers. You have no idea how my touch would be different, if at all." She reasons.
Itachi was disturbed by the fact this woman had been able to watch him without him realizing it. That spoke of great stealth skills. Had he really been that distracted by his attraction to the beautiful Genjutsu Mistress? Yes, yes apparently he had. Embarrassing. He was an elite ninja for Godsakes.
"Mmm I'll give you some time to think it over. I would prefer to do this in a more pleasurable fashion, but I'm not opposed to the scientific way." She says with a shrug.
She leaves Itachi to his thoughts and checks on her sister. The elder female ninja watches in amusement. Sasuke was being even more uncooperative than Itachi. He was spitting bullets. She imagined if he was a cat, he'd be hissing and have his back arched.
"I take it you are not having any better luck than I am." She muses.
"He called me psychotic." Her younger sister whines.
"Well you can't argue with the accuracy of that label." She teases.
"HEY! You are supposed to be on my side." Her sister says.
"I am. But a fact is a fact. Come. Let's give them some time to think it over. We have to check on the other prisoners anyway." She says and leads her off.
"Hinata, activate your Byakugan. See if you can see anything up ahead." Kurenai says, as the search team heads off.
"Right!" Hinata says and looks around desperately.
"There are really only so many places they could go. The fact they were traveling with almost two dozen hostages, would slow their movement. They would need a hideout big enough to house all of them." Fugaku observes and tries to think of where they could have gone.
"It would have to be nearby." Mikoto agrees.
"The Forest of Death or the evacuation routes might be where they took them." Aiya suggests.
"It's as good a place to start looking as any." The Hokage agrees.
"ALRIGHT EVERYONE SPLIT UP. I want three teams. One to check the evacuation tunnels. Another the Forest of Death. The third will span out in case they are not in one of the first two locations." The Hokage orders.
Fugaku and Mikoto head to the tunnels. Aiya and Kenji go the Forest of Death. Their reasoning was the elderly couple would have a better chance of escape, if they bit off more than they could choose in a forest than in the confined tunnels.
"Well this brings back memories." Kenji chuckles as he flits alongside his wife.
"Oh yes it does. I wonder if our initials are still carved on that big tree." She muses.
"Hmpf. Someone must have cut it down. I see only a stump. Oh well. Time to find our grandsons." He says and they race off.
"Now maybe next time I tell you that going to a stupid ball is a bad idea, you'll listen to me." Fugaku says to his wife.
"How was I supposed to know that someone would conduct over a dozen kidnappings?" She shoots back.
"You weren't. But I have good instincts. When the boys are safely back at home, you have to make this up to me." He says.
"It wasn't my fault!" She protests.
"Yes, yes it was. If it wasn't for you, none of us would have gone to that stupid gathering. But I still love you. Now for my apology, I think I would quite like to see you in the leopard outfit." He tells her.
"…You are impossible." She tells him.
"I am well aware." Fugaku responds.
"You've just been looking for an excuse to have me dress up in that thing for ages." She scoffs.
"I'll freely admit to that." He says and they head into the tunnels.
The tunnels were so vast. There were easily hundreds of them. Despite his playful teasing of his wife, the Uchiha Patriarch couldn't help but feel uneasy at this development.
An enemy could be lurking behind every corner. He found himself feeling a little envious of the Byakugan's nearly 360 degree field of vision. Not that he would ever admit that publicly. He had his pride after all.
"This could take days." Mikoto says.
"We don't have days. How is your shadow clone jutsu?" He asks.
"Decent. I could probably make about 30." She answers.
"Good. I can make 60." He says and forms them.
"You are such a show off." She says, rolling her eyes.
"We all have our strengths, my love. Yours was always more Genjutsu than Ninjutsu." He concedes.
Fugaku himself was hopeless at Genjutsu. He thought it was probably because he was such a straight forward man. His wife on the other hand, could present such a sweet and innocent face to the outside world. He knew her better. She was a very manipulative vixen when the mood struck her. And it stuck her quite often.
"I suppose." She says and forms thirty clones, sending them off in as many directions as possible.
"AHHH DAMMIT." She yells.
"Mikoto!" Fugaku rushes to her side.
"One of my clones set off an explosive tag. I doubt that's the only one. We need to warn the others." She says and rises to her feet again, the sudden pain hadn't driven her knees briefly.
"Yes." He and Mikoto rush to find the others.
"It seems there was an explosive tag inside the tunnels. We doubt that was the only one. It's likely they have set many traps inside the place. Be careful." Fugaku explains.
"Well that tells us that we are probably in the right place." The Hokage says.
Mikoto nods. She couldn't help but agree with that assessment. One usually didn't set up explosive tags for no reason. They had to be on their guard. Whoever did this certainly wasn't an amateur. They had managed to capture twenty highly skilled ninjas in one night. It would be a mistake to underestimate them. One that could be quite lethal.
Meanwhile in the forest, Kenji looks around. It was a large forest. If one was skilled in Genjutsu they could easily hide amongst it.
"My love, do you see anything amiss?" He asks.
"The earth." She replies.
"What about it?" He asks.
"It's hollow in this spot. I think there might be something underneath it." She tells him.
"Let's see." He walks over to his wife and pokes the earth with his cane.
This caused the fragile covering to give way. Yes, there was definitely a very large hole. He could see a door had been made. It was sealed though.
"We are going to need help with this one. I'm afraid seals aren't my area of expertise." He says.
"Nor mine. But that is no matter. Back up." She tells him.
Kenji had been married to his wife for over fifty years. He had learned in that time when she said to back up, she wasn't joking around. His wife could be very…destructive when she wanted to. Considering their grandsons had been kidnapped, she was more than justified in wanting to be destructive.
"DRAGON STRIKE!" She yells and a giant dragon made of fire rams itself into the door, shattering it.
It was a good thing he had backed up. Because that set off quite the loud explosion. Really these people were such arsonists.
"Not exactly subtle, my love." He says and rubs the back of his head sheepishly.
"True. But it's effective. No one would go through the trouble of sealing a door if there wasn't something behind it, they didn't want others to see. They are probably inside there.
"Shouldn't we wait for backup?" He asks.
"To Hell with backup. Use your Summon. Send the message and they can meet up with us later." She orders.
"Very well." He summons two falcons.
One takes off in the general direction of the "Hokage Group" and the other in the "Random Search Group." Kenji was suddenly very grateful to have such fast summons. It seemed like they were going to need it as they headed inside the secret room.