By Smertios
Author's Note: Only what… 3 months since the last chapter? I win the procrastination award, right? I'm sorry. Really. This chapter has been being written for the last 3 months (albeit, not too much. I have been busy). Writer's block has been eating away at me to the point that I was writing 50 words at a time before giving up and going to do something else. (Note, this Author's Note is in its 5th rewrite (more than the actual chapter), to meet with the time that I figured I'd finish the story. That should give you a sense of how many times I've tried to finish this damn thing off. I'm thinking of coming up with some generic form-letter to make my excuses for taking so long to post a chapter)
Enjoy.
Disclaimer: See previous chapters.
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Chapter Eight: Straight Hell'There ain't no need for you
There ain't no need for you
Go straight to Hell boy'
The Clash: Straight To Hell
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"Naruto. Naruto, wake up."
Hands jostled Naruto's shoulders, jarring away his sweet dreams of warmth and friendship. Sensation slowly returned to him and he became aware of the fact that the warmth he had felt was not gone. His left side was leaning against something warm and soft, and his head was leaned against the softest, best smelling pillow he had ever had. His eyes slowly opened to a sea of wavy blue. "Huh? Wazzat? Goway, 'mtired."
"Good morning, lover boy.'
Kakashi was leaning over him with a twinkle of amusement gleaming in his eye. "Lover boy? Huh? What?"
His pillow stirred, and he suddenly realized that he was leaning against a person, not a pillow. Confusion and terror did battle for control of his mouth, and terror won out. "Ahh!!"
He jumped a bit, but the weight on his shoulder kept him from moving far. "H-Hinata! Wha?"
Kakashi was openly chuckling at his students. "You know, this sort of behavior is inappropriate on a mission. A shinobi is not supposed to fraternize with his or her teammates."
Hinata chose that moment to crack open her eyes and find herself leaning on Naruto's shoulder. Kakashi gave his students a smirk. "When you two are awake, I need to talk to you."
Hinata squeaked. "N-Naruto-kun?"
Without hesitation, she darted from the room, her face aflame with embarrassment. Naruto, still frazzled from his rude awakening, stared after her, very confused. "Why would she-"
Kakashi let out a hoot of laughter. "I'm sure you'll find out in your own time, Naruto. In the meantime, I think I'll give you your orders now."
Naruto's mind snapped to the events of the previous night, and he felt his embarrassment and confusion drain away. In their place, a feel of cold terror settled into his stomach. "Do we know who attacked us?"
His sensei let out a breath loudly and shook his head. "She didn't have anything to say."
"Damn."
Naruto's word hung in the air, separating teacher and student for a moment. Kakashi nodded his agreement with Naruto's sentiment. "However, we do know that her target wasn't Oshima. If it had been, you would never have been attacked. She would have waited for you to leave."
Naruto bit his lip and said nothing more, holding back the urge to blame himself. 'Hinata and Sasuke are both viable targets for an attack too. You have no proof that the assassin was after you.'
However, his rational mind had never had as much force as its emotional counterpart, and guilt weighed down on him. "Are any of our directives going to change, Kakashi-sensei?"
"No." Kakashi's countenance was fairly light, which, given the situation, caused Naruto no end of frustration. "This is a fairly important mission for a first mission, so we can't afford to abandon it yet. What we're going to do is follow the book. We're going to send one member of the team to get backup and the other team members are going to be very careful."
Naruto let a burst of his old enthusiasm out from behind his mask of seriousness. "And I get to go, right, Kakashi-sensei? After all, I'm the fastest member of the team!"
Kakashi chuckled and ruffled Naruto's hair, earning him a glare from his student. "I'm sure Sasuke would have something to say about that. No, Naruto, I'm on this team too, you know? I will be going, since I can make the best time. In the meantime, Hinata is in charge, and you should all be very careful."
"Why Hinata?"
"Take a wild guess, Naruto."
A few moments later Hinata returned, her face still bright red, and Kakashi repeated the orders to her. After he finished, Kakashi gave them both a big grin, flexing his mask strangely. "When I return, I'll make sure to have my shinobi rule-book on hand so I can read the two of you the section on inappropriate fraternization. I'm very disappointed in you, you know?"
He winked with his one visible eye and made his way towards the door. Naruto raised a hand and waved it around for a moment. "Wait, Kakashi-sensei! What about Sasuke?"
"Did you think I left Oshima-sama without a guard? Sasuke is guarding him right now. I spoke to him before you woke up. If you hadn't decided to have a lie-in, I would have already left here." Kakashi gave them one last wink of his eye, and then left the room.
There was silence in the room for a moment, and Naruto felt a sense of discomfort wash over him. He turned to Hinata, face mildly red. "Ne, Hinata…"
However, his only answer was silence. Hinata had already departed the room, no doubt seeking to avoid the conversation that Naruto had been trying to begin. Naruto shrugged and shook his head. "I don't think I'll ever understand her…"
That was when a massive wave of chakra washed over him, taking away all of his confusion and embarrassment. "Sasuke!"
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'The next bastard who comes to tell me what an honor it is to meet me is going to experience first-hand why the Uchiha clan was so feared.'
Uchiha Sasuke was in no way fond of fan-people, whether they were politicians or obnoxious girls. The obnoxious bleating of sycophants of any kind was almost enough to drive him over the edge. 'Stupid, stupid Kakashi. I don't care if Naruto or Hinata was attacked last night, you should have woken one of them up. I can't do my job effectively like this. Oshima-sama may as well have no guard at all.'
"So many new and interesting faces, eh Uchiha-san?" Oshima gave the boy a benevolent smile, as though he were giving Sasuke an immense honor. "It is rare that anyone gets to meet so many important people in one place."
Sasuke gave him a nod, keeping his jaws clenched tightly on the curse that he wanted to bestow upon his benefactor. 'And a good thing too, since if anyone got to meet this many important people, they would probably put a kunai through their slimy, poisonous mouths. I hate this shit.'
Oshima took his nod as a confirmation. "It's a pity, though… I was hoping that Naruto would also get a chance to meet all these people. They would all find him so interesting. What did you say happened to him? He came down ill? Poor boy."
"Yes, Oshima-sama. Naruto had a very upset stomach this morning. Hinata and Kakashi-sensei are going into town to get him some medicine. They should be back soon." Sasuke felt a severe expression attempting to creep across his face, and he clamped down on his anger. It was disgusting, the way that the noble was clearly manipulating Naruto, using him as a political tool for his personal advancement.
Oshima gave him a sympathetic look and turned towards a well-dressed couple who were whispering and pointing to Sasuke. "Oh! Nakada-san! There's someone who you really ought to meet. This is Uchiha Sasuke… You know, the last Uchiha."
The couple giggled and fawned over Sasuke. Nakada, who was apparently lord of the territory north of capital, and his wife, a flighty, giggling creature who seemed to have nothing in between her ears, seemed particularly interested in Sasuke's progress in "restarting" his clan. They offered to introduce him to their daughter, but he begged off, saying that he had to contact his mission leader for an update. Oshima gave him a disappointed look, but Sasuke slipped away.
He moved into a small recess in far wall of the Daimyo's ballroom and put on the communication device that Kakashi had issued Team 7 at the start of the mission. He was about to call Naruto to nag him to come cover for Sasuke, when a hand descended on his shoulder. A crystal-clear voice chimed out, "Hello, my dear. You looked so uncomfortable talking to Nakada-san. I wanted to make sure you were alright."
Sasuke jumped and whirled, surprised that anyone had managed to sneak up on him. Behind him was a beautiful woman with long black hair. She gave him a smile, and giggled at his obvious surprise. "He can be a bit… offsetting, can't he?"
She waved to Oshima as he glanced over, and he waved back to Sasuke, giving him a wink that was clearly intended to be encouraging. Sasuke tried not to roll his eyes and gave a small nod. However, as her had tightened slightly on his shoulder, he felt something very wrong. The woman, not noting his concern began chattering about the nobles who had accosted Sasuke earlier. "You know, Nakada-san's son is studying at the ninja academy. He doesn't approve, of course, but the boy was insistent. That's probably why they're so interested in you. After all, Nakada-san -"
The room gave a gasp as Sasuke pulled out two kunai and rammed them into the woman's stomach. Their shock grew when, rather than toppling to the ground dead, the woman was replaced with a nearby chair. Sasuke sneered, and with a look of utter distaste, ground out, "Nice try."
A shriek rang out through the room, and nobles began to stampede, heading for the nearest door or shelter. As they ran, the woman dropped from the ceiling, landing a few feet from Sasuke, who leapt back, clutching a kunai in front of him. The formal robes she had been wearing were gone, replaced with generic, black shinobi clothes. "How did you know?"
"Easy. You walk like a shinobi." Sasuke brought his kunai up at an angle, and prepared for the attack he knew was coming. "Most nobility walks completely wrong. Must be from sitting around all day."
It was true. Shinobi were trained, from the beginning of their training, to walk properly, with their knees neither too far in nor too far out. Any other form of movement was too risky for a ninja. A person's hips and knees could only take so much abuse before they stopped functioning properly. Most nobility, on the other hand, walked with the duck-footed grace of those who couldn't be bothered to work out.
The woman, however, had lost interest. She procured three senbon from her pouch and threw them at Sasuke. To his surprise, the needles all passed to either side of him. Immediately, alarms began to go off in his head. His suspicions proved to be correct when the woman began to form seals. "Doku Kyuushuu no Jutsu!"
Sasuke felt weakness settle into him, burning into his skin. His muscles slowly relaxed and he fell to the ground. The woman smiled coldly. "So much for the famed Uchiha survivor. In the end, you are still no better than a genin."
"How? You," Sasuke paused, struggling to breathe in again as his chest muscles mutinied against him, and finally pulled in enough air to continue. "You never hit me."
She kicked him lightly in the ribs, flipping him over, so that he faced her, and pulled two more senbon from her pouch, pointing them at Sasuke's throat. "No, I didn't. That's the beauty of my technique. I use a contact-based topical anesthetic, so it only has to touch your skin. Now shut up and die. You won't feel a thing."
Her needles descended quickly, and Sasuke felt a rush of fear fill him. 'No. Not like this. I can't die yet. I still have to have my revenge. I can't be killed this easily. I won't let Itachi walk away!'
In his desperation, he felt for his chakra, going through Kakashi's concentration exercises unwittingly. In a wash of energy, he felt some strength return to his limbs, and weakly rolled over, avoiding the descending needles by mere centimeters. He limply returned to his feet, panting with exertion. "I'm not done yet."
He got no response, as the woman did not pause to allow him to breathe. In a flash of motion, she was stabbing towards him with a senbon. The weapon passed within inches of his face, and he felt a rush of air brush by his cheek. He stepped back into a solid stance and attempted to throw a punch at his assailant's stomach.
However, before his punch could hit home, she twisted out of the way and kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying into the wall, where he slid down, losing control of his chakra.
He labored for breath, but no air came. He felt for his chakra, but the gaping void of unconsciousness was fast encroaching upon him, scattering his concentration to the four winds. As his struggle continued, the void slowly swallowed his mind, and he fell into it, the world dissolving around him.
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Hinata hurried from her room, losing all sense of embarrassment or humiliation. She heard the door slam shut, and knew that Naruto was already on his way. Sasuke's chakra flared, cluing her in to his desperate situation. She spared a moment to feel grateful to Kakashi for teaching his students to sense their teammate's chakra.
The door fell casualty to a kick that sent it spinning off of its hinges, and she rushed into the hall, stepping over the twisted remains of the door. The halls seemed to constrict around her, filled with the screams and gasps of terrified nobles, who rushed down the hallway, crushing against Hinata, and slowing her progress.
She wanted to scream too, as she felt Sasuke's chakra begin to fade, jolting out of his control, and then disappearing. The crush of the crowd pushed her back, but a tidal surge of anger broke through her inhibitions, and she began to shove back, fighting her way through the mass of gibbering people.
Eventually, she fought her way through and came out of the anarchic hullabaloo that filled the hallway. In the throne room of the palace, she found herself staring at a scene straight out of her nightmares. "S-Sasuke…"
Her teammate was slumped against a wall, breathing shallowly, with his eyes closed. A small trickle of blood ran down his forehead from a split in the skin of his scalp. His skin was turning blue, and her medical research told her that he was slowly asphyxiating.
Worse yet, a few meters away from him, a woman dressed in traditional shinobi garb was stalking towards him, senbon needles at the ready, clutched in her hands to form a claw. Cold terror rushed through her veins, and she activated her Byakugan, hoping to reach the woman before the woman reached Sasuke. However, Hinata had at least 30 meters to cover, and the woman had only three to cover. Hinata knew that the chances of her even reaching kunai-range before the woman reached Sasuke were slim.
Desperation sped her up, moving her closer and closer to her fallen teammate. Still, even her sprint was not bringing her close enough. When the woman was within a step of Sasuke, Hinata pulled a kunai and, praying that she surpassed herself again, hurled the knife with all of her will behind it.
Her kunai flew straight, flashing through the air. Hinata felt her hopes soar, along with the small, deadly, projectile. The kunai, however, had other ideas. Hinata's hopes crashed into the ground, as her kunai clattered against the ground, five meters wide of its target. "Damn!"
The woman's hand rose, and her weapons glinted with the light spilling through the high windows of the throne room. Hinata's breath caught in her throat, a scream trying to tear it's way out, and she shut her eyes.
A sickening splat echoed throughout the room, and Hinata's knees gave out.
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Author's Closing Notes: Well… I'm not too happy with in, but at least I got something done. There are moments I really like, but I felt like I had to force the words onto the page, for the most part. I actually cut off early, and left the next part for the next chapter. I'll have to do another special insert chapter, and go off of my outline again, but I wanted to have something for people to read, since I don't know if I will be able to write the rest soon. Thanks to the people who sent me messages, asking if I would continue. If it weren't for you, I don't know that I would have ever actually got around to writing this part.
I'm hoping that my characterization is improving, but I still feel as though my characters aren't as strong as I'd like. Hopefully, this is just me, but if it isn't, I'll try and spend more time on it in the future. Look out for the Chapter 9: Tearing Everything Down. It's gonna be a good one (assuming, of course, that it actually gets written. I'll try to get a start in on it by Friday, but I make no promises. I may be spending the weekend trying to figure out the status of one of my college applications instead.).
Sorry again (No, really! One of these days I'll actually do what I say I will and finish a chapter on time. Don't hold your breath, though.),
Smertios