Chapter 3: Broken Bodies; Broken dreams

Nukpana was smiling. His shoulder ached and blood ran freely where the self-proclaimed Avenger had shoved a kunai into it. The blood ran down his arm and torso as he ran creating a neat little trail for the brat to follow.

It couldn't be any better if he'd planned it. Which he hadn't. He hadn't really expected the dark haired brat to be ruthless enough to leap aside and leave his comrades defenseless. At most he'd not have been shocked if the child turned out to be a coward and ducked or jumped to the side. After all these weren't true ninjas.

But to ignore his friend's plight, and among them two that had been vying for his personal attention, to launch another attack… no Nukpana hadn't dare hoped. Perhaps the loss of his team wasn't so bad. After all he might have found his first replacement.

It was just a shame he'd needed to leave his weapons behind, but at least they were firmly imbedded in the target. With any luck the target was already dead from the initial wounds. If not the venom the blades held should be releasing right about now should finish the wounded brat off.

Now he just needed to reach the extraction point before his obsessed pursuer caught up.

*

Sakura was fighting back tears. She'd pushed Naruto off of her when the boy didn't move. A part of her had been furious, it was obvious that the boy was just trying to find an excuse to be a pervert. A larger part only wished that to be true.

If he wasn't being a pervert that meant that by shielding her Naruto had been killed. It turned out she was only partially right, when she pushed her way past the prone genin, she'd heard him give a tiny grunt. He was still alive.

But her training told her he wouldn't be for long. She'd made him as comfortable as possible and placed Akimaru onto of the bandages on Kiba's leg so she could focus on Naruto. She wasn't really sure what to do.

There were two axes buried in his chest. On the right side. The first was right under the boy's arm pit. It looked like the axe had bitten in deep. She suspected his rib cage might have sustained damage. The other was buried in his hip. She was positive that axe had left Naruto with broken bones.

The question was what to do. The boy was obviously horribly injured. So far a copious amount of blood was leaking out around the weapons. If she pulled the blades out she risked worsening the damage. But she couldn't effectively bind the wounds while the axes were still in. She had a feeling it wouldn't matter if Ino didn't arrive with help soon.

*

Outside the school house the situation had gone from bad to worse. When Naruto passed out from the combined strain of the wounds and the toxin tearing through his system the flow of chakra he'd been reflexively been pumping into the clones to keep them in existence ceased. The clones vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving Shikamaru and the genins he'd assumed command of, on their own.

Shikamaru cursed. This was troublesome. The good news was that the army of clones had done a fair amount of damage to the enemy forces before disappearing. Still he and the remaining genins were clearly outnumbered. And a large part of their current strategy had been to allow Naruto's clones to distract the enemy and attack targets who were exposed, which had minimized their casualties. With their small force the only one left for the enemy to contend with, Shikamaru was positive that the casualty rate would grow very quickly.

Well there was only one chance. Gritting his teeth Shikamaru took advantage of the position of the sun in the sky and poured all of his chakra into one last ditch technique. He'd hoped to keep this a secret for as long as possible, but it wasn't worth dying over.

His shadow stretched and elongated, surging towards the spirit clones. They hadn't yet reacted to the disappearances of the Naruto clones, so they were all still relatively close together. One by one they fell victim to the surging shadow.

He'd managed to catch most of them, but he couldn't hold the jutsu for long.

"Attack them now! They're helpless," he bellowed.

The remaining genins surged forward. It was troublesome how instinctively they seemed to listen to him. What was more troublesome was that he doubted with their depleted numbers they'd be able to wipe out enough of the clones in time.

*

Her muscles burned and sweat was streaming down her forehead into her eyes. Her vision blurred and she miscalculated the distance for her next jump. As she began her descent the next building was still out of reach.

She'd forgotten where in the city she was. The buildings in this section were further apart than those near the academy. She remembered Iruka explaining that and several other structural inconsistencies throughout the village in several of his lectures. It was meant to catch enemy ninja off guard during a chase.

In her rush to make it to the hospital for help Ino had fallen into the same trap. She'd forgotten to pay attention and now she was going to pay. Thankfully the building she'd been on wasn't that tall. It was a smaller store in the merchant quarter which abutted both the academy and the hospital.

Unfortunately she landed poorly. Her ankle gave way with a sharp motion and her feet fell out from her. She ended up sitting on her butt, a howl of pain escaping. When two hands grabbed her shoulders she couldn't believe the mistake she'd made. Not only had she managed to fall and twist her ankle, the pain was unmistakable, she'd alerted an enemy to her presence. She'd have to bide her time and hope she'd be able to seize an opening before she was killed. Or worse.

*

The attack been in progress for fifteen minutes at this point. She could still here the sounds of fighting in the distance. It was disturbing. The job of the ninja was simple: Complete the mission effectively and as quickly as possible.

This mission's objective was simple. Kill the Kyubbi's vessel, freeing the avatar and returning the greater balance. She wasn't quite sure why it had been necessary to try and deceive the damned leaf as to the true nature of the mission. She understood that deception was a part of the shinobi way, but it seemed unnecessary.

Which meant that Anaba was planning something that he was not telling her about. The thought annoyed her. She knew she wasn't privy to the entire picture. She couldn't be really. Since her primary job was infiltration, the less she knew about the overall picture of her own village's plans the better. In the off chance that she was caught she'd be unable to betray their secrets even if she wanted to. But first they'd she'd have to be caught.

It hadn't happened yet. The rest of the raiders seemed surprised that she was so effective. Especially that old fool who was the village's Caller. She supposed she should cut him a little slack. It was difficult to be a painted without a stark reverence for the traditions of the tribe, and it was unthinkable that a caller would not be a staunch advocate of the old ways.

But really, how hard was it to see that the woman's role of leader and diplomat could easily be applied against an enemy. Diplomacy and leadership was more than bringing messages and issuing decrees. To be effective you had to learn how to read what was important to your target, and learn how to present yourself in such a way as to take advantage of the target's desires. There was little difference in convincing a stubborn prince to sign a treaty and convincing the local mothers that you were a widow from Wave Country. Well, actually many mothers were far smarter and observant than the princes she'd had to deal with, but the principal was the same.

But she'd found the role of her mothers and grandmothers too predictable, too boring. So she'd taken her natural talents and applied them elsewhere. No one was able to create a more convincing identity than her. Even visiting traders from the Wave country thought she was a native citizen of their homeland driven into Fire country territory as a result of the current upheavals.

Of course the truth was more complicated. Her mission was to create a deep cover inside the village of Konoha in preparation of the day the Village hidden beneath the stars was ready to move against out the blasphemers. She'd thought today would be that day, but her standing orders said differently. Instead of killing the Uzumaki child herself, or aiding the attackers in anyway, she was to do anything necessary to maintain her cover. Which had her cowering in store, after wasting a morning restocking inventory and preparing purchase orders. No one would be coming in that morning. But it was the pattern she followed everyday and she'd be damned if Ibiki caught her because of a simple slip up like violating a pattern on the day of an attack.

Before she could descend to distracting herself with thoughts of her one true opponent, a girl's scream forced her to focus on the present moment. The scream was close, too close. It come from down the block. The attack was supposed to stick to the periphery of the village where the high value targets were located. Some painted must have gotten too caught up having his clones pursue a fleeing target. Or Nukpana had slipped his leash again.

Still there was nothing to it. She was supposed to be a tough as nails woman who'd survived the death of her husband and sun, and managed to go from penniless refugee to a major merchant in only a small amount of time. If there was a child in distress she'd have to go. She only hoped she managed to avoid any clones. It would be a pain coming up with a cover story for the encounter.

She'd found the girl a street away, near her workshop. The child was a young girl, and she was wearing a one of the Leaf's headbands. Idiots. The purpose of a ninja was to move unseen and undetected. It was entirely against the point to announce your allegiance to any who looked at your forehead.

As she got closer it looked the girl was young enough to be a raw recruit. From the way she was sitting, it was obvious that her ankle was damaged. There was no way to tell how bad the damage was. Still she'd better err on the side of preserving her cover and assume the girl was currently helpless.

In seconds Mai had grabbed the girl's shoulders and started dragging her across the few inches that separated them from the workshop. The things she did to maintain a cover.

*

Sasuke was gaining ground on his prey. The overconfident fool obviously hadn't expected Sasuke to launch a counterattack when trapped. As a result he'd proven just how strong he was. His prey was weakened. Obviously enough that he was slowing down. Within another minute Sasuke knew he'd have the annoying bastard in his clutches.

If the boy had the presence of mind to check his surroundings he'd have realized that Nukpana had not been traveling in a straight line, the way he would if he was interested in the quickest route from the village. Nor had the enemy employed a jerking random zigzag which would have made him harder to track.

Instead Nukpana's path was a gentle curve. Not sharp enough to risk losing Sasuke, or alert the boy that something was wrong. Not that he needed to worry about that. The only thing the boy was interested in was the defeat of his opponent.

*

Inside the classroom where only a short time ago he'd been awaiting his team assignment and the start of the next chapter of his life, Naruto Uzumaki was on death's door. His skin had become a nearly translucent color as the chakra enhanced venom tore its way through his system.

The poison's introduction to his system had gone unnoticed by the girl doing her best to staunch his wounds without disturbing the weapons jutting from his flesh. Now her attention was firmly on the wounds as the boy's body began to tremble as his temperature rose.

Panic seized her. If he continued to shake the weapons were going to further tear his flesh. There was no hope for it. She was going to have to remove them.

But she didn't know what she was doing! She could make it worse. Her hands trembled as she tried to bring them forward, to grab the handle of the lower ax. They had to have covered this in some class, some lesson. Shinobi were wounded all the time. They wouldn't not cover removing a weapon from a wound.

So why was the only thing she could remember to never remove anything from a person. She knew all the horrible things that could happen. She could pull at the wrong angle and open up the wound more. She could knick an artery. The pressure of the blade might be keeping more blood from gushing out.

She ran out of time for debate when Naruto's shaking intensified. There was no choice, no time. With a part of her screaming at her to be strong and at Naruto for being dumb enough to get this badly injured, she grabbed the haft of the blade with one hand and the flesh around the wound with the other. Holding him as steady as she could she gingerly pulled the axe free. The horrible weapon slid out with a minimal amount of tearing. That she could see at least. Cursing herself, she grabbed the blade from where it rested on the floor. She couldn't believe she'd forgotten so basic a tenant. You had to check blades, make sure they weren't poisoned. The pressure of the moment had been too much and she'd messed up. Now she could only hope there would be nothing on the blade, and that Naruto would be fine.

A quick sniff told her otherwise. Her hopes dashed, she forced her inner voice to quiet down. She had to think. There was no time to try and console herself. The scent was familiar. She would have to try and remember which one of the various poisons they'd been forced to study it could be.

But first she had a wound to bandage and another axe to remove. As she ripped more fabric from her outfit she hoped that she had the antidote on hand.

*

A large door slammed shut locking Ino inside the large dark room she'd been dragged into. She coughed loudly, as something irritated her nose. The room smelt of some strange combination she couldn't place.

The room was dark, and from the sound of it whoever had grabbed her had walked off. So the question was what to do. At first Ino had assumed she'd been grabbed by an assailant. But no kunai had been stuck into her neck, and more opponents hadn't arrived. The greatest surprise came when she'd heard a key being inserted in the lock chaining the doors closed. It didn't necessarily mean she was safe. It could be an enemy spy, or they could have killed the owner and took control of the building.

She was still trying to figure out what to do when the flights flared to life. After a few seconds of pained blinking she was once again able to see under the bright fluorescent bulbs.

When her eyes had adjusted she found herself staring at a familiar face. It was Miss Aida. Ino felt a sense of relief wash over her. She must have landed near Miss Aida's store. The older woman had just finished locking up and was walking toward her looking concerned.

"Okay we should be safe here. Can you move?"

Ino tried to stand and received a burst of pain for her troubles. The older woman gave a sad laugh and moved closer to look at the ankle.

"Stubborn. You could have just said no. Let me see that ankle. Does this hurt. Yes I'd say it does. Well nothing to do about it. It's sprained. You'll have to stay off it for a while."

The embarrassed blush that had formed on Ino's face after the whimper that had escaped form the older woman touching her ankle faded. It was replaced by a look of worry.

"No! I have to get to the hospital!"

"For a sprain? That seems a little,"

"No! I mean, no Miss Aida. The school was attacked. Kiba's going to.. and Naruto… they're going to…"

Mai wanted to scream in frustration. She'd thought the girl looked familiar. It was the flower seller's daughter and one of the new genins. The children must have survived Nukpana's attentions. Which meant that the bloodthirsty bastard had most likely failed and was lying dead somewhere. That or he was too caught up with slaughtering random children to focus on actually killing his damned target. Those were the only two explanations she could think of for any of the kids surviving.

Which left her a choice. She could refuse to help Ino, try and explain that there was nothing she could do. But it would be a stretch for her cover. She was supposed to be a brave resolute woman of the wave who'd lost her entire family, and village in a similar circumstance. Would she really sit by and do nothing?

No she wouldn't. And her orders were explicit. She had to maintain her cover. So if that meant saving a couple of kids who shouldn't have been in the line of fire in the first place… well her hands were tied weren't they. Anaba would have to understand. Hell if it had been any squad but Nukpana's she doubted she'd need to go roaring to the rescue.

Ino watched the emotions display over the woman's face. The display scared her and for a second Ino wondered if she'd been mistaken. Maybe she'd fallen into a trap. Never had she seen such a look of anger and hatred. It didn't make sense on the normally smiling woman who brought vases to her mother's flower store, and to whose shop Ino often brought fresh bouquets and arrangements.

Not until she heard the woman whisper, "not again."

Snatches of overheard conversation, and thoughtlessly spoken tidbits swirled in Ino's mind. Her few years of training kicked in and despite the stress, pain, and fear, she put together another possible answer.

Miss Aida had lived in Wave country and left suddenly with little to her name. She'd made it big trading in Fire country, and several of Ino had on several occasions seen people accidentally address Miss Aida with the prefix for married women. An intense sad look at always come over the woman's face. Given the current unrest in Wave and the woman's sudden penniless departure and subsequent acceptance in the Fire country, it was likely that she was a refugee who'd lost her family in a similar attack to the one the leaf was currently experiencing. She might have even lost a son Kiba's age.

"It's decided then." The non-sequitur caught Ino off-guard. She hadn't been privy to whatever internal conversation the woman had been having. Logic would dictate that the woman had been deciding whether to help or remain in safety.

She'd spent too long worrying, trying to figure out the woman's intentions. Miss Aida had walked away from her. If Ino was wrong, if Miss Aida wasn't who she claimed to be, then the girl had given up her last chance of survival. The older woman was too far away to grab, and Ino had run out of kunai during her frantic dash for the hospital. She'd been ambushed by a group of the strange glowing enemy. She'd managed to dispel them, but it had left her without weapons.

Miss Aida was now over by a strange cloth. With a flourish the woman wrenched the large thing aside. Underneath the blue curtain was a strange contraption of metal and rubber that Ino had never seen before. It had two wheels, one in the front and one in the back. There seemed to a seat in the middle. She would almost call it a bicycle, but the metal was much thicker and there were strange pipes and tubes coursing throughout it. On each side of the strange device were two small open metal things. They sort of looked like large cups. Each had a wheel on the bottom. Miss Aida had climbed into the strange seat in the center and had placed her hands on the two handles that sprouted from the head of the strange thing. On her head was a pair of goggles much like the ones Naruto wore and a strange brown leather jacket was wrapped around her waist. With a large smile and a thumbs up the woman declared:

"We'll just have to rescue your friends!"