Chapter 5: Loss, Rage, and Emergency
Wan Shi Tong Library Interior
Wan Shi Tong crashed through an arced opening, toppling the walls like they were a pile of toy bricks. Sakura glanced back as the owl creature picked up speed. She looked to her left as Katara frantically searched for a solution, and she saw Yamato stop abruptly and look around.
"Sakura-san, keep leading them to the exit, I'll stall him," Yamato ordered firmly as the pink-haired kunoichi nodded.
"What are you going to do?" Katara asked as she stopped to catch her breath. Momo landed on her shoulder, out of breath too.
"Let's just say that the bird will be in a cage…" Yamato replied as his lips curled into a wry smile. "Now, get out of here. I'll catch up soon."
Katara and Sakura nodded, and the pink-haired kunoichi grabbed Zei. "Hey!"
"Katara-san, how good are you at climbing?" Sakura asked as she leapt up into the air, leaving the Waterbending Master on the floor.
"Wait!" Katara said as she tried to keep up with the kunoichi, and the flying lemur took flight again to keep up with Sakura. 'How did the do that?'
"Lesson in chakra, Katara-san!" Yamato told her as if he read her thoughts. "Should be easy with your chakra control, focus it in your feet and then jump, you'll get a boost of speed."
Katara nodded as she kept running. 'I don't even know what he's talking about…focusing my chakra…'
She popped the cork on her flask, and a whip of water grabbed onto one of the overhanging beams of the library interior, and she used it to pull herself up. Katara quickly gained enough speed using this new whip technique, and she subconsciously began focusing her chakra into her feet to give her an extra lift in her leaps. A little dust was kicked up in a circular fashion with every launch into the air, showing that she was controlling her chakra subconsciously.
'Not what I was thinking, but it'll work, she'll be able to keep up with Sakura-san now,' Yamato thought to himself as he turned and faced the charging owl creature.
"So you've decided to accept your fate, mortal?" Wan Shi Tong asked arrogantly as he closed the distance at full speed.
"Not really," Yamato replied as he performed a few dozen hand seals, and crossed his arms. "Shichuurou no Jutsu (Four Pillars Prison Technique)."
The owl creature came to a screeching halt as a massive wooden gate wall rose out of the ground. Another came out near his side, and a final one rose out of the ground behind him. Wan Shi Tong screeched in anger as he was caged in the wooden barrier.
"I know it won't hold you for long, but it should buy us enough time to get away," Yamato said as he turned and began running at full speed, moving on the borderline of visual tracking.
A few minutes later the group met up again and Wan Shi Tong was right on their heals. The owl creature glided over the ground to increase his speed to catch the group. As they reached another cross causeway below where they entered, Zei turned to face the Wan Shi Tong and plea for mercy…of his books.
"Ah! Good knowledge spirit, do not destroy your vast collection of priceless tomes!" Zei begged as the owl creature closed the distance dangerously.
Aang looked back, turned around gathering the air around him, and he created a vacuum which pulled the professor back to the group, and Sakura caught him. Naruto grinned at the move, but the young airbender was not finished yet. He jumped into a cartwheel with his staff and diagonally lifted his weapon, sending a wave of wind crashing into Wan Shi Tong, knocking him back and careening over the edge of the causeway.
"Nice job, neesan," Naruto commented as Aang came running back to the group.
"Neesan?" Aang asked as he shook off the word. "We got to get back to the surface."
"It means 'brother', Aang, and agreed," Kakashi told Aang, and they all began to run away except for Sokka.
"Sokka lets go!" Katara and Sakura yelled back.
"But we still don't know when the next eclipse is going to happen," Sokka told them and Kakashi sighed.
"Don't be stupid, we'll find out later!" Katara told him.
"No we won't, if we leave this place we'll never get the information," Sokka retorted as he leaned forward. "Aang, Naruto, Hinata, come with me to the planetarium, I need cover and a person who can see when the…owl bastard comes for us," he ordered, making Kakashi's eye rise.
'His mind is not as focused as Shikamaru's, but he still has a strategic mind…Aang and Naruto are going to be the 'heavy hitters' covering for him, and Hinata's Byakugan will be able to see when Wan Shi Tong comes for them, and enable a good warning for them to run,' Kakashi thought as Sokka looked at him, Katara, Sakura, Yamato, and Zei.
"Katara, take Momo and the others and get out of here! Kakashi, be sure they get out of here safe!" Sokka ordered as a crash was heard behind them. "Go!"
Wan Shi Tong roared as his long neck twisted around to where Katara, Sakura, Kakashi, Yamato, and Zei were standing, completely ignoring Sokka, Naruto, Aang, and Hinata. The massive owl creature stomped after Kakashi's group, and they started running and leaping off to keep away from the razor sharp beak.
"Hurry, Sokka!" Katara told her brother as they ran.
Sokka, Naruto, Hinata, and Aang then ran towards the causeway again as more sand leaked into the library. The rest of the group started running for the next staircase, and Zei ducked into a bookcase hallway and covered his head as Wan Shi Tong flew past. He then looked over and smirked, grabbing a priceless book from the shelf.
"Sakura, any genjutsus you can think of to distract this guy?" Kakashi asked as he leapt near Katara, and Momo squealed on the Waterbending Master's shoulder.
"I think so," Sakura stated as she did a bunch of hand seals, activating a symbol illusionary jutsu. 'I think Naruto'd like this one, it would be a prank after his own heart…'
As Wan Shi Tong swooped down, a massive, orange nine-tailed fox leapt to challenge him. The sudden appearance of the fox made the owl creature shriek in surprise and fear, and he began to flap upwards. His owl eyes then notices Sakura slamming her hands into the ground, then running with the rest of the group.
The nine-tailed orange fox started to have a shimmer, and the great owl spirit finally identified what it was. 'An illusion…' and with that, Wan Shi Tong roared and flew right through the Nine-Tailed fox illusion. "Such petty tricks won't save you from me!"
As they reached the staircase, Sakura looked back. "It didn't take I see…damn it," she cursed as she focused her strength into her fist. Kakashi then put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a sharp look that screamed 'no'.
"Our priority now is just to escape, and if you smash him to pieces I don't think we'd ever be able to get out," Kakashi told her sharply, and she nodded and followed Katara and Yamato up the steps.
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Wan Shi Tong's Library Exterior
As the library continued the sink, Toph started to feel the strain of keeping the mountain-sized slab of hollow rock up in the mortal realm. Pakkun sniffed the air and Appa began roaring, to keep the young Earthbending Master's spirits up. Suddenly, the kicking up dust cloud behind the flying bison made Appa turn around and look.
"Yo, we may have problems! Several guys that have a bad, sweaty smell are coming for us!" Pakkun warned Toph, who nodded.
"Great…" Toph said as she struggled to keep the massive library up, and she glanced back. "What is it now?"
Three Sandbender Sand-skiffs floating over the sand dunes, being propelled by a mini-sandstorm right in the middle of the 'legs' of the boat and a yellow sail that was caught up in the wind. The captain of the party looked at their prize, and underneath his mask he smirked at the sight of Appa. One of the Sandbenders threw up his hand, sending a wave of sand at the flying bison that was looking back at them.
"Who is there?" Toph yelled in question as Pakkun sniffed the air again.
"Don't know, but it looks like they're after Appa!" Pakkun replied as the sand-skiffs began circling Appa, who took a fighting stance. "Oh no you don't!"
Several of the Sandbenders leapt off their circling skiffs, as Pakkun charged forth, barking like a normal dog. They weren't intimidated by the petite pug, and focused on Appa.
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Wan Shi Tong's Library Interior
Aang, Naruto, Hinata, and Sokka ran through another causeway towards the planetarium. They Hyuuga Heiress had her Byakugan activated as they ran through the bridge-like causeway. Crumbling rocks fell from the ceiling, crashing on the causeway behind them and around. Naruto glanced back as a rock came crashing dangerously close to her, and he let out a growl.
"We're almost there!" Sokka stated as they approached the planetarium entrance.
"Why are we doing this?" Aang asked as they all reached the planetarium.
"Because if this calendar can tell us of eclipses in the past, then maybe it can predict when the next one will be!" Sokka replied as he turned the outer ring of the cylinder calendar.
"You can't possibly check every single date," Aang argued as he panted a bit, and he looked back to see Naruto and Hinata starting a guarding position.
"I don't have to, we just need to check every date before Souzin's Comet arrives, because after that, well, try not to think about that," Sokka replied as he turned the outer ring of the calendar again.
"This is crazy Sokka!" Naruto yelled back as he pulled out a kunai. "The owl bastard could come for us at any time!"
"He's still chasing Kakashi-sensei and the others, Sakura-chan tried to distract him with a genjutsu," Hinata told everyone as her Byakugan kept searching the area.
Aang pushed down the lever after Sokka entered the date, no eclipse. The Water Tribe warrior rotated the middle ring of the calendar, and it was tried again, no eclipse. And again, and again, and again, Naruto kept glancing back, hoping this was worth the waste of valuable extraction time. Sokka kept turning the calendar, knowing they were running out of time. When the moon and sun icons passed close to each other, he went back to it and Aang looked up.
"Come on, eclipse!" Aang growled as he pushed the lever down again, and the sun and moon moved…and the moon covered the sun in an eclipse!
"That's it! The solar eclipse, it's just a few months away…" Sokka cheered as the planetarium went into a faux shut down, and he wrote the date on a piece of paper and put it in his pack. "Got it, now lets get to Ba Sing Se!"
"About time!" Naruto called back as the four of them ran out of the planetarium. "This better be worth it, Sokka!"
"It is, this war's going to end!" Sokka told him as they ran off down the corridor to the causeway.
The small group dodged the sand flows and falling boulders. Aang flicked his staff and canvas wings extended out of the wooden walking stick. He grabbed onto Sokka as Naruto and Hinata began leaping to catch up. The blond haired jinchuuriki smirked as he saw the airbender and water tribe warrior glide off ahead of them.
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Wan Shi Tong Library Exterior
Appa growled as more sandbenders leapt off their skiffs, surrounding him. Pakkun leapt up to grab one of the renegade benders by their legs, but he was effortlessly knocked away by a blast of sand. The little pug was slammed back into the pillar, being knocked unconscious. The sandbenders took out bolos and spun them around as the flying bison sized them up.
One of the sandbenders stomped forth and launched a weighed bolo over Appa's back to a man on the other end. The other benders followed, and soon they had the flying bison caught underneath several ropes and collectively they began to pull down. Appa roared as he struggled to keep his footing, but the combined might and bending the sand around their legs kept him from getting away.
"Don't make me put this down!" Toph yelled as she glanced back, her hands still firmly in the library spire stone wall. She then dropped it and punched blindly, sending a wave of sand right past the sandbenders that were attacking Appa, and she turned around and placed her hands back on the library spire, trying to push it up.
"Put a muzzle on him!" one of the Sandbenders ordered as a rope went around Appa's mouth.
Very soon, Appa was subdued by the sandbenders, his body was pulled down, and then tied up, and even his mouth was wrapped by the rough rope. With his legs and mouth bound, he was virtually unable to do anything and the sandbenders tied him up to their skiffs and dragged off.
"No! Stop sinking!" Toph roared as she punched out a few more times, sending waves of sand around the area, but it was too late. She turned around and slammed her palms right back onto the library spire's surface. "No! I'm sorry Appa…"
She closed her eyes, cursing herself of her failure to protect one of her friends. Even though she didn't like flying, Appa was one of the things she cherished, along with her friends.
"Ugh…don't tell me…we lost…" Pakkun said as he struggled to regain his footing. "Those Sandbenders play cheaply!"
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Wan Shi Tong Library Interior
Kakashi, Katara, Sakura, and Yamato were running down the hallway away from the crazed owl creature known as Wan Shi Tong. They rounded a series of bookcases with the owl on their tails. Katara had found a hiding place behind one of the bookcases and pulled Momo to her front and hugged the lemur tightly as she tried to regain her breath. Sakura went to the other one and pulled out one of the flasks of water Yamato gave her and she drank it while panting.
"Who would have thought such a large owl thing like Wan Shi Tong could keep up with us while running," Sakura whispered to the Waterbending master, and her emerald colored eyes scanned the area for Kakashi and Yamato. Her enhanced hearing picked up the footsteps of Wan Shi Tong from behind them on the other side of the bookcases. "Katara-san, quiet…"
Katara nodded and began to hold her breath. She failed to neglect pulling Momo's tail closer behind the bookcase. Wan Shi Tong glanced back and forth, and his keen owl eyes spotted the flying lemur's tail.
"At least I got another specimen to add to my collection," Wan Shi Tong muttered as he roared and began charging for Katara and Momo.
Sakura stood up and grabbed her friend ran off. The giant owl creature's neck cocked to see them run, but several small metal objects whirled past him, making him pull his neck back. He then looked to see Kakashi on one of the pillars, and he yanked his hand back, and the several small metal objects were pulled back into his hands, and he placed them back in his satchel and leapt down to the floor and began running after his student and Katara. Yamato was ahead of them, already approaching the rope.
Wan Shi Tong continued to chase them as they reached the rope. Katara, Sakura, Yamato, and Kakashi turned into the causeway and towards the rope. The young Waterbending Master turned and faced Wan Shi Tong as he approached them, standing in a horse stance. Sakura, Yamato, and Kakashi drew kunai out of their leg boxes, and prepared to wield them in a knife-fight fashion, the blades pointing down.
"Your Waterbending and your weapons won't do much good here, I've studied Northern Water Style, Southern Water Style, and even Foggy Swamp Style," Wan Shi Tong told Katara as he started standing up straight and spread his wings.
"Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" a voice yelled from behind Wan Shi Tong who glanced back to see Naruto and Hinata running up, with five other Naruto clones! The clones tossed several kunai at the owl, who ducked and dodged, not expecting this.
Aang and Sokka then soared above the owl, and the young Water Tribe Warrior let go of the Airbender's glider, clutching a heavy book. He slammed it onto Wan Shi Tong's head and landed on his feet as the owl creature collapsed.
"That's called Sokka Style, learn it!" Sokka told Wan Shi Tong arrogantly as he leaned forward and grinned, and he looked as Naruto and Hinata, as well as the blond jinchuuriki's clones approach them. "Wow, that's a cool trick, now let's get out of here!"
"Right!" both Naruto and Hinata replied and Naruto crossed his fingers again. "Disperse!" He yelled as his clones vanished in a puff of smoke.
They all began climbing up the rope, but Sokka looked back as he saw Zei sitting on the floor near a pile of sand on his right, and a pile of books on his left.
"Wait! Professor, let's go!" Sokka told Zei, who glanced up from reading a scroll.
"Yeah, Nerd-san lets get the hell out of this sandy place!" Naruto added, but the professor shook his head.
"I'm not leaving, I can't, I've spent too long trying to find this place, there's not another collection of knowledge like this on Earth," Zei told them as he closed his eyes in contentment. "I can spend an eternity in here…"
"…just go!" Katara told Sokka and Naruto who were above her.
The rope began swaying back and forth, and Naruto, Hinata, Sakura, Kakashi, and Yamato climbed up the rope as fast as they can.
"Time to use the fast way to get out of here!" Kakashi ordered as he leapt onto the inner wall of the spire and began running.
"Yeah, not the sucky way!" Naruto cheered as he put his chakra to his hands and feet, and began running up the wall and he glanced back.
Hinata leaped at the wall, and she applied chakra to her feet, and she stuck onto the wall next to Sakura. She started running like the others, but her foot slipped, and she started falling. Naruto leaped down and grabbed her hand, preventing her from falling back into the library. She began blushing.
"Hinata-chan, are you okay?" Naruto asked as he pulled her up. "If the heat is starting to affect you, I'll help by carrying you up to the top."
Sakura glanced down, and Hinata was near fainting by the offer. 'Naruto better not do anything perverted…but this would be good for Hinata…'
"Ano…sure…i-if you want…" Hinata replied as Naruto lowered himself and the Hyuuga Heiress climbed onto his back, and she linked her arms under his. 'H-He's so warm…and his chest is broader than it was three years ago…'
"You all set, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked, glancing back at her. She was still red, but the blush was fading, and she nodded shyly. 'She's light…' she began leaning on his back, and unintentionally he began to blush. "All set…let's go!"
He began running up the spire wall as Aang flew up with them, carrying the Katara and Sokka on his legs. Wan Shi Tong took up after them as Momo soared up through the interior of the spire, and Aang picked up speed, which was kind of hard carrying two people. The massive owl creature gained on them, and Yamato dropped some flash packs, which exploded in a blinding light that momentarily damaged the owl's vision. Wan Shi Tong crashed into the wall as they all flew out of the top window of the library spire.
Everyone landed, well Katara and Sokka crashed into the sand while everyone else landed on their feet. Feeling the vibrations of their landings, Toph stopped struggling to keep the massive library above the sands, and she let go. As she let go, and the sheer weight and speed of the spire/library falling, the blind Earthbending Master fell and landed on her back a few meters away from where the library spire was. A dust cloud enveloped her, and finally the ancient library vanished into the sands.
"We got it! There's a solar eclipse coming, the Fire Nation's in trouble now!" Sokka told his sister, and they hugged at the news.
"Excellent, Sokka," Kakashi said as he walked towards the young Water Tribe warrior. "You'd make an excellent team leader if we were in Konoha."
"You really mean that Kakashi?" Sokka asked as Aang started to look around.
"Yes, your mind is like Shikamaru, a Chuunin of our village and is now one of the proctors of the Chuunin Exams, though you have much more drive than he does," Kakashi replied as Aang started walking towards Toph, who had curled her legs up and was staring down at the sand.
"Where's Appa?" Aang asked her as he held his staff in his right hand.
She shook her head sadly, and closed her eyes. The realization of what she meant hit Aang hard and tears began welling up in his eyes and he broke down. Everyone came rushing over to him.
A little while later, they were spread out and looking for any tracks, any trail that would lead them to Appa. Pakkun sniffed the air, and shook his head.
"How could you let them take Appa, why didn't you stop them!?!" Aang asked Toph angrily, who was standing behind him, looking away.
"I couldn't, the library was sinking and you guys were still inside and-!" Toph told him, throwing her arms into the air as she looked down at the ground.
"You could have gone down and got us!" Aang told her as he stomped toward her. "I could have saved him!"
"Aang, calm down," Kakashi started as the airbender's anger continued to grow.
"I can hardly feel any vibrations out here, the Sandbenders snuck up on me and there wasn't time for-!" Toph said as she tried to explain.
"You just didn't care! You never liked Appa you wanted him gone!" Aang roared as he glared at the Earthbending Master. Naruto and Katara walked forward.
"Aang, stop it. You know Toph did all she could, she saved our lives," Katara told him as the Airbender glared at her.
"Who's going to save our lives now? We'll never make it out of here," Sokka said as he looked over the desert and looked back at Aang.
"I wouldn't go that far, Sokka. Remember, we did pack the essentials on our person, food, water, and you have some updated maps," Yamato told him as Aang glared at all of them.
"That's all you guys care about-yourselves, you don't care whether Appa is okay or not," Aang stated as he began to walk away. Naruto clenched his fist and walked over to him.
"We're all concerned, but we can't afford to be fighting now," Katara told him as Aang started to look up at Naruto.
Suddenly, the jinchuuriki's fist crashed into his face, and everyone looked at Naruto in shock. Aang crashed into the sand, and the blond haired genin glared at him. Aang glared in return, and wiped the blood off his face.
"Aang, cut it out! We do care for Appa, Toph did all she could!" Naruto told him angrily, and the Airbender scrambled onto his feet. "Stop being a baby, the only one thinking about themselves is you."
"What are you talking about! I want to get Appa back!" Aang retorted and Naruto grabbed him by the collar.
"Naruto, put Aang down!" Sakura told him and the jinchuuriki shook his head.
"If you were really thinking about us, the people Toph saved, you'd be more concerned getting us out of this desert alive!" Naruto told the Airbender, who looked at him in shock. "Listen, we'll get Appa back, but going off like this and blaming the person who saved your sorry ass isn't the way to go!"
"S-Shut up!" Aang retorted, making Naruto chuckle. He shrugged the jinchuuriki's hand off his shirt, and then knelt down, clutching his staff. "I'm going after Appa…"
With that, he leapt into the air and used his staff to glide off. Katara ran towards where he was, but she was too slow.
"Aang, wait!" Katara yelled, but he was too far away to hear her. "…we better start walking; we're the only people who know about the solar eclipse, we have to get that information to Ba Sing Se."
She then stomped over to Naruto. "And why did you hit him?"
"Because he deserved it; he was blaming Toph-chan for something out of her control," Naruto replied simply, making Kakashi chuckle under his mask. "Though I can't blame him, I went off on the same tirade after I failed to bring Sasuke back."
"What do you mean?" Katara asked as Naruto shrugged.
"After we-Team Shikamaru-failed to bring Sasuke back, and after I was released from the hospital, I begged Obaa-chan to send me out again. Each mission ended in failure, so she forbade me to track Sasuke down until after I got back with Ero-sennin," Naruto replied with a chuckle. "Well, might as well get going. I hope there's a good ramen noodle shop in this Ba Sing Se you guys keep mentioning."
They all began walking and Sokka began to mumble. "Do you think if we dig out the giant owl, he'll give us a ride?"
A few hours later, Katara, Sokka, and Toph were starting to show fatigue in the searing heat in the desert. Their cheeks had reddened as they tried to siphon heat out of their bodies, and they looked over to see Hinata more or less in the same boat, due to her pale skin. Naruto panted and wiped the sweat off his forehead, and took a drink of water from the flask that Yamato had given him. Sokka panted and momentarily stopped to pull Momo up onto his head and to spread his wings.
"Kakashi…Yamato…why aren't you bothered by this heat?" Sokka asked as he wiped the sweat off his forehead.
"I've spent some time in the desert, so I know how to use my chakra to keep me cool enough to function," Kakashi replied and Yamato nodded.
"ANBU training has mostly the same type of condition training that Kakashi-san had to go through," Yamato explained as he looked back at Naruto and Sakura.
"Like that helps us!" Naruto and Sakura yelled simultaneously, and Katara couldn't help but giggle at that.
She then looked up into the air. 'Aang, where are you?'
Hinata wiped the sweat off her forehead and panted. The heat was affecting her badly, she wasn't use to any desert conditions, since no missions her team had received had gone to Suna. She drank some water, and glanced at Naruto, who, while uncomfortable, was in a better state than she was, and Sakura was too. Hinata then looked at Toph and Sokka, who were more or less in the same boat as she was.
Naruto looked back at her, and saw she was in a different shade of red than he usually saw her. "Hinata-chan, are you alright?"
"H-Hai…Naruto-kun…" Hinata replied between pants, and she drank some more water, emptying the flask that Yamato had given her for drinking water.
Kakashi noticed it too. "We need to get out of the sun…"
Toph then bumped into Sokka. "Can't you watch where you're-!"
"No," Toph replied simply, with a hint of depression in her voice. Kakashi understood what that meant; she was blaming herself for the loss of Appa.
"Right, sorry," Sokka said sheepishly as he slapped the back of his neck.
"Come on guys, we got to stick together," Katara told them, and Sokka put his hands Toph's shoulder and arms and tried to push her off of him, but they were stuck together.
"If I sweat anymore I don't think sticking together will be a problem," Sokka said as he tried to push himself off, but with one swift push to his head, the blind Earthbending Master pushed his sticky clothes off her.
"It's way too damn hot out here…" Toph said as she went to her belt to get her flask, but there was no more water in it. "Katara, can I have some water?"
Yamato tossed her an extra flask. "We're starting to run out…and we need a break."
"I'm still good to go!" Naruto cheered with false bravado, but he wiped his forehead. "Damn, it is really hot out here!"
Sakura then noticed Hinata panting more than usual. "Hinata-san, are you sure you are okay?"
"Y-Yes…" Hinata replied weakly, and she stumbled forward. "I-I just got to get use…to the heat…"
On instinct, Naruto leaped back and caught her as she collapsed. He put his hand on her forehead, and gasped. "S-She's burning up! What's wrong?"
"Damn," Kakashi cursed as they all ran over to the fallen Hyuuga.
"What's wrong?" Naruto asked as everyone rushed over to her.
"Heatstroke, Naruto," Sakura replied as she ripped her sleeve, and poured some water on the ripped cloth, then she put it on Hinata's forehead. "She's not used to this heat…"
"She was fine on Beaver-san's back though," Naruto said as he knelt by her, and he touched her cheek again. It was burning up.
"Appa was higher in the air than we are now, and the air was moving at a speed which kept her body cool. Walking in this heat, with skin as pale as hers…it was a shock to her system," Sakura replied, looking up into the sky. "We need to get out of this sun…"
"On it," Yamato said as he performed the seals, and put his hands to the sand. "Mokuton: Shichuka no Jutsu (Wood Release: Four Pillars House Technique)."
Katara and Sokka gaped as a wooden house rose out of the sand, and Toph stepped forward. "What's so great?"
"Y-Y-Yamato just made a house! A real house!" Sokka stuttered as he looked at the ANBU's handiwork.
"…you're kidding me…" Toph said as she was led to the wooden house. "At least it's solid, though I can still barely see…"
Naruto gently brought Hinata inside the house and laid her down on one of the cots in the living room. Sakura returned from the kitchen with a bowl in her hand, and she poured some water into it and used a rag to dab some water from the bowl, and she handed it to the blonde jinchuuriki.
"Watch her; I'm going to try to see what else I can do. Apply cool water to her head every fifteen minutes," Sakura ordered as she took out a scroll on medical ninjutsu, and walked off.
"B-B-But, why me?" Naruto stuttered, and Sakura sighed.
"Because, idiot, she's close to you, and I think when she wakes up, she'd like to see your face," Sakura replied as she walked into the other room again.
Sokka looked around, and he opened one of the canvas doors. "I'll try to see if there's something out there that can help Hinata, okay Naruto?"
"Y-Yeah," Naruto said as Sokka exited the room, and he spotted a cactus.
"Hm…Sakura said that there may be some plants that might help Hinata out here," Sokka said as he slashed the cactus open, and Momo chattered on his shoulder.
"I wouldn't drink that if I were you," Kakashi told Sokka, who had sipped the juice out of the cactus 'bowl' that he made. "Strange plants shouldn't be touched until we know their effects on the human body, that's survival training 101 for any warrior."
"…but, this juice is actually refreshing, it might help Hinata," Sokka argued as he drunk some more, and Momo drank some too. Suddenly, the Water Tribe Warrior's pupils dilated, and the flying lemur's too, and he began to sway back and forth. "Drink cactus juice, it'll quench you, nothing's quenchier!"
Behind his mask, Kakashi frowned and dabbed his finger into the cactus juice, and put the finger to his mask to taste the juice safely. "Hmm…it seemed this water has fermented in the heat…basically becoming sake or wine…"
Momo spun around wildly in the air before crashing into the sand. The silver-haired jounin pulled the young Water Tribe warrior and lemur back into the temporary house.
To be continued…
Author's notes: I figured Hinata'd be the least adaptable (at first) to the desert weather. Appa provided cool air, so she had both extremes while flying with him. But due to her pale skin, she's light a magnet for the UV radiation and searing heat of the desert sun. Her body will adjust, but it'll take a while.
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