The next day, the four shinobi were getting ready to commence with their duties. Sai was dressed like a villager, as usual. The other three were in their usual shinobi garb since they were no longer trying to blend in or not be seen.
"I'm leaving," Sai said as he was about to walk out the door. In general, they did not leave together. Sai was not heading to the exact same spot as the other three anyway and they couldn't risk being seen together around that house at all.
"Where to today?" Sakura asked.
"There is a large downed tree on the west side of the house in that small wooded area. I think I'll sit there for the day," said Sai.
"Sounds good. Be safe out there. We'll be about 15 minutes behind you," Sakura said.
"Can you hear me?" Sai asked once he was outside, making sure one-way radio communication was still working.
Sakura knocked on the window twice letting Sai know she heard him loud and clear. He turned and started to walk in the usual direction towards Kanoshi's place. Sakura kept watching him until she could no longer see him.
"What's wrong?" Kankuro asked, still sitting at the kitchen table eating his breakfast.
"I don't know…he hasn't been himself these past couple of days," Sakura explained. "I'm a little concerned."
"Oh, he'll be fine. You're just imagining things," said Kankuro.
"I hope you're right," Sakura answered.
Just as Sakura had stated, the three remaining shinobi left the house approximately 15 minutes after Sai had.
"He should be there by now, shouldn't he?" Jento asked as they started to walk towards their intended location about a quarter mile away from where Sai said he would be.
"Not quite yet," said Sakura. "Normally when he arrives, he signals me over the radio. I haven't heard a peep from him since he left the house so he must not be in place quite yet."
The small group kept walking. Sakura had totally believed what she had said to Jento. Sai most likely wasn't in place at that particular time. But as the minutes ticked away, she started to get worried that she still wasn't hearing anything….no talking, no bird call…nothing at all.
"This looks like a good place," Kankuro suggested. Although it was about a quarter mile away from where Sai said he would be, it was wooded and they could hide up in the trees undetected by anyone casually passing through.
"Uh, Kankuro?" Sakura questioned. "I still haven't heard from Sai."
"You haven't?" Kankuro asked. He had just assumed everything was fine and that Sakura just hadn't mentioned anything.
"Yeah, nothing at all," Sakura repeated.
"What does that mean?" Jento asked.
"It means either he forgot, broke his microphone or….damn, I hope nothing happened to him," Kankuro said.
"I should go look for him," Sakura said. She immediately moved like she was about to jump to another tree and head towards Sai. Kankuro held her back.
"Not yet," said Kankuro.
"But what if something happened to him?" Sakura questioned.
"What if it's just an equipment issue?" Kankuro asked. "We can't risk this entire mission on the miniscule chance that something happened to him. For one, he is an excellent shinobi and won't be taken down that easily. Two, the more likely option is that he turned if off for some reason and just didn't turn it back on. Perhaps it's even broken and he doesn't even know about it."
"Maybe the batteries died," added Jento.
"He tested it before he left…so how long are you going to make me wait?" Sakura asked.
Kankuro was so busy convincing Sakura that this was probably no big deal that he didn't even think of the next part. At some point, they would need to check. Of course, they could wait out there all day with no contact at all, but what was the point of that? The only reason they were there was to lend Sai support should something happen to him. Now if something happened, they wouldn't even know it. Sitting out there all day didn't make any sense.
"I don't know how much longer I can wait. I'm really worried. You've come up with all these alternate reasons why we aren't hearing anything from him, but I know Sai better than anyone. He would never make those kinds of mistakes," said Sakura.
Her eyes pleaded with the team leader to do something.
"Oh all right," Kankuro finally lamented.
Sakura turned to, again, jump off the branch.
"But be careful," said Kankuro. "Stay hidden."
"I will," she replied, then jumped.
"Is it safe sending her alone?" Jento asked Kankuro.
"She can handle herself. I'd love to go with her, but the more people who go, the more likely we'd be seen. I can't leave you by yourself either. You need me more than she does," said Kankuro.
Jento kicked the nearby tree trunk. "Again, I'm the issue."
"Hey kid, you've got to start somewhere. It takes years and years to get where the three of us are today….and we've survived a shinobi war on top of that. Of course you aren't going to be as strong as us three," Kankuro tried to calm him down.
Minutes went by and the two remaining shinobi sat there in silence.
"I wish something would happen," Kankuro finally said aloud. He stood up and stretched.
"Me, too," Jento finally added.
"Wait…here she comes," Kankuro said as he looked in the direction Sakura had gone off in. In a flash, she was standing next to him completely out of breath.
"Well?" Kankuro asked.
"Nothing," said Sakura. "Absolutely nothing. He's not there. Something is definitely wrong."
"I don't think patiently waiting is the way to go anymore," Jento added.
"No, I agree, but we may risk the mission," said Kankuro.
"Screw the mission," Sakura said. "Comrades before missions….Naruto and Kakashi taught me that long ago."
"Fine," Kankuro said. "Let's go widen the search." He jumped to the ground. The other two followed.
Kankuro knelt down and started drawing in the dirt. "Here's our house and here's Kanoshi's house. Over here is where Sai was supposed to be. I want to search this area between here and here. Sakura you take the north and Jento and I will hit the south. We meet in two hours right back here again," Kankuro explained.
"Got it," Sakura said and disappeared in a flash.
"Let's go, Jento," Kankuro said.
OlOlOlOlOlOlO
The three shinobi walked into their house late that afternoon. Sakura showed some tear stains – tears more from frustration than sadness. Jento hung his head low. Kankuro slammed the door behind them.
"People don't just disappear like that!" yelled Kankuro.
"Regardless of why he disappeared, I think we have entered into the worst-case scenario. Obviously something happened to him and it was probably Kanoshi who did it," said Sakura.
"Did you say earlier that Sai was acting strangely?" Jento asked. "Perhaps – "
"Don't even suggest that!" Sakura interrupted. "Regardless of what is bothering him, Sai would never abandon a mission!"
"We need to make a plan. What are our next steps? Do we act now? Do we wait until tomorrow? We could rush the place and take him back by force," said Kankuro.
"No, that's not a good idea. Chances are Kanoshi would just deny knowing anything and we'd give ourselves away even more asking about him. He already said he didn't have any family and that he was here alone," said Sakura.
"Good point," said Kankuro.
"Traps," said Jento.
"What's that?" asked Kankuro.
"We need to search his house and we need to make sure he's not there. We obviously don't see him coming or going unless he wants us to. We need to set up some sort of a trap so that we can try to detect when he is gone or when he is there," said Jento.
"Good thinking," said Kankuro. "I guess that's why you are here after all."
Jento felt good finally being acknowledged a little bit.
"Isn't there a jutsu where you can set up your chakra strings as a detection method? Jento asked.
"Yeah, but I can't monitor a large area," said Kankuro.
"Can you make a connection around Kanoshi's house?" Jento asked.
"That is about my limit," said Kankuro. "And I'd probably be seen setting it up, too, since I'd be close to the house."
"Perhaps Sakura and I can be decoys while you set it up," Jento said.
"Are you sure he's even entering and exiting the house normally?" asked Kankuro.
"What different way could there be?" Jento asked.
"Oh, you'd be surprised what shinobi can come up with," said Sakura.
"So what do you suggest then?" Jento asked.
"Perhaps we should contact the Leaf," Sakura said. "This is becoming increasingly complicated. Sai could be dead, or a hostage, or…."
It was just then that Sakura noticed a shadow on the far wall.
"Or what?" asked Kankuro.
"Hold on," Sakura held up her hand to stop any further conversation.
"Did you see something?" Jento asked.
"Over there," said Kankuro.
"Oh, I see," said Sakura. She rose from the chair she was sitting in and walked into her bedroom. When she reemerged, she had a small scroll with her.
"What's that for?" Jento asked.
"You'll see," she said and unfurled the paper.
The shadow that she had seen was actually a little black mouse, one that Sai had drawn. It ran over to the scroll and jumped head first onto it. The ink suddenly became writing and Sakura knew she should read fast. There were two types of ink jutsus that Sai used…one that remains on the paper and one that disappears. Since she didn't know which one this was, she knew she should assume the message would disappear shortly.
Kanoshi got me. I'm inside house. Come get me AM after 9. Safe then. Watch for traps. Sai
"That's not much of a message," Jento said.
"How much time do you think he had? At least he still had his art supplies…or he did when he wrote this note," said Sakura.
"So now we know he was taken by Kanoshi," said Kankuro. "But I wonder why he gave us a specific time to come get him?"
"Perhaps he already knows Kanoshi will be gone then," said Sakura.
"Yeah, that's the only thing that makes sense," Kankuro said.
"9am….great, I guess I won't be getting any sleep tonight then," said Sakura.
Kankuro grabbed her and pulled her to him in a hug.
Jento's eyebrows raised and he turned to go into his bedroom. What's going on between those two? he thought to himself.
OlOlOlOlOlOlO
The next morning, they were barely able to keep Sakura from running out the door until 9am. Although Sai said "after 9", it was best not to cut it too close since they didn't know the origin of the time to begin with.
They all wondered what sort of day this would be for them. Would it be a good day where Sai was easily found and rescued? Or could even this be some elaborate trap? There was only one way to find out.
They hurried to Kanoshi's house. They approached carefully, one at a time. Kankuro took the lead and was constantly signaling with his hands that the coast was clear and that the next person could now approach. Before long, they all stood near the front door.
Kankuro opened the door and the only audible sound was the click it made. He slithered inside while both Jento and Sakura waited outside.
Jento was both scared and excited at the same time. As much talk as there was before about keeping him safe and letting him stay behind whenever anything could possibly happen, Kankuro had to admit that his knowledge of the subject could be useful if they were to run into him face-to-face. Kankuro did issue some rather severe warnings though. If something were to happen to Jento, he would not be the first genin to lose his life so shortly after academy graduation. Kankuro emphasized that he would do everything in his power to keep Jento safe.
Sakura saw Kankuro peer out from inside the partially open door. He waved to her and she nodded to Jento and walked inside. Jento followed closely behind.
Just then, they heard a noise. It sounded not very close, but also….like it came from somewhere beneath them. Kankuro pointed to the floor, then gingerly walked away. He was looking for a door that led to the basement.
In no time at all, he reappeared in the room where Sakura and Jento remained patiently waiting. He motioned for them to come to him. When they finally reached him, he started to whisper.
"I found the door to the basement. If this is a trap, the stairway would be the perfect place to ambush us. Go down one at a time. Wait for the previous person to clear until you start down yourself."
Sakura and Jento both nodded.
Then the sound was heard again…they paused for a split second….then continued with the plan.
Kankuro started down the stairs, which he found to be overly creaky, much to his dismay.
He made it down and did a quick survey of the area, then motioned the ok for Sakura and Jento.
Sakura came down next. Then Jento.
The sound was heard again. It sounded metallic in nature, but it was slightly different each time they heard it. Kankuro turned his head towards the sound's origin.
He motioned for Sakura and Jento to stay while he took a few steps towards the sound.
He stood right in front of a door when he heard it yet again. It was definitely coming from inside here. He grabbed the knob and slowly turned it, trying to minimize the click sound as much as possible.
The door opened only so much as to allow Kankuro to peek inside. It was pretty dark in there.
"Who's there?" a voice said.
"Sai?" Kankuro questioned. He definitely recognized that voice.
"Kankuro?" Sai questioned as well. "Thank goodness."