Kaaru: Yo! Kaaru here.
Mitsuki: You seem to be unenergetic today?
Kaaru: I'm not getting enough sleep...sigh...there a lot of things on my mind. Ughh.
Mitsuki: Ever try meditating?
Kaaru: We'll talk about my recently poor sleeping habits later, right now we have a story to tell!
Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me.
:: Into the Waters ::
Beautiful red roses in full bloom, covered with sparkling dew was the sight Hinata saw when she woke up in the early morning. Hinata was confused as to why she was outside, but after a few seconds or so, she remembered why she was there...and what had caused her to go there. She promised herself that she would never ever watch any horror film ever again.
The cold morning air made her shiver and wrap her pale arms around her petite body; maybe sleeping outside with only a flimsy night gown on was not the wisest idea. She rubbed her arms to give herself a meager amount of warmth before she activated her Byakugan. 'They're still asleep...' Hinata thought. She didn't blame them though, they hadn't slept until it was late into the night. The dark-haired girl decided to stay and tend to her garden for awhile first, then she would go inside and cook breakfast.
She kneeled down beside the rose patch and pulled out the weeds that had started to grow there. She didn't mind the dirt on her hands, she was a kunoichi after all; they aren't supposed to falter when they needed to get dirty. After she made sure the roses were weed-free, she went over to the other side of the backyard, where her medicinal herbs were planted. She plucked out the troublesome weeds like she had done to the rose patch earlier. When the weeds were disposed of, she took a basket lying beside the square plot of dirt and began to pick some leaves and fruits from specific plants. Her supply of healing ointments were running low, and she needed to whip up another batch before they'd run out.
After half an hour, she entered the house and found Ino, Kei and Tenten awake.
"Good morning Hinata-chan!" Ino greeted cheerfully, "Come on! Let's get cooking, it'll be much more fun doing it together!"
"Okay Ino-chan." Hinata said while she had a gentle smile on her face, then she headed to the kitchen, the other girls closely behind her.
"Good luck." Keitaro said to them and pulled his brother Kaaru into a brotherly embrace. They stayed like that for awhile before pulling away. "After this mission of yours, write to me 'kay?"
Kaaru gave his brother a smile, "Sure thing."
Miyako let go of Keitaro's arm and stepped in front of Kaaru, "Take care Kaaru-san." she embraced Kaaru and then bade Naruto, Shino and Sakura farewell as well as wishes of good luck.
"Alright, let's go team Kaaru!" Kaaru ordered.
Naruto pouted childishly, "Ehh...who came up with that team name?" he crossed his arms over his chest, "I say we should call ourselves Team Naruto!"
WHACK!
"Ouch! Sakura-chan, what you do that for?" Naruto whined.
His pink-haired friend huffed, "We are not naming ourselves team Naruto."
"Team Beef Miso Ramen then?"
"Not in your life."
"Team Supercalifra..."
Sakura cut him off with a glare, "No."
Their silent teammate decided that it was the time to speak up, "Ahem. If I may voice out my opinion? I find that our team name is not really of any importance at the moment. But in any case, I would have to pick Team Kaaru as the team name. Why?" Shino paused and pushed up his sunglasses, "Because I do not find being named after a fish cake (Naruto) or a type of ramen, amusing."
A pregnant pause filled the cold morning air after Shino's statement, before Naruto broke the moment of awkwardness. "If you wanted to name us Team Shino, you should've said it earlier! Pssh!"
Needless to say, he sported another bump on the head after he saying that, this time it was from none other than Shino.
"Yo. Save that energy for later." Kaaru said. "Well, as I was saying earlier. Let's do this Team Kaaru!"
This time no one complained against the team name, all four ninjas simply ran off into the cold morning before the sun rose. Each of them determined to complete the mission, but anxious to what might happen. Because each one of them knew that in the life of a shinobi, every mission you take has a great risk of dying. That was instilled into their minds on the day the decided to become ninjas. But even then, they were still human; they could still feel fear.
Shino had informed them that his tracker-type kikai bug was conveniently near the beach that was two miles away from the castle. The beach was called 'The Rock Pool' because of the big rocks that were in the water. They didn't know why the captain would be in such a place until they reached the beach. There were several caves along the rocky cliffs, Shino said that his kikai bug was in the one that was third nearest to the coast, but it was also very well-hidden by the rocks that protruded up from the water. The captain must have been washed up into it.
They silently entered the damp cave, they had to feel the wet walls because the farther they got, the darker it became. They just walked through the darkness, the only sound they heard was the constant dripping of water and their dull footsteps. Minutes passed and the tunnel split into two, one to the left and the other to the right. "Shino, where do we go?" Kaaru asked. He couldn't see the stoic boy, he couldn't even see his own hand! They couldn't use flashlights because they would be easily spotted.
For a moment, Kaaru thought that he and Shino had been separated. He could hear Naruto and Sakura's somewhat quick breathing, but he couldn't hear any sounds from Shino. He was about to sense for the quiet boy's chakra but Shino had spoken in the darkness, "My kikai bug and the captain seems to have moved...but it is strange."
Kaaru raised an eyebrow that could not be seen in the dark, "Why is that?"
"They were just a few distance left of here...actually, they are still there...but they are underneath." Shino explained vaguely.
"Underneath? I don't understand." Naruto said.
Shino cleared his throat, "Simply but, it is as if they fell through a hole."
There was another silent moment, "So you're saying, they might have gone into the hole and is now sinking?" Kaaru said.
"Judging from the way my kikai bug is getting farther, it is true that they are indeed sinking. But...normally a person moving through water is slow, the captain however seems to be sinking at a fast pace. The fact that my kikai can also breathe normally is also peculiar." Shino said.
"So you're saying they can somehow breathe underwater?" Sakura exclaimed.
"No...I don't think that's it. I think it's more of they're going down a tunnel or some kind of pipe..." Kaaru paused, "...or it could also be that weird whirlpool."
"Well, we won't find out anything by just standing here! Let's go!" Naruto shouted.
The team wordlessly agreed with Naruto; they needed to get moving quick. "Alright team, I'm gonna chain each of us together with a chakra-reinforced rope so we won't be separated." the jounin swiftly linked them together, not too tight so they could still move properly. After he checked the last knot, Team Kaaru ran into the murky darkness once again.
They heard the sun of water churning up ahead, and they knew that it was that strange whirlpool again. "I don't hear anyone." Naruto said, he then reached into his pouch and took out a low-powered flash bomb. It coul illuminate the place for a while without blinding them. "Ha!" Naruto shouted and threw the bomb, it glowed brightly and then exploded, but they only needed a second to see where they were. It was a large dome-shaped dead-end, and there in the middle was a big cave spring. The surface of the spring was disrupted by the spinning of water. Their assumptions had been right; it really was a whirlpool.
"We're going in." Kaaru ordered. "Stay close, and be careful when we reach whatever's down there.".
"Okay." Naruto, Sakura and Shino chorused.
Kaaru decided to ease their worry a bit, "Don't worry. I specialize with water-based jutsu. If something goes wrong, I'll get us out."
With that, Team Kaaru dove into the spring.
Needless to say, Naruto found out that getting seasickness on a boat was much more better than getting seasick inside a swirling vortex in the water. He felt the feeling of vertigo as he and the others were forcibly sucked downwards to who knows where. The blond-haired shinobi had been holding his breath until he realized that they could breathe in the whirlpool. He let out the breath he had been holding and greedily inhaled air. He tried to keep his breathing steady as water spun around him, making him dizzy. The urge to regurgitate the breakfast he ate at the castle -which was absolutely delicious- was growing the more he stared at the spinning vortex. He swallowed hard and closed his eyes. He decided he woud only open when they reached their unknown destination.
Yeah, VERY short chapter. I know .. Don't kill me! The next chapter will be longer. Anyway, I'll try and update faster, so please take time to review! It let's me know that people actually like this fic. Kaaru out!