"All that trouble for such a little box of Gold Dust." Shikamaru sighed tiredly.
"Lighten up Shikamaru; we're at least getting the Hot Springs reopened." Ino said irritably. Back at the Third Training Ground, the shinobi began the tedious process of mashing, mixing, and ultimately perfecting, Sai's pest-killing serum.
Sakura, being the most experienced medic on the team, preformed most of the procedure. She grabbed a large, clear tub to house the solution.
"First thing's first, Sanguinaria Canadensis, otherwise known as Bloodroot." Sakura requested.
"Which one is that?" Kiba couldn't differentiate between the large selection of herbs, flowers, and seemingly ordinary branches laid out in the basket in front of him.
Sakura gave a small sigh and directed her voice towards Ino. "The ones we were able to find already produced flowers. It's double-flowered. White, delicate petals and yellow reproductive centers. The petals slightly bend towards the center."
Ino pulled on a pair of gloves and carefully grasped the flower, inspecting it for any signs of damage. "Its leaves are a bit unhealthy, but it's still producing sap through its orange rhizome. In other words, we can still extract what we need."
"It's so pretty!" Tenten noted, peering at the dainty plant.
Shino however, recoiled as Ino walked past with the flower. "That plant and its extracts are dangerous. They are considered escharotics, they cause eschars."
"Escharotic?" Choji and Naruto asked together.
Kakashi put down his usual book and cited one titled, The World's Most Dangerous Herbs. "Sanguinaria, Eomecon, and Lachnanthes are examples of bloodroots. The most widely known bloodroot is Sanguinaria, prized for its ornamental capabilities." He skipped down a few paragraphs. "Applying Sanguinaria to the skin destroys animal cells, and frequently forms a sturdy scab of dead tissue over the infected area. This scab, which later falls off naturally or is surgically removed, is called an eschar."
He smiled and looked up from the book. "Ingesting bloodroot may cause paralysis, vomiting, and many other problems."
"Oh…" Hinata said, quietly and disturbed.
"I've finished extracting the sap." Sakura alerted the group, after more flowers were brought over. "Next, I'll need some of your ink, Sai."
The clear tub was now filled 1/5th of the way with the sap of 100 Sanguinaria plants.
Reaching into his bag, Sai pulled out a small scroll with the kanji for "black ink" written on it. Ironically, this was done with black ink. With a hand placed over the symbol, Sai summoned a basketball-sized jar full of ink, pouring it into the tub.
Yamato set the box full of Gold Dust in front of Sakura's work station. "This should be the last thing you need, besides water to make the solution more fluid-like." He said.
"Neji-san, join me in retrieving four buckets of water!" Lee said, pulling the Hyuga away.
With a sound of surprise, Neji called, "H-Hey, Lee!"
Within five minutes, Lee and Neji reappeared. Lee was using one arm to support both the heavy buckets of water. Neji carried them like any ordinary person would. Though, he noted endearingly, Lee has never been normal.
The last ingredient sloshed into the tub, gliding down the sides and raising the overall volume of the things contained in it.
"Need any he—" Naruto started to ask Sakura, before she hoisted the now filled to the brim tub up on her own.
The mixture they had made wasn't very virtually appealing. It looked like black slime, laced with small pieces of gold that were helplessly trapped inside. It didn't help that the solution was as liquefied as water, and flowed back and forth with each step, daring to splash out each time. Carrying the tub the entire way, Sakura finally set it down in front of a disgusted Hot Spring's manager.
"We'll be purifying your establishment now." Sai smiled before politely pushing his way inside.
"So just pour it in?" Kiba asked hesitantly.
Sai replied. "Yes, then step back as we watch for any signs of fleas advancing to worms. We'll then have to—"
"Drain the Bath! Do you know how much it costs just to fill it? I'll be ruined!" The person currently running the Hot Springs exclaimed, back on the girl's side of the spring.
Neji added, back to the original conversation, "Remember to save half of the mixture to empty into the other side of the enclosure."
"Right…" Kiba said slowly, concentrating on emptying half, and only half of the tub's contents into the water.
After, the clear, steamy water that was once in the spring turned murky and threatening. The black slime slowly worked its way to covering the entirety of the water. For a few moments, there was nothing. Not even the spring rippled.
Silently, the male shinobi started to doubt Sai's plan. They did at least, until the water (if you could even call it that) started creating steam again. An uncountable amount of white, wriggling menaces bobbed to the water surface, and started moving slower and slower. One by one, they stopped resisting and stopped moving entirely. As a last act of life, they straightened all the way out into their full, three foot lengths.
"Drain the tub." Kakashi called to the other side of the spring, where the girls waited next to the drainage systems.
Then, that familiar sound of water escaping back into the sewage system commenced, leaving nothing but a mass of long, white, worms.
"Ew." Was the only thing said and/or thought, when the girls entered the boy's side of the Hot Spring.
After repeating the process on the last section of the spring, the Leaf shinobi finally breathed a sigh of relief. The first they'd been able to in a while.
It was short lived, however. An ABNU hidden behind a mask of some unidentifiable animal, burst into the spring's lobby. Kakashi, Yamato, we're under attack. Two foreign-nin have infiltrated the village.
"Akujo, control yourself. We've barely begun confrontation." Akunin said calmly to his partner.
Akujo tied her hair back and scoffed. "You're one to talk, you look like human bubble wrap." She said, noting Akunin's blistering skin and rising temperature.
The few remaining Leaf Jonin and ABNU surrounded the duo, kunai raised in a defensive stance. Yamato was first to make a move.
"Wood Release: Wood Locking Wall." He signed seals rapidly, surrounding the male and female in two separate domes.
The dome covering the male shattered into tiny splinters of wood. What looked like a large boil was reforming on his arm, and seemed to be the cause of the explosion.
"So he's an Explosion style user." Shikamaru said, as he and his comrades joined the rest of the front lines.
"I don't care what he is!" Naruto exclaimed, rushing forward.
"Naruto, wait!" Sakura called.
"Rasengan!" Naruto yelled. He smashed the spiraling sphere of blue air into the smirking man. At least, he thought he had. His fist was stuck in the woman's shoulder, which had dissolved into a black, mushy, ash-like substance. Naruto tried to yank his hand free, but to no avail. Meanwhile, the woman laughed and separated from her arm, regenerating a new one.
The woman called harshly over to the man, "I blocked the stupid attack for you, now stop sitting around."
Every visible area of the man's skin started to boil. His face grew distorted as it blistered and popped. His entire figure appeared only semi-solid now.
Hinata and Neji's Byakugan were activated, and they stared intently at the man. Finally, Hinata spoke. "That looks … painful."
"His chakra itself seems to be rising to the surface of his skin." Neji added.
The man spoke. "With pleasure, Akujo."
The largest boil resided on the palm of his hand. Growing to the size of an orange, it looked swollen, and extremely painful.
"Explosion Release: Rippling Detonation." The man muttered, with his palm outreached towards the Leaf village's few remaining shinobi. The boil burst. A wave of a liquid substance spewed out onto the head of an ABNU member, who didn't make it away in time.
The ABNU member was down on his knees, shielding his face from view. His mask fell off. Steam rose from his body, as he called out in agony. This all seemed utterly hilarious to the man, who had up until now seemed completely sane and collected. Pulling the ABNU member away from the scene, Ino looked up astonished. The member dissolved into ash in her very arms. Without a doubt, he was dead.
"Akunin!" The woman whined. "You've killed one, now we'll have an even smaller army."
The man seemed to have regained his composure. "To achieve any kind of wide-scale reformation, sacrifices must be made." He said coolly.
"Reformation?" The shinobi asked quietly.
Shikamaru's eyes widened. "So that's what he's after… everyone, don't get too close to them!"
"You're too late, boy." The woman pulled out a scroll and a vial of blood that didn't appear to be her own.
This scroll seemed very familiar to the Konoha 11. The scroll hummed with life after the woman dotted it with the vial's contents.
The Hokage noticed before anyone else. "Domes and walls, now!" she called.
Earth style users quickly created a 20 foot thick wall between the Leaf and its attackers. Yamato covered the wall and the entire squadron with a large wooden dome.
"Don't inhale them!" Tenten called, motioning to the rest of the shinobi to run as far as the dome allowed and away from the insects.
An explosion rocked the ground. "Come out and play, Leaf shinobi." The woman's voice exclaimed from the other side of the wall.
"Explosion Release: Landmine Fist." The man's voice could be heard just outside the dome, as well as the hum of insects. His punch caused the dome to splinter, not yet breaking, the explosion even forcing those nearest the back of the dome to fly backward. He punched the dome again. This time the entire thing came down.
Kakashi watched as the fleas swarmed closer and closer to the dizzied shinobi. "I don't think I'll make it in time." Kakashi thought.
"Kamui." He said aloud. He teleported the mass of bugs away, in a swirling black dot that slowly absorbed the pests.
"Well…" The woman started irritably. "That was a bust. How would you like it if I did that to you?"
For a moment, she was covered in that black mushy substance again. Then, she became an exact copy of Kakashi.
Lady Tsunade was floored. "Is that a henge?"
The woman laughed. "Oh no, it's more than that. Let's see if I've got this right…Kamui." She said.
The woman misfired, missing Kakashi and teleporting a tree away instead.
"Oh my, that was fun!" She exclaimed.
"Time flies, Akujo. We need to get back. We were unable to infect the remainder of Konoha." The man calmed down again. He returned to a solid figure and created a cloud of smoke. When it cleared, he and the woman were gone.
? (Henko) P.O.V.
"We've failed, Henko." Akunin said quietly.
I don't understand. They've almost no capable shinobi left. These two are overqualified. I modified an entirely new species of flea, yet they fail?
"Fine." I said quietly. The two missing-nin recoiled, expecting a much harsher reply.
"Henko, are you upset?" Akujo asked timidly. They're right to be afraid of me, everyone should be. I could rule an entire nation and usher it into a new era of greatness. One might even say: the leaf needs me to transform it into a place devoid of arrogance.
Akujo and Akunin walked further into the cave, complaining all the way. "Those overconfident Leaf brats…" Akujo said with a huff.