The Hidden Heart of the Nausicaa Forest
I do not own Naruto. This is a complete work of fiction. Enjoy.
Chapter 4 – Encounter
"Okay, this is it!" Naruto held up his hand in a tight fist and had a grin on his face.
"There is no turning back." Neji had his arm crossed.
"No regrets and no hesitation." Rock Lee was knelt down on the ground waiting for the signal to go. I will protect you Sakura! No matter what! Even if it cost me my life!
"Hn, no matter what happens, we'll complete the mission." Sasuke had his hands in his pockets.
"Yeah!" Hinata and Sakura had doubts in their mind but still nodded in agreement.
"We'll be ready to take on anything that gets in our way." Ino lifted up her head and stared at the deep forest, a determined look on her face.
"Okay, Guys! Let's go!" Naruto ran ahead, the others following.
They jump from tree to tree, heading deeper into the forest.
"Hey, Sakura! Do you know where we should go!" Rock Lee shouted over his left shoulder.
"Just Do what Ino said! We keep going straight!" Lee nodded showing he understood.
Ino peered ahead, seeing Sasuke, Naruto and Neji. It appeared as if they were competing to see who was the fastest. Ino sighed.
"Hinata! Neji!" Neji peeked over his shoulder and Hinata brought her attention to Ino.
"What is it Ino?" Neji said stared through her.
"I want both of you to use your Byakugan to see what's up ahead!" Ino shouted.
"Okay!" Hinata yelled back. Sasuke and Naruto watched from over their shoulders.
"Should we stop!" Naruto squinted at Sasuke. "No." Sasuke advanced onward.
Neji and Hinata stopped on a tree and activated the Byakugan. They scanned the forest, deactivated the Byakugan and quickly ran to join the others.
"Don't go any further!" Neji shouted immediately when he caught up.
"What? Why?" Sakura shouted back surprised.
"Just do it!" All 6 ninja stopped on a tree. The tree had a huge branch strong enough to support them. Hinata soon came to join them.
"What is it? What did you guys see?" Naruto asked, perplexed. Hinata hesitated to answer him while Neji stared down.
"Neji what did you see? Answer!" Rock lee shouted with trepidation.If it makes Neji react like this, then it must have been something really bad.
Neji lifted his head " I'm not sure what it was" Neji said squinting with frustration. Not satisfied by the answer he got, Naruto grabbed Neji's collar.
Naruto shouted with frustration, "What do you mean you're not sure!"
"Naruto, please stop it. What Neji and I saw...we've never seen anything like it before." Naruto held unto Neji as he listened to Hinata, face darkened. "Naruto, let Neji go."
Sakura hit Naruto hard on the head.
"Ow!" Sakura turned to face the two Hyuugas.
"What do you mean by 'anything like it before'?"
" It looked like a huge worm. About 30 meters wide and 100 meters long. It had a strange looking mouth that looked as if it could suck you up if you got too close".
"100 meters long?" Naruto gulped.
He was scared to ask. "How big is 40 meters?" Sakura looked at Naruto. And by the way she looked, he knew it was immense.
"We shouldn't let this thing stop us" Ino said in a low tone of voice.
"What should we do?" Rock Lee wore an expression of worry and fear.
"What ninjas do. Fight through it" Sasuke held a shuriken in his hand.
"And I've got a plan". Everyone gather around Sasuke to hear what they hope would be an easy way through the giant beast.
"Okay, We are positioned and ready to go" Naruto and Rock Lee knelt down beside a tree, near a clearing, and was still dark since no sunlight could even go in the forest.
"Well, We've got to be quick. We attack the demon and distract it. As soon as we give the signal; Hinata, Sakura and Ino would run to the other side. And when they are far from harms way, we follow too."
Sasuke and Neji were also knelt down beside a tree not too far from Naruto and Lee. The girls were close behind waiting for the attack.
"Okay, Neji" Neji nodded and activated his Byakugan.
"It's still there we should move quick" Sasuke nodded towards Naruto, Lee and then Ino, Sakura, Hinata. They understood the gesture and faced straight to were the beast laid.
"Okay, get ready" Naruto and Rock Lee jumped out of their hiding spot along with Neji and Sasuke. However what they saw wasn't the giant demon.
"Wha-What the?" Naruto stared down at the giant clearing. There was nothing, not even a sign that anything had been there.
"Where did it go? Neji, I thought you said the beast was here!" Sasuke wore a shocked expression.
Neji was shocked and confused. " It was here! Just a second ago! I don't know where it could have gone! I mean the thing is-" Neji was interrupted by the girls who ran up to join them.
"What happened! Where the beast go?" Hinata was confused. She too had seen the giant beast a second ago and now it had vanished into thin air.
"Don't worry about it just go back to hid...ding-" All of them felt it. The ground started rumbling, getting closer to them. Sasuke had figured it out.
"It's underground you guys! get out of here quick!" but it was too late.
The worm burst out of the ground. The giant beast started to suck everything up through its mouth. All ninja reacted quickly by jumping away from the demon so they wouldn't get sucked in. When they tried to land on the ground it crumbled underneath them. Breaking into pieces. "The ground won't hold us. It keeps breaking off!"
Rock lee tried to jump off the breaking earth but the beast sucking didn't let him. He slowly started to get sucked in but held tightly to the ground.
"Lee!" Sakura jump to save Lee. Ino holding on a rock for dear life, started to slip only to be saved by Neji. She glared at him. Naruto and Hinata was nearby, helping each other get away from the beast. By this time the hole the demon made had gotten to big to quick.
"Uggh, it's sucking up our chakra," cried Hinata.
"At this rate we'll be out of chakra and would be swallowed." With some quick hand signs, Sasuke blew a big fire at it.
The demon let out a high pitch squeal and slowly started to fall into the dark hole taking Sasuke with it. Ino fell in knowing there was no other way, and Neji right behind her.
Naruto held onto Hinata's hand. " Naruto!" Hinata was now falling into the hole.
"Don't worry Hinata..." Naruto had a serious caring look on his face while he fell too. "...I'll never let go" They disappeared into the darkness.
Sakura held onto a vine that soon broke." Sakura!" Lee dived into to the dark hole, following Sakura. And then everything went black.
