Nawaki's first reaction was fear. He drew a kunai out and kept it ready, watching Hisa warily.
"Are you here for a rematch?"
Hisa rolled her eyes and jumped off her branch, landing lightly beside him. Nawaki tensed and tried to jump away, but Hisa put her hand on his shoulder.
"Relax. I'm not here to fight you."
Seeing Nawaki's sceptical look, she sighed.
"Look Nawaki, I needed to have you under my control for my plan to work. But you fought and you beat me, so I'm not going to waste more time trying again. I promise, ok?
Nawaki nodded. He knew that Hisa wasn't a liar-if you didn't include lying to enemies on missions- so if she said she wasn't going to fight him, he believed her.
"So if you're not here to fight, then why did you help me? I thought you hated me for hiding my sharingan."
Hisa sighed again.
"Frankly, I've no idea how I feel for you right now. I'm angry that you lied and hid this from us, but I've had time to cool down. I'm not going to judge you until I've heard the full story. Right now Oki's life is in danger, and that's what matters to me. So you're my teammate for now."
"And friend?" he asked with a grin.
She glared at him.
"Don't push it. So, do you have a plan?"
Nawaki blinked.
"Wait, so you're letting me lead this rescue? After I beat you?"
Hisa rolled her eyes again, but she looked angrier this time.
"Yes Nawaki. Believe it or not I'm willing to follow your instructions if it means saving Oki's life. I'm not petty enough to hold your win against you at a time like this."
She huffed angrily and turned away. Nawaki quickly placed his hand on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry, that came out wrong. I know you're not like that."
He tilted his head upwards and felt his eyes grow sharper. He pointed to the spot on the ground where the chakra trail he had been following was slowly growing fainter.
"I know how to find Oki-it's a trick with the sharingan that I can use. Let's go?"
Hisa was at his side in seconds and for some reason this made Nawaki feel happy inside. Finally their teamwork seemed to be coming together fully.
He took off, following the trail. Hisa followed behind him, watching his back in case more missing-nin showed up. Luckily, none appeared. The two of them were silent, not wanting to risk being overheard.
After a while, Nawaki realised something.
"Hisa, how did you find me so fast?" he asked, keeping his voice low and his head forward.
"I followed your natural chakra trail. You crossed over yourself twice, which made it easier for me to skip parts of your trail. I almost got lost once, but I managed in the end."
Nawaki nodded once, to show that he had heard her. With that piece of information secure, he lapsed back into silence. It was easier for both of them.
After a long time spent jumping from branch to branch in silence, Nawaki started to recognize some of the landmarks from his crystal ball.
"We're almost there." he whispered.
They came to a stop on a sturdy branch. The lair was a good few metres away from where they were, but Nawaki could still see it. He longed to just charge in there and bulldoze over all the missing-nin, but he couldn't do that now. For the first time Hisa was trusting him to lead, and he wasn't going to mess up.
"I can see where they're keeping Oki." he murmured "There are at least three missing-nin guarding her. I think that's all."
Hisa nodded, frowning thoughtfully.
"Will I distract them while you rescue Oki? I'm pretty sure that the guy we caught earlier wet his pants when he saw my Rinnegan. Maybe it will have the same effect on these three."
Nawaki snorted slightly.
"Somehow, I doubt that it will. But I think that's our best shot. I don't want them to see my sharingan so I'll try to avoid being noticed."
"Too late." a reedy voice snarled from behind them.
They turned just as the missing-nin jumped off the branch behind them. He swiped his sword at Hisa, who ducked. The other three missing-nin hadn't noticed anything yet. The man swiped again, and this time Hisa was unable to duck. Nawaki reacted on instinct, shoving his kunai at the man's chest. The missing-nin fell off the branch, coughing and choking as he fell. Neither Nawaki nor Hisa bothered to see where he landed.
"Alright then, " Nawaki whispered "So now there are three missing-nin guarding Oki."
Hisa smirked slightly.
"Are you ready?"
Nawaki nodded.
"Just run in there and start fighting. Try and be as loud and distracting as possible-shouldn't be hard for you."
Hisa nodded.
"So while I do all the hard work and possibly get killed, you untie Oki and pretend to be her knight in shining armour? That sounds about right."
Nawaki grinned and gave her a small shove.
"Get going. If you need help call for it."
!
Hisa had done a lot of stupid things in her life. Most were minor things, and were forgotten by the next day. Occasionally she would slip up and would have to spend a few weeks resolving the problem. She had almost died a few times on missions when she hadn't been careful enough, but had always pulled through in the end.
But strolling into the lair of three fully grown missing-nin without anyone by her side? Stupidest thing yet.
She walked slowly through the trees until she reached the clearing. All three of the missing-nin were walking around the perimeter of the cave. Their weapons were drawn and their eyes were narrowed, looking for the slightest hint of trouble.
Hisa walked straight up to them until she was only a few metres away. They had noticed her by this stage, and their eyes bulged out comically as they stared at her. Purple Rinnegan eyes, hands in pockets, completely alone and looked completely calm. Hisa waved at them.
"Hi." she said cheerfully. "Any chance I can have my friend back?"
They drew their weapons and advanced on her with a collective snarl. Hisa sighed.
"I guess that's a no, then." she said, before she stuck out her hands.
"Almighty Push!"
The men flew back until they slammed into the wall of the cave. One of them looked slightly terrified. Hisa was having a field day. She raised her hands into the air and decided to try intimidation.
"I am the God of Shinobi!" she declared loudly, almost feeling Nawaki's eye-roll from wherever he was hiding.
Stop messing around. The little Nawaki voice in her head hissed.
I like to make an entrance. She replied mentally.
If there were a few more missing-nin, or if one of them was directly threatening Oki, Hisa would be acting more seriously. But as it was, she was in control and feeling confident. She could almost smell the fear wafting from the smallest missing-nin. She barely managed to keep a straight face. They were terrified of a tiny girl with purple eyes. Although she hated the fear some of the Konoha citizens had for her, when it happened on missions it could be hilarious. It was a slight perk to the normal hatred she had for her eyes.
The biggest and burliest missing-nin slapped the small one on his shoulder.
"Pull yourself together," he snapped "She's only a little girl!"
It seems like one of them has a bit of sense. Hisa thought.
The one on the left with a face like a ferret leered at Hisa.
"So what's the plan? I say we kill her and take her eyes."
Hisa refrained from rolling her eyes. Barely.
Yes, because it's not like anyone has tried that before. she thought.
The missing-nin got to their feet, the big one dragging the small one up.
"Attack!" he yelled as he pulled out a kunai.
This time, Hisa let the grin appear on her face. She was going to enjoy this, because she was pretty sure that once they got back to Konoha, everything would get more complicated. Right now, she was going to live in the moment. If Nawaki didn't manage to save Oki…
Hisa was almost glad when the small one threw a kunai at her. She threw herself into the fight, determined to forget the thought she hadn't finished.
!
Nawaki rolled his eyes as Hisa imitated Nagato. He doubted she even knew how alike she sounded. Then again, Nawaki had never met Nagato in person, just heard about him from his mother.
He snuck around the border of the clearing, making sure to stay hidden in the trees. The missing-nin were to engrossed in debating whether or not they should attack Hisa. (Nawaki almost sighed in relief when one of them finally yelled 'Attack!')
He managed to reach the back of the cave unseen. Instead of sneaking in the front, he made some hand-seals.
"Water Style: Cannon Ball Jutsu!"
This was one of Nawaki's best water techniques. He had created this particular form of it himself. A ball of water shot out of his mouth, hitting the rock directly in front of him, breaking through it and leaving nothing but a perfectly circular shaped hole behind. Nawaki quickly clambered through the hole. The cave was dark, but he was able to see Oki's chakra flow. Her eyes were closed and she was under a genjutsu.
Nawaki ran over to her as fast as he could. He could hear the sounds of a battle outside, which meant that Hisa was doing her part. Quickly he reached down and put a hand on Oki's shoulder.
"Kai." he said.
Oki's eyes snapped open and she stared at him in terror. Nawaki held his hands out in front of him.
"It's ok. It's me, Nawaki. We came to rescue you."
Still the panicked look in Oki's eyes didn't leave.
"Nawaki, we have to get out of here as fast as possible. Something bad is going to happen to either you or Hisa. I can sense it."
Nawaki nodded. Oki's déjà vu sense was never wrong. (Nawaki still had no idea what she was talking about most of the time, but her predictions worked.)
"Are you alright?" he asked, searching for any signs that she had been injured.
She nodded. "I'm fine. They didn't..." she trailed off, staring at Nawaki in confusion.
Nawaki realised that his eyes were on full display. He took a deep breath and waited for her reaction, trying not to show how nervous he was.
"You have the Sharingan." Oki said, her voice even.
Nawaki nodded.
"Since when?"
"Before I came to Konoha."
"Ah," Oki said "Does Hisa know?"
Nawaki nodded again, his nerves growing worse.
"Good. Well then, I guess you have an interesting story to tell us once we get out of here. Would you mind cutting me loose? I can't reach my weapons."
Nawaki nodded and bent down robotically, pulling out a kunai. His mind was replaying her reaction. Was she mad at him? Confused? She had seemed perfectly fine with him, but Nawaki didn't understand how she could be. He had lied to her about his whole identity.
"Nawaki." her voice jolted him out of his thoughts.
"Yes?" he asked. This is it. This is where she tells you she hates you.
"Judging from the nosies outside, Hisa's fighting a tough battle. I think it would be best if you cut the ropes a little faster."
Nawaki blinked.
"Right." he said.
He studied the ropes carefully. They were tied tight, probably cutting into Oki. This angered him, but Hisa was doing a good enough job in killing the missing-nin. He needed to focus.
He brought his kunai down on the place where all the ropes seemed to knot together. It took him three tries to cut it fully, but finally the ropes fell loose.
Oki rubbed her arms slightly as she stood. She opened her mouth to speak, but never got the chance to.
The cave started to shake and an alarm started to blare. Nawaki's eyes widened as he cursed himself for not being more careful. The ropes had clearly been rigged, and Nawaki had been so distracted he hadn't noticed.
"Let's go." he said, charging straight at the entrance. "I think Hisa's fight just got a lot harder."
!
Hisa heard the alarm ring and resisted the urge to facepalm. They were really having a bad day.
The small missing-nin rushed at her and she flipped him over her shoulder, slamming him into a tree trunk and knocking him unconscious. She turned back to face the remaining two, kunai in hand.
Her eyes widened as she took in the sight before her. The number of missing-nin had swelled dramatically. There were around ten facing her, and more kept joining in. The alarm had clearly done its job.
Hisa's eyes narrowed as her playful mood evaporated. She would have to be careful or she wouldn't leave this fight alive.