Ino pulled the wrappings of her cloak tighter around her body trying to stop the shivering that plagued her body. As she traveled through the snowy lands to the north she wished more and more she had one of Kumo's detailed maps to lead her and the ANBU squad she was with to the hot springs he had a talent of locating. Though she supposed Kumo would be keeping her plenty warm on the return journey after she surprised him. She certainly owed Tsunade a favor for letting her join in the operation. After a month she was feeling more than a little love sick. The team needed a trained medic and her sensory skills were making her even more valuable in this operation. She and the team would soon meet up with the advance recon squad and put an end to this long mission.
"How close are we to the border?" she asked one of the fox faced members to her side.
"Not very far now less than a day, I expected to meet up with the advance squad some time ago." He said looking at her though the holes in his fox mask.
They stopped walking the point man had raised his hand for everyone to halt. Ino stopped in her tracks and pulled a kunai from her holster. She advanced with the party slowly stepping softly through the snow. As she moved she noticed signs of a fight. Drops of blood stained the ground and gashes could be seen in the trees made by kunai.
"We have bodies here." One of them said sheathing their ninjatō. And kneeling down next to a snowy red hole filled with one of the bodies. Ino felt her heart sink when she saw the broken and bloody ANBU mask half buried in the snow.
"The Team got ambushed by the look of things." Said one of them spotting another body frozen dead in the snow. "Where's Kumo?" she asked looking through the grizzly scene trying to hold in the urge she had to call out for him.
"One of them is alive." Called out one man and Ino rushed to him running through the tree's until she reached him. The ANBU member was kneeled next to a wounded man resting him against a tree and removing his mask showing a tanned skinned shinobi. The man appeared weak but concuss as he laid back against the tree trunk several crossbow bolts stuck in him. His leg was twisted and bent his pants soaked in blood. Ino knelt next to him and pulled off her gloves hands glowing green with chakra. He pulled the bolt out of his shoulder and handed it to the ANBU behind her to examine as she closed the wound with her medical Jutsu.
"Is the bolt poisoned?" she asked the ANBU.
"No" he answered. "No poison or makings just a normal crossbow bolt from what I can tell."
"They ambushed us from our flanks." The man said his voice hoarse and low. "We didn't even have a chance when they came."
"Did anyone else manage to survive?" asked Ino hoping to hear even the slightest new of Kumo.
"I… I don't know I saw some of them pick up a few bodies." He stammered.
"Only five bodies are here." One of the men said walking up on them. "And there were eight members in that squad so three are missing. Can you sense anyone Ino?"
She shook her head, she had been trying to sense Chakra since she had arrived and had even tried to form a mental link with Kumo but to no avail if he or anyone was here they were far out of her range of her sensory skills.
"No nothing is in my range. If we move in scanning search pattern I'm sure we can find them. I'd recommend we-"
"No" she was cut off by the squad leader. "We can't risk this happening to us." He said moving to the south. "We're going to return to Konoha as soon as possible we'll inform the Land of Iron and other neighboring nations to be on guard but we can't afford to risk this happening to us."
"Tsunade tasked us with taking these men down, and they could have our comrades we need to track them and get word back to Konoha for more men."
The officer didn't stop and kept moving. "This isn't up for discussion Miss Yamanaka, so heal that man's leg and get him moving it's a long way back to Konoha."
Ino gritted her teeth and obediently went to mending the man's leg. She closed her eyes and tried to fight back the tears.
The dark drafty cell started to come into focus. Kumo started to force himself awake and take his bearing in the room. His legs were chained to a metal chair he sat upon in the center of the stone room with little light save for torch light that came in through the window of the door in front of him. His body had been stripped of his weapons and clothes save for boxers. His body felt weak and heavy and when he tried to summon his chakra he barely managed to form a single chakra string.
"Nifty little drug isn't it?" a voice said and Kumo turned to the door the face of Itami in the window of the cells door. A few clicks and he opened the heavy door stepping in, the cat masked ANBU followed behind.
"It makes it difficult to use Jutsus and channel chakra something we can't afford to have you do." He explained closing the door and kneeling in front of him. Kumo didn't say anything just watched the man and kept his eye on the ANBU that stood in the corner.
"Well then Kumo… how about we pick up where we left off?" he asked folding his hands in front of him. "You remember what I'm talking about don't you? When I asked you, very kindly as a matter of fact where Nenshō Kinzoku was and then you very rudely spat blood in my face? Well now let's try this again. Where is Nenshō Kinzoku?"
"I'm not telling you anything." Said Kumo. The ANBU struck him across the face.
"Oh Kumo don't be like that giving me the wrong answers. That means I have to hurt you and I don't have to hurt you. How about you level with me. We're both interrogators though our methods may vary slightly. You take the slow and effective way and I… well I like to stop and smell the roses you could say."
"You're a sadist who tortures people." Hissed Kumo.
Itami chuckled, "Well I like to enjoy my job and if a few details are missing or lies are told then no harm done. Besides my employer hasn't complained about my results yet."
"And who is that?" asked Kumo.
"Sorry but I'm asking the questions here. But before I begin trying to force answers out of you let me remind you that I can make deals for that information."
"There is nothing you have I could possibly want." He said focusing himself for the inevitable pain he would face.
"Oh really?" he asked reaching into his pocket and pulling out a tiny violet box. "What about this? I found it in your jacket next to that picture of your pretty girlfriend." He opened the box revealing a small golden ring topped off with a well cut purple amethyst. Kumo had purchased the ring in the last town he had visited, the merchant he had bought it from had charged him four times the rings worth but the stone was the perfect color for Ino and the wages from this mission would cover the ring and his other rather fast building expenses. Itami smirked, "Tough I suppose this means you don't want her to stay your girlfriend for much longer. You have some plans for the future don't you? You're planning on making that girl your wife aren't you?"
Kumo gritted his teeth as he stared into the purple gemstone watching the facets of the stone catch the light. "I'll let you have this back Kumo… no price attached, just because I want to be your friend. So you can have this back and when you look at it I want you to think about how nice I'd be to put this on that girl's finger and spend the rest of your life with her, and all you have to do talk."
Kumo quietly reached his hand out to take the ring when Itami pulled the box away out of his reach and threw it on the ground slamming his boot down upon it. Kumo growl as his foot came up showing the smashed box and bent ring he stared at the warped band and cursed.
"Too bad for you Kumo my hand of friendship left when you spat blood in my face." The ANBU grabbed Kumo's face and forced his mouth open. Kumo clawed at the man's arm fruitlessly his nails peeling off in his desperation.
"Now as a torturer I like to put a good foot forward so let's get to work shall we?" he said pulling a hammer and chisel from his belt and stepping forward. Kumo tasted cold metal as he placed the chisel in his mouth and pressed it up to one of his molars.
"I was told you're the strong silent type Kumo… let's see if we can't change that."
Itami brought the hammer down upon the head of the chisel. Kumo screamed as he felt his molar break and the sharp end dig into his gums. His mouth filled with blood and shattered fragments of his tooth.
"Think your girlfriend will notice next time she slips you a little tongue?" he asked. "How about I at least make it match so she doesn't notice." Kumo tried to struggle against the ANBU but his strength was outmatched. He screamed again as he felt the second molar break under the hammer and chisel.
Itami pulled the blood tool out of his mouth and whipped it clean. "Where is Nenshō Kinzoku? Where did he leave off to when he left Konoha? Oh and remember your manners and swallow before you speak."
Kumo swallowed the hot blood and tooth fragments feeling the jagged edges scrape against his throat. He opened his to speak. "I can only tell you one thing." Said Kumo taking a second to swallow the blood that was filling in his mouth again. "Nenshō is smart; I don't need to see him to know he's been keeping his ear to the ground. So if he learns that you're looking for him, if he learns of the things you've done. Then you don't need to look anywhere because he'll come and pay you a visit himself and believe me he can be very difficult to kill or capture."
Itami chuckled, "I was told it'd be difficult to capture you Kumo. But here we are, what you don't seem to understand is that we aren't like some halfcocked shinobi we knew about your Byakugan and had a little sealing Jutsu that making things invisible to it. We know what he's capable of and we know we can capture him after all it's been done before."
Kumo swallowed another mouthful of blood. "You forget we escaped that time… we escaped and rained hell upon everyone that wronged us."
Ino leaned against a tree exhausted; the sun was setting in the west. "We'll make camp here." Said the ANBU captain dropping his pack on the ground. "Everybody knows their duties." Ino set to work and helped clear and area for some of the tents. Several imprints were in the snow making its way through their camping area. She examined them, first glance she had taken them for wolf tracks but now that she had looked closer they looked more like those of a big cat. She didn't know of any wild cats that roamed this far north.
The fire they had made had been reduced to embers. Ino placed another in the fire pit and brushed the embers up against it and watched as they ignited the log. She had been placed on second watch the most undesired positions since it cut the watchers sleeping time in half her sensory skills always put her on watch. Not that she complained, she hadn't really managed to get to sleep tonight at all. She had just laid in her tent with her sensory skills extended hoping against hope she could detect Kumo's chakra signature in her mind. She wasn't very confident in just sensing him by chance but she didn't have any choice really if she tried to leave the ANBU would just follow her and drag her back to Konoha against her will. Right now all she could do was hope for some luck and trust in Kumo's abilities.
Her mind suddenly sensed a faint chakra signature on the edge of her sensory range. She stood up and raced into the forest making sure not to rouse the ANBU members. If it had been anyone else she'd have waken them and mobilized them to investigate. But that wasn't an option right now. She knew this Chakra signature it had been over two years since she had sensed it but she remembered it clear as day. She would always recognize the chakra of Nenshō Kinzoku.