Rin had lost since decided that whoever said that the wild nature was beautiful was mostly full of shit. Sure there were some scenes that from a distance looked nice, like from the top of a cliff. But once you actually got down into real wild nature and not some nature path, you found that it was actually a giant pain in the ass.
The ground was uneven, brush and small trees were everywhere, either forcing you to muscle through or take the extra time to find your way around them, most of the time getting scratched by several barbs or branches in the process. And even where these problems didn't come into play, the grass was always overgrown and was uncomfortable against your ankles and lower legs, hiding sticks that were just waiting to strip the unsuspecting passerby.
Yes, true wild nature really was not the magus's thing. Not surprising really. Gaia hated her and she hated Gaia. Though the fact that forest reminded her of Berserker chasing them during the Holy Grail War didn'd help make it appealing to her.
The Clan's private training forest was huge and hardly ever used. They rarely did survival training, usually focusing on combat training instead. Survival wasn't all that difficult for them anyways. With the Byakugan eyes, they could see every wild animal and moving water source for roughly a mile around.
Rin was dwelling on this fact herself as she and Hinata moved towards where their eyes told them there would be a stream and a small clearing. With a simple Earth Jutsu, she would be able to flatten a patch of ground easily enough. It might make a decent spot for their picnic.
Hakaku had only given them brief instructions on how to survive and what to priorities finding before just releasing them into the wilds to fend for themselves. Which was probably the entire point of it. It was still rather odd that he didn't stay in range of the Byakugan in order to make sure that the little heirs were alright.
Hinata herself was having a much better time than her older sister. The little girl still had the child's wonder about her, viewing every little thing as a new experience. Each rabbit hole was a new adventure to her.
The stream was crystal clear, fish and turtles easily visible underneath the surface of the water, though like everything else in nature, there was something there to spoil it. The stink of wild onions was everywhere, though this too fascinated Hinata more than it upset the girl, so Rin decided to just bare with it.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow." Rin said, using her jutsu to turn the soil around them, burying the grasses before condensing the mud into an even patch of compact earth to sit on. Hinata clapped at the casual display of her older sister's power. "Well, this spot shall do nicely. How about we practice your Water Chakra while we wait for the boys?" Rin said, gesturing towards the stream.
Hinata nodded, but still had a question. "How are Shirou-nii and Naruto-kun going to find us?" She asked as she knelt by the stream and began to play with moving her own Chakra into the water.
"Oh, you don't have to worry about that. Shirou is practically a blood hound. He'll find us." Rin said, crossing her arms and nodding knowingly.
"Really?" Hinata said looking back the way they came, back towards the village. "Byakugan!" She said sharply, forcing the Chakra paths in her eyes to open wider and activate her eye's blood line. She frowned with concentration, as the technique was a little awkward for her to use, but a smile spread across her face. "I see them!" She said happily, though the smile slowly faded. "That's not them. Who is that?"
Rin also frowned, activating her own Byakugan and scanning the forest. As she took everything in, she started to tense up more and more.
There weren't just two humans coming towards them. There were seventeen, meaning four separate four man team lead by a squad leader, coming from all directions, each having entered the range of the Byakugan eyes at roughly the same time, and Rin couldn't recognize a single one of them. To make matters worse, they were moving fast.
"Onee-san?" Hinata asked nervously, seeing her older sister face go serious.
Rin blinked and forced a playful smile onto her face. "Well, it looks like somebody wants to play hide and seek with us. Maybe it is part of the 'survival training'. Lets make them work for it." She said before scooping Hinata up in her arms and reinforcing her body.
She jumped up into the trees, using her Byakugan eyes to navigate the branches as best she could, keeping away from tight clumps as she made for a gap in the circle that was closing around them. But to her surprise and dread, the people who were attempting to surround her seemed to be anticipating her moves.
She couldn't move fast enough to escape, not while holding onto Hinata, but she would sooner abandon her own arm, Magic Crest and all, than let go of Hinata. Finally, she spotted something that she never thought she would be happy to see. Hakaku seemed to have noticed what was going on and was moving to reach her.
The man might not have been that skilled by Rin's standards, and wouldn't tip the balance in a seventeen on one fight, but if Rin held them back, he might be able to get Hinata to safety. Then she would just have to buy time until Shirou arrived. Then the two of them could give these bastards hell.
She tried to move towards Hakaku, but it was no good, the circle was being draw in around her and they had less than a minute before they would be caught. "Onee-san, they going to get us." Hinata said, holding tight to her sister's neck as they went.
Rin bit her lip, trying to think, before jumping down out of the tree line and making for a small mound of rocks. "Hold on tight, Hinata-chan. I'm going to try something." With Hinata holding even tighter around her neck, Rin freed her hands. Ram. Dog. Rat. Bird. "Earth Release: Tunnel Jutsu."
Her jutsu opened up a hole in the stone face, which she quickly hide in before closing up the gap behind them. "Onee-san, it's dark." Hinata said as Rin put her down and leaned up against the wall, feeling her legs and arms giving protest from the earlier mad run.
"I know, but we will be safe here. So please try to endure." Rin said patting the girl's head. She could have used a jutsu or some magic to give them light, but she felt that she should conserve her strength. "Hurry it the hell up Shirou." She mumbled to herself.
But as they hide in their make shift shelter, the unthinkable happened. Rather than being passed by, the seventeen men clumped together and then made directly for their hiding spot, quickly surrounding it. Hinata screamed as an explosion hit the covering on their tunnel, blowing it to pieces. Rin registered that it came from a lightning jutsu.
"Well what do we have here? Two little Hyūga girls, all on their lonesome." An older man said. Rin quickly sized him up, as he stood at between them and freedom.
The man seemed to be in his early fifties, with dark skin and red hair that was in tight braids. He had an unpleasant boxed face with his left eyes was covered in a long bandage and a scar on his right cheek. On his back was a long sword, the length of his whole body with a strange guard around the hilt.
But all of this seemed secondary compared to the single item hanging around his neck; a headband with three rounded rectangles that were supposed to bare resemblance to clouds. Kumo ninja.
"How about you two come out quietly. Hate to have the goods get hurt, though if we need to rough you up we will." The man said, gesturing to the little girls to come out.
Rin reached into an inner pocket of her uniform, bringing out a large red jewel. "I don't think so. I've still have more than a few tricks up my sleeve." She said with a smile, using a small amount of her prana to activate the energy within the mystic codex. As it glowed bright red, she dropped it.
The gem hit the ground, it passed into the stone surface like a drop of blood into a bowl of water, its color quickly webbing out to the surrounding rocks. The ground shook as the rock formation came to life, changing shape into a massive golem that towered over the nearby trees.
The ninja was shocked, but not so shocked that he didn't move out of the way when the fist of the rock monster was aimed for him.
Using the moment of distraction, Rin picked up Hinata again, and formed a few quick hand signs to preform a basic Bushin technique, using the body double projections to try to confuse her enemies as she made her escape.
She slipped through the circle and kept running, reinforcing her legs as much as she dared, hoping that it would be enough to keep her a step ahead of her pursuers.
A loud crack of thunder accompanied the destruction of her golem. Rin hoped that they would be slightly confused as to which direction she had gone, but just like before, they immediately found her trail and were on her. They must have had some kind of tracker ninja with them.
Rin fingered her two remaining jewels. One could produce a sound proof barrier, that wouldn't do her any good now. The other could amplify one of her Gandr curses. It would make the curse stronger so that even if someone placed a guard up to protect themselves against such attacks, the damage would still be heavy. Didn't change the fact that it would be a single target spell, and it was a one time deal.
She was kicking herself for not bringing more options along. Peace must have made her complacent. After today, she would need to make sure she wasn't caught off guard again. She throw out the sound proof barrier, just so she wouldn't be captured with it, then she primed her Gandr to kill the first person who managed to catch up to her. Maybe it would be enough to give them pause about pursuing her.
It wasn't long before the Kumo ninja started to catch up. The first to try to grab her was a young man, looked like he was in his early teens, too inexperienced to have any caution, even after seeing Rin's displays upto that point.
Rin swung the jewel at him and let out the curse. The blast of it was strong as a cannon ball, the young man's entire body crumpled as his bones were broken and several of his vitals were crushed.
No sooner was the spell finished did the jewel crumble into dust, useless. Rin put the now free hand around Hinata and strived to move faster.
Luckily, it seemed that the display had made the others more hesitant about trying to grab her. But that didn't stop them for long. They didn't have to grab her to stop her forward progress.
It was a Wind Jutsu of some kind. One meant for cutting. Whoever fired it had aimed for the branch that Rin had been jumping to. With her next perch gone, Rin found herself falling down a lot further and faster than expected. Based solely on the instinct to protect Hinata, Rin twisted herself in midair, so that she would shelter her little sister during the impact with the ground, then she reinforced her body and clothes to harden herself for the impact.
It hurt, crashing into the ground like that. She wondered how Shirou could always just brush himself off after sustaining such blows. It had been about a fifteen foot drop, and it had knocked the air out of Rin's lungs. But as her head stopped spinning, she recognized Hakaku moving towards them.
Hinata was crying with fright, as Rin pushed herself up. "Take Hinata and go!" Rin ordered handing the small girl over to her tutor.
"Onee-san! Don't leave! I'm..!" Hinata cried, unsure what was going on.
"Don't worry. I'll be alright. Just get to safety." Rin said before turning back to the attacking ninja and took a deep breath. Dragon. Rabbit. Tiger. "Fire Release: Breath of Fire." A small stream of fire escaped Rin's mouth, burning the trees in front of her and creating a wall of fire in hopes of stalling the enemy.
Rin took a few breaths, trying to collect herself for a fight when a laugh came from the other side of the fire. "You really are deserving of your reputation, White Eyed Witch of Konoha. To think that such a young brat could cause us so much trouble. But it is high time you stop all this running." A water jutsu rushed out of the trees, putting out the flames that Rin had produced. Standing there was the man from before, grinning at her.
"I suppose it is about time for me to stand my ground." Rin said in her cocky manner, preparing a rune with one foot while transforming some of her chakra for a jutsu.
The old man laughed. "You can neither fight or run now. We have already won."
Hinata screamed and Rin spun around to find Hakaku holding a kunai to Hinata's throat. "I suggest you stop struggling, Hikaru-sama." Hakaku said as he glared down at her. Though if he was glaring, Rin's look was one that could turn Rider into stone.
"You traitorous bastard." Rin hissed. She wanted to do nothing more than launch a bolt of lightning through the man's head, but she couldn't do anything that might get Hinata hurt. The little sister was completely white with fear by this point.
"I am no traitor. Everything I do I do for the clan." Hakaku said. "You are a threat and your sister is unworthy. With your mother pregnant, the two of you need to disappear. That is what is best for the clan."
While he talked, the Kumo ninja moved in, binding Rin's arms and legs with rope that would seal her mystic energies and gagging her. Another did the same to Hinata. All the while, Hakaku stood there, glaring at the two girls until they were taken away.
"Well done. You fulfilled your end of it quite nicely." The old man who lead the foriegn ninja said, a grin on his face. "So how are we to do this now? You want us to rough you up a little? Make it look like we took them by force?"
Hakaku's glare transferred over to the Kumo ninja. "No. For what I have done, there is only one possible ending. I will not run from my fate." He said, pulling out a short blade. Some of the ninja stiffened at the sight of the weapon. It was not one meant for fighting.
"Seppuku huh? I forgot your clan still practiced that garbage. You think you're some kind of Samurai?" The ninja spat, he looked around at his underlings. "Nura! Stay behind to provide the mercy blow, then catch up with us! The rest of you head out!"
"Sir!" They all said at once.
Nura was a young man, no older than sixteen with pale skin and rough sandy hair. After all the others had left, Hakaku went down on his knees while Nura stood behind him, unsheathing a long katana.
Hakaku drew out his tantou blade and preceded to draw the edge of it across his abdomen from left to right. The gasp of pain escaped him as he dropped the blade, falling forward as his guts started to spill out.
Nura lifted his blade high, but then lowered it slowly. "You damned bastard." He growled, providing a kick to the already suffering man, rather than the mercy blow that would save him from the horribly slow death that awaited him. He even kicked the short blade further away from the man so that he couldn't end his life quicker. "To do something like this..."
Nura hated this. He hated everything about it. He might have been against making peace with Konoha, but to use the peace talks in order to kidnap children. Such a thing was beyond simply dishonorable. It was vial beyond words. Especially when one considered the fate that waited the two girls when they reached Kumo.
He tried not to think about it, but he knew exactly what would happen to them. First they would be tortured for whatever knowledge they possessed. Then jutsu would be used on them to cripple their minds and bodies so that they couldn't take their own lives. Their eyes would be cut out, transplanted into other hosts, high ranking ninjas most likely. Then they would be kept alive in their agony until they were old enough to have children, after which they would be raped time and time again in order to produce children who would be made to serve as ninja in Kumo's army.
To be involved in something like this was to much for the young man to bare. So rather than making his way to catch up to his group, he turned back to the village. Even if it went against the things he had been taught all his life, that he must always put his village first. He would not and could not stand for this. Perhaps if the girls could be saved, he could find his redemption.
Again, shortish chapter, but I'm not making these thing long. Besides, its heavy enough as it is.