Chapter 4: hide and Seek
A/N: Okay, so there's a lot of dialogue here because the characters have to discuss and figure things out...I tried shortening it but there's so much content to get through...
6:12 am
Shikamaru's weary almond eyes popped open and blinked twice to adjust his eyes to the dim light. He took a moment to ponder what the situation was. He remembered dispiritedly; it was the second day of their mission, or rather and more consequentially, the second day of their entrapment in the isolated house by the blizzard and of course, their hunt for the bogus proxy who had embedded himself within their own ninja teams.
He lazily stared at the nothingness of the white ceiling as numb dread lulled over the quiet house. He didn't remember falling asleep as he lay on the couch. So much for being a night watchman... he kicked himself internally; allowing such a complicated mission to go on for two days was overbearing.
He sat up and stretched his stiff joints and avoided looking at the floor of ninja. He wasn't ready for all the paranoia and suspicion to begin in his head...he rather unwillingly pulled his heavy body off the couch and walked over to the small rectangular windows bordered by dark thick wood.
A small smile of gratitude broke the smooth even surface of his skin as he saw the gradually pacifying wind appeasing the ever slowing trickle of snow gently falling on the over saturated white forest. The storm was finally calming down. He breathed a sigh of relief as he reckoned that if the slowing of the storm persisted, and if they were lucky, they could make it back to Grass Village within a couple of hours.
But in that moment of sudden internal celebration he realised that the Leaf faced another dilemma. If the Taka found out that the storm was dissipating, they could decide to leave as they wouldn't have any reason to be at that house anymore and they as the Leaf wouldn't be able to stop them. If one of them was the rogue, then he would get away and their mission would be a complete fail. Shikamaru knew at that second that the pressure was on: it couldn't be prolonged anymore; they had to find out who it was. Today before the Taka decide to leave.
He walked away from the window, loosening his messy hair then retying it back into its tight spikey ponytail after he smoothed and straightened it. Since the unavoidable situation couldn't be ignored forever...the corner of his eye caught his long-time friend and partner sitting on the tatami matted floor, knees drawn up into her chest with her head buried in her hands.
"Ino, are you okay?" he asked walking up to her and crouching down. She looked up at his serious and concerned eyes; she wanted more than anything to tell someone especially Shikamaru, whom she trusted the most, about the terrible dream or memory haunting her, where she was almost drowned by 'Sasuke'...and that she'd almost killed Neji...but she was at her wit's end. She didn't quite understand what had happened to her. And what if he accused her of being the rogue because of the whole Neji bit...
"Yeah I'm fine." she whispered patting his shoulder. Shikamaru could see that she was just trying to dismiss the fear and uncertainty in her light blue eyes. He touched her hand patting her shoulder, reassuring her. It was all the more crucial to end everything once and for all.
Shikamaru stood back up and heard murmurings coming from the kitchen-
-Splash-
He looked down on his way to the kitchen. There was a trail of water streaming from the bathroom through the living room all the way to the kitchen, wetting the entire floor...the mini flood must've been there all night...
As he got to the Kitchen, Sasuke and Suigetsu were talking silently in the one corner while Sakura was on the opposite side of the kitchen, whereas Tenten was standing with elbows on the counter and Neji was standing by the door frame. It was too obvious for the eyes to see. All three Leaf ninja were standing separately and didn't even acknowledge each other. Shikamaru's worst fears were evidently true; their ninja team was divided which had been exacerbated by and last nights' brawl.
"Suigetsu, what's with all the water on this floor? Go and find whatever pipe has burst and fix it. I saw it coming from the bathroom last night." said Sasuke pulling out his katana to sharpen it with a knife sharpener.
Shikamaru exchanged glances with Sasuke as he walked, or more like splashed, passed him and stopped; for one scary moment it appeared like Sasuke was about to blaze lightning through the water to electrocute him, making him as the rogue seem scarier...
Suigetsu deformed himself from a human into a formless mound then assimilated into the water and swam, travelling in his formless state to find the source of the leak. Neji, Tenten, Shikamaru and Sakura eyed him suspiciously. They had no idea that he was a water type shinobi...
Sakura stood where she was. Head in outer space. Paranoia engulfing her. Her mind, welcomed in disturbia. Naruto. Neji. Neji. Naruto. Blank stares. Shifty eyes. Fake smiles. Pretentiousness. Her psyche was in a dizzying state.
"Hey Sasuke, come over here for a sec." said Suigetsu swimming in the flooded pool of water as Sasuke slid his katana back into its shell and he left the kitchen to follow him.
"What is it Suigetsu?" he whispered impatiently as they rounded the corner.
"This water, you said that it was coming from the bathroom but I can't find the source. It's really coming from...I don't know, the sky probably" he remarked confused.
Sasuke sighed in annoyance at all the childish antics. "Just forget it. It's the controlled environment again." he said as they both walked back to Kariin and Jugo.
"Tenten, can I talk to you privately?" asked Neji taking a cue from Suigetsu.
Tenten reluctantly walked out with Neji which left Shikamaru alone in the kitchen with Sakura.
"What do you want?" she said flatly yet glad that he'd finally approached her to apologise like she'd been waiting. He led her to the very corner of the living room.
"Listen. Sasuke Uchiha is the rogue ninja" he declared quietly to her arrogantly, placing his arm over her shoulder confidently and pulling her closer. Tenten recoiled at his audacity.
"What? How do you know that for sure?" she said turning away from him; she realised painfully that he hadn't come to apologise for what he did after all.
"Because Naruto is in the clear and I know that I'm not the rogue, so it can only be him. We haven't had a chance to interrogate him out of fear of being attacked by his astronomically powerful eyes but we can't use that as an excuse anymore. I have a plan. Shikamaru can use his shadow possession jutsu to freeze him just like last night. That way we can get close to him and use one of Sakura's anaesthetic needles to paralyse his body and pounce-
"-Boy that really does sound like a great plan Neji, it's too bad that I'm just not interested because you haven't proven to me that you're not the rogue yet..." she sassed with eyebrows drawn as she walked away. She hated doing that to him but she needed to teach him a lesson on respect.
"Wait, Tenten where are you going? This could be our last chance to bag the rogue."
"The rogue, the rogue, the rogue. Is that all you care about now? Was the rogue the person who undeserving defended you by fighting comrades even though they were mistreated?" she said her heart pounding.
"Of course not...why are you looking at me like..." he trailed off staring into her eyes wanting to elaborate further but he just didn't know how.
"Why do you think? You're so clueless" she whined. She waited for him to say it. 'I care about you and I'm sorry'...but it never came.
She turned and walked away from him as he ran his fingers through his head. Thinking...trying to understand...
Back in the kitchen...Sakura stared at Shikamaru being the only one in the kitchen with her. She contemplated going up to him and telling him about the incident that happened the previous night with Naruto. He might be willing to help her with an explanation because of his genius. But before she could act on her thoughts Shikamaru had just opened one of the kitchen cabinet's absent-mindedly, forgetting that they were empty the last time they had checked...
"Sakura!" He hissed so that no one else would overhear from the living room. She looked over to him.
"Come look at this" he opened the cupboard. As she walked over to him she also saw what was not supposed to be there...
A Plate. A single chipped plate with cracks on its smooth glass. Right next to it a silver antique spoon, bent and fragmented. Then right next to it a single cup appearing a moment away from cracking. There was nothing else.
"What the-how did these get here?" asked Sakura as Shikamaru shook his head "Unfortunately it doesn't end there, look" he said as he opened up more cabinets. Sakura followed suit.
"Hey, there's exactly that same set of broken dishes in here...and here again, here as well" she said furiously prying open the cupboards with Shikamaru.
"That's it. That's all of them...how many was that. I counted eleven." said Sakura.
The significance of what she'd just said appeared in the way he stared at her pensively. "Sakura, do you notice anything about that?"
She looked at him until she noticed it too. She gasped.
"I know; there are exactly eleven dishes here, which is one more than the same amount of people we have in this house." said Shikamaru. Sakura tried to think about the relevance of plates... spoons...cups...plates, spoons, cups...Both her and Shikamaru realised at the same time as their eyes grew wide.
"The…the poem! The poem in the book I read, remember?" she gasped.
"Yeah, that very vague one you showed me when we were waiting for Naruto" he nodded.
Sakura ran back to the bookshelf and pulled out the book she'd read the previous day entitled 'Broken Pieces of Silver' then ran back to Shikamaru in the kitchen.
"Look here; it was the only piece of writing in this book, remember? It says in poetry form 'Ereben spoon, ereben cups, ereben plates, no one eating, no knife allowed..."But I wonder what 'ereben' means?" she said.
Shikamaru thought, what could the significance of that word be...it had to be a reference to either the type of dishes or the number of dishes...he smirked at her when the simplicity dawned on him...
"That word 'ereben', it's a language matter. There is no pronunciation of the letters 'l' or 'v' in the Japanese language, so the letters 'r' and 'b' are substituted to pronounce those sounds. So if we replace 'r' with 'l' and 'b' with 'v', in the word 'ereben'...you land up with...eleven! The same number of dishes." he said placing his hands in his pocket.
No amount of appreciation could ever describe how thankful she was that Shikamaru was a genius. Especially as she considered how much she'd tried interpreting other poems in the books and getting stuck. She should've approached him sooner.
"You're brilliant Shikamaru. Do you think the rogue is trying to send us a subliminal message? Maybe reminding us that there are really eleven of us here as he's still hiding among us? Adding one more of these dishes than they are people to represent all ten of us Leaf and Taka ninja plus him?"
Shikamaru shook his head slowly "I can't be sure because of what you said remember, you told me this book was dated a year ago. These dishes, although aren't in the right condition for use, are just like the candles and the box of matches. Someone must've placed them here without us knowing. It's too much of a coincidence. Sasuke was right." he said.
"About what?"
They both turned around to see Sasuke standing behind them looking suspiciously at them. They didn't respond to him but merely looked his way. Sakura darted her eyes around the kitchen realising that she and Shikamaru were lucky that they'd closed all the cabinet doors.
"And you Leaf ninja think that we Taka are suspicious yet you're the ones talking secretly amongst each other. Only an idiot wouldn't notice the two of you talking silently alone here. Now what was I right about?" Well?"
Sakura held the 'Broken Pieces of Silver' book towards her chest from the front cover concealing the title from him.
"I'm not sure if we can trust you Sasuke" said Sakura honestly. Shikamaru couldn't've said it better himself.
"That's too bad. This temporary alliance is over if you're not willing to disclose information"
"You're also one to talk. What about that girl on your team? She didn't want to disclose any information to us as well. We could see that she wasn't being honest about not knowing anything about the rogue from the picture. How do we know that she didn't tell you Taka separately?"
"Is that really it; you really don't trust me do you?"
"Well, we still don't know who the rogue ninja is" said Sakura.
"No, it's not about that is it; this is about something else, something a little deeper than that" Sasuke said arrogantly.
Shikamaru could see from Sakura's expression that she knew what he meant; him leaving the village and being an enemy rogue ninja. The wound was still fresh for her. Sakura looked hurt and embarrassed, it created an uncomfortable air. Shikamaru couldn't watch Sasuke play with her feelings like he did.
"Back off Sasuke this isn't personal, we're just being cautious alright"
"If that's how you want to play this. It'll just lead to more divisions. But just as a note, if I was the rogue, don't you think I would've made a move by now? Think about it..." he said walking away slickly.
Sakura and Shikamaru walked back into the quiet living room. The suspicions were an undying trend among them as everyone couldn't help but think about all the events that could indicate who the rogue could be...
Sakura looked at Neji as did Tenten and Shikamaru. He had been the only one outside before the silhouette they saw appeared. Ino stood up from the only dry area of the tatami floor, shifting her eyes towards Sasuke. He'd been the only one who'd left the room the previous day before Naruto arrived. Then her eyes shifted to Naruto along with Suigetsu's eyes and Kariin. Kariin looked at Sasuke and Jugo. Sasuke looked at Naruto and Neji, then at Ino. Everyone's eyes were darting back and forth among each other.
6:28 am
In the silence of the room, Ino noticed the very silent Taka guy they called Jugo always looking outside and gently approached him in order to break the ever approaching tenseness of the room. All eyes shot towards her but she brushed it off.
"Hi erm, I know we don't really know each other very well but erm I was just curious as to why you always keep looking outside?"
Fir a minute it appeared as if Jugo was going to completely ignore her but to her surprise he shifted his eyes to her, she could see a mild form of gentleness in his eyes. "The birds staying here in this winter aren't settled, something's been bothering them"
Before Ino could guess how he was able to sense the disturbances of nature... Once again the room became too quiet even for the suspect ninja...
Squeak...squeak...squeak...
"What's that noise?" asked Ino looking around at the rest of the alert ninja.
"That's the same noise I heard last night. I walked outside but couldn't find where it was coming from." said Neji.
Sakura looked at Suigetsu and Sasuke before he looked up at the ceiling for reasons unknown to her. So Neji hadn't been lying after all, he had heard the same noise as they had. They remembered hearing the noise of repetitive squeaking last night before the figure came.
"So you heard it too huh? I guess you Leaf ninja fought each other for nothing then." said Suigetsu.
Squeak, squeak, squeak...
"Hey guys, was that there before?" Jugo asked incredulously pointing towards something outside.
Everyone came to see. Sakura walked to the window slowly passing Jugo and looked outside. She looks outside the window at the decreasing snowfall. Then she noticed something in the distance. The source of the squeaking that she, Sasuke, Suigetsu and Neji had heard the previous night...
A swing.
A pink swing blowing in the calming frozen wind, its worn out rusted old chains squeaking in friction as it slid back and forth against the metal framing. It definitely hadn't been there before.
Sakura breathed a failing sigh. The swing was so familiar; she knew that she'd seen it before, when she'd touched the book entitled 'Hide and Seek'. She didn't let a moment pass. She had to find out about it now that another clue from a book was discovered with the help of Shikamaru. She wanted to get closer. Much closer.
She ran past everyone staring at the swing and bolted out the door before the crowd of protest could stop her-
"-Hey wait Sakura, it could be a trap! -"came Ino.
But she was already gone; she pushed open the door as the stingy yet calming wind pinched at her skin. The rest of the other ninja had no choice but to follow behind her. All of them ran behind her, forgetting their rule of not going outside. She jumped down the patio and ran behind the house towards the swing... to unknown territory...
But alas redundant déjà vu struck again...
Nothing in the world could express the frustration she felt when the swing disappeared the closer she got. Once again, it was gone...just like the figure, the night before.
"Crap it's gone again! When will the torment end!" she breathed.
"Sakura, you don't have to run away like that, it could've been a trap to lure us outside" said Shikamaru as the others caught up to her.
"But I've seen this swing before. When I touched one of the books on the shelf and a picture flashed in my head and it was of that swing we just saw."
Sakura kicked the snow in frustration as everyone took in her words. Everytime she came closer to a bit more clarity and understanding; something would disappear. She walked in front of the group, marching back to the house as the rest of the group followed.
Tenten, walking a short distance behind Neji, shared Sakura's frustrations.
"What's the point of all this, seeing these signs without any explanation?"
-Crack-
Tenten stopped immediately at the sudden noise. Her senses were on high alert as she looked around. It sounded like something solid breaking. She turned around to examine the trees behind them; staring intently at the branches. But no tree was moving.
"Did you guys just hear that?" she whispered.
"Hear what? What was it this time?" asked Suigetsu annoyed at the hang up.
They all stopped to look at her.
The wretched black birds began to crow ominously and fluttered away as she made eye contact with Neji and his emotionally supressed eyes and buried her own emotions.
"Neji, would you mind using your byakugan to search the trees?" she whispered.
"Why? What is it?"
She didn't respond but turned her head back towards the trees so that he could understand. Everyone turned towards the trees and the bone chilling birds exclaiming a disturbance. Tenten didn't know whether to trust him yet but it was worth a shot.
Neji got to it and focused his byakugan eyes. Everyone waited in anticipation as to what he might see.
"Nothing sorry" said Neji. "It's difficult to tell if a branch was moving on its own because of the wind."
Tenten shook her head; she could've sworn that she'd heard something, but didn't understand why she was the only one who heard something.
"C'mon everyone let's move. We don't want to be left out in the open like this" said Kariin feeling anxious.
They were about to walk away when Neji gasped loudly.
Everyone turned around to look at him when...the mind-numbing escalation occurred...
His gasp turned into a tormented hyperventilation.
"What the, oh my, what's going on? -"
-"What is it Neji?" asked Shikamaru alarmed.
"It's horrible!...I can see...people hanging from the trees...rope around their necks and stabbed in the stomach by their own hands!" he screamed while pointing madly. They all looked up and saw nothing.
"Seppuku" whispered Sakura thinking of the way in which the rogue ended his victims.
He saw with horror, describing what he saw. Unknown lifeless people with limp bodies hanging from trees; their broken necks squeezed the life out of them by the thick taut rope tied in a noose. Their hands firmly clutching the daggers that pierced and had slashed their blood soaked bellies.
Neji's stomach felt like it was turned inside out...he was about to be sick.
One of the dead only his eyes could see...Hizashi Hyuuga...
Neji Hyuuga let out a terrified scream, a scream never heard by the stoic ninja; it was the kind of scream that allowed someone who took himself too seriously to break any self-imposed hardness and allowed such tightly controlled vulnerability to slip through.
His bloodcurdling scream pained Tenten standing near him...his bloodcurdling scream riled up the rest of the Leaf ninja who rushed towards him.
-It's, its…Noooo! Make it stop! Please make IT STOP!" he screamed as the group came towards him in a panic. Neji fell to the soft snow floor onto his knees.
"... my, my father, my father..." he half choked.
Sasuke turned on his sharingan to get a better view but nothing came up. He could at least see that it was the type of jutsu that manipulated people's minds.
"Break it; it's a genjutsu!" came Sasuke.
Neji smacked his hands together with a loud clap and built up his chakra to try and break the jutsu. "Release!" he yelled...everyone waited with baited breath to see if he was successful. He tried the release again which finally set his mind free, but he was so overwhelmed that his hands fell to the floor and his byakugan, off. He was shaking.
Sakura looked at him; there was no way it could be Neji. He would never do that to himself, especially if it concerned his father.
"Neji are you okay?" cried Tenten.
"I couldn't break the genjutsu quick enough for some reason" he breathed.
"Everyone we need to go back inside before something else happens." yelled Shikamaru.
"Here let me help you up" Sakura said softly burying her pride.
"It's okay, don't worry about me, I'm fine" he said standing up shakily; from what she could see he wasn't in the right frame of mind. She'd heard him mention his father.
As they all tracked back towards the house, a loud cracking noise broke the silence of the eerie woods.
CRACK.
This time everyone heard it.
"What was that?" cried Kariin feeling frightened.
Everyone froze and looked around wildly as to where the noise could've come from. The flock of black birds flew over their heads out of the trees that added an eerie ambience.
"Don't panic, he's just trying to confuse us. He could be controlling chakra as one of us without us seeing anything." came Sasuke.
Shikamaru looked around at the group of ninja; from what he could see nobody had their hands in any kind of formation or hand signs, but Naruto...had his hands behind his back...
Tenten looked down at the snow covering her feet. For some reason the snow felt less dense and less heavy than before. She decided to take another step.
The solid snowed ground broke and crumbled underneath her feet; suddenly Tenten plunged down into frozen icy water. The below zero water came piercing her body mercilessly, like a thousand needles, stinging and numbing her body.
"Tenten!"
Every Leaf ninja exclaimed her name and flew to her.
She swam up to the surface and took a breath then tried to pull herself up out the water but the thin ice broke under her weight and she fell in again.
Neji was the first one there, he'd barely recovered from his ordeal but his byakugan was back on. He tried to rescue her and realised when he saw through the snow.
"Nobody move. IT'S A FROZEN RIVER! You'll fall in and drown if you run here" he said throwing his hands into the numbing water to help Tenten out.
Shock. It came from nowhere again. It appeared that the rogue was in an unforgiving mood.
"Suigetsu pull her out" ordered Sasuke and a reluctant Suigetsu jumped into the water after her.
"What does this mean? We can't walk on the surface of the water?" asked Sakura.
"We're not taking any chances. Get onto your stomachs, less weight on the ice." yelled Shikamaru to the rest of the ninja.
They all got onto their stomachs and crawl towards Tenten and Suigetsu trying to pull her out. Tenten could feel her nearly paralysed body giving up...any minute now she would drown if the Taka guy didn't pull her out...
Drown...just like the rogue would've wanted...even if it wasn't by her doing...
All the focus on Tenten was momentarily stolen...
As Naruto Uzumaki...made a run for it into the forested trees...
6:55 am
Sakura watched her beloved and trusted teammate and brother figure speed away in an unbelieving shock. Everything was happening too quickly once again...There was no time for the Leaf-Taka group to acknowledge what it meant...
"He's getting away!" shouted Shikamaru...
Fear and confusion propelled Sakura up off the ice as she gave chase and flew after Naruto.
Shikamaru came running...
Sasuke came running...
Everyone else stayed behind with Tenten, or were too slow to react to give chase...
Sakura's mind went blank; Naruto...Naruto.
It was him...it was him...
She could see him speeding up ahead as Shikamaru caught up with her...
Naruto was unnaturally fast and quiet as he bulleted through the forest. He sped in a flash of a sprint before his chasers could even catch up- except Sasuke.
Sasuke Uchiha teleported right next to the runaway Naruto and grabbed the sleeve of his jacket to slow him down but Naruto, with his free hand shot an arsenal of shuriken at him and the trees above his head. Sasuke was forced to let go of Naruto and flee as his sharingan saw the tree behind him about to tip over and crush him before it happened.
Before long, Naruto was out of sight of Sasuke, and especially Sakura and Shikamaru far behind him...he laughed a shrilly laugh of victory and thrill before disappearing...into complete blackness...
x
The yellowy orange light beamed across the dark watery hallway as Naruto looked up at the tall unbreakable gates jailing the colossal beast inside him. It felt like he had been locked inside his own head forever. Strangely enough though, the water surrounding his feet was stirring. He looked up at the seal entrapping the ninetails. The ninetails was extremely agitated...
"What is it...what is that chakra...why can't I expel it!..." growled the ninetails.
"What are you talking about?" asked Naruto.
"How can I reject that chakra if I can't find it...?"
Naruto frowned at the beast sharing his body as the splashing of running feet echoed through the hallway. Naruto stopped and gasped in shock. It sounded like footsteps...he wondered if something was there with him and the ninetails...Another chakra?
Sasuke? He wondered as he'd once used his sharingan to see inside of him.
Then something ran past him as the ninetails emitted its fierce roar and Naruto jumped backwards as a swoosh passed him at lightning speed then he screamed as he blanked out...
x
Sakura and Shikamaru continued to run into the trees as they looked for Naruto and Sasuke was already long gone due to his fast speed.
"Dammit! We lost him! He's too fast!" exclaimed Shikamaru, perplexed as he and Sakura stopped. Sakura thought of the speed in which Ino employed to attack her and hurl shuriken at her; it wasn't surprising to her...
They were both interrupted by that scream. The well-known shrilly high-pitched piercing scream that stabbed their ears. They covered their ears for the duration of the scream; it felt worse because it felt so near to them.
"It came from this way, C'mon" yelled Shikamaru pointing to his left as he and Sakura ran deeper into the woods...
…Back outside the house where Suigetsu and Neji pulled Tenten out, Kariin felt a pang inside her body and exclaimed out loud.
"Ah! There it is! The other chakra, I sense it coming from the woods heading further... Wait, it just disappeared again." she yelled shaking her head towards the ninja outside...
…In the forest again...Sakura and Shikamaru ran relentlessly as they spotted someone waking up woozily and adjusting their eyes, lying down at the base of a tree wearing the black and orange jacket.
"There he is!" shouted Shikamaru and they went after him.
Naruto Uzumaki lifted his heavy head and finally woke up. He out of focus eyes tried to make sense of his surroundings. He was sitting at the base of a tree in the snow working to find any memories of what had happened to him until his eyes saw a ninja with pink hair rushing up to him...
"Sakura. Is that you? What happened? Finally I found you-
Sakura wasted no time; she tackled him with full force while pulled out her long wire string and bound his feet and hands.
"Quickly Shikamaru! Now so he can't move!" she yelled. Shikamaru did his shadow possession jutsu as lax as it was stemming from the weak sunlight through the snowed in clouds.
Naruto tried to look up at the both of them as Sakura tied him up. His head was spinning at the sudden commotion. "What, Shikamaru, Sakura? What are you guys doing, let me go" whispered Naruto.
"We did it. Finally caught him." said Shikamaru relieved. But Sakura was still unsatisfied; she took 'Naruto by the neck tightly.
"You, you monster, where is the real Naruto? Transform back into yourself!" she spat.
"What are you talking about, what real Naruto?" he asked trying to make sense of his surroundings.
"Liar! We saw you running into this forest, trying to escape when Tenten was drowning." she roared holding his neck tighter.
"Tenten was what?...Sakura...I don't know what you're talking about; weren't you guys looking for me? I was knocked out after that blast a few minutes ago".
Sakura punched his side as he tried to recoil in pain but was paralysed by shadow possession. "You know very well that the blast that separated us was yesterday afternoon already. We found everyone and you lastly after three hours. You were with us the whole time."
Naruto looked at them stupefied. "Three hours? What are you talking about, I haven't been with anybody. I've been knocked out since the blast. But you're saying that I've been knocked out for a whole day? It's been a whole day already?"
Sakura stopped to look into his shiny confused worried blue eyes. She felt herself being sucked into his act...
"Ignore him. He is just trying to confuse us. He's somehow able to read us and he knows that you would fall for his innocent act because you're partners and friends with Naruto." said Shikamaru.
"I want to take him back to the house. So we can all deal with this mess." she said as she got up and pulled a complaining Naruto along with her by the wire bounding him. Shikamaru walked carefully behind her as he moved with the shadow possession hoping in his heart that they wouldn't later regret postponing his killing at that moment.
While they dragged him along the forest, Sasuke who was breathing heavily found them pulling Naruto along.
"What are you guys doing? We need to kill that bastard now!" yelled Sasuke.
Sakura held onto him tighter protecting her catch. A wired and bound Naruto looked up at Sasuke with slanted eyes like he was seeing an angel; seeing Sakura and Shikamaru talking mutually with Sasuke and not fighting, was everything to him...
"Sakura, I agree with Sasuke, we have to kill this rogue ninja right now before he finds any opportunity to try anything." said Shikamaru stopping.
"And what am I supposed to tell Kakashi sensei when we get back to the village? That we killed the enemy but I failed to bring Naruto back? This rogue is the only person who knows where the real Naruto is" she cried.
That seemed to appease Sasuke. For him, finding out where the real Naruto was so that he didn't land up in the 'wrong hands' from his perspective was crucial...
"If we're bringing him with us, we have to do it and fast..." said Sasuke helping Sakura heave the dizzy Naruto back out of the forest. They carried on walking through the forest and out towards the other group of ninja.
While there, Suigetsu moulded himself back from being a formless liquid state back into a solid human being with Tenten coughing and splatting in the cold.
"Guys, we got him!" said Shikamaru triumphantly as he Sakura and Sasuke emerged out of the forest pulling Naruto along.
"Fantastic! And we got Tenten" said Ino after Suigetsu placed her onto the snowed and finally solid ground.
"Tenten, are you okay?" said Neji as he held onto her. She didn't respond but lay on the snowed ground. He could see that her body was going into shock so he picked her up into his arms and carried her into the house.
"And what do we make of this?" asked Kariin with a disgusted look on her face as she walked with Sakura and Sasuke pulling Naruto.
"I want him to talk before we get rid of him, he knows where the real Naruto is. He doesn't die before I find out!" Sakura said daring anyone to oppose her.
Kariin shrugged at her as the rest of the ninja team walked back into the house.
7:24 am
Neji grabbed a few blankets from the sleeping bags and the quilt blanket on the armrest of the couch to throw over his teammate. Tenten clutched the blanket as if onto life itself and shivered uncontrollably with her teeth clattering loudly. Watching her in a tortured state made Neji feel helpless; he was dying for answers. How had a frozen lake appeared where solid ground had stood?
Sasuke and Sakura dragged Naruto onto the wet tatami floor as Shikamaru broke his shadow possession jutsu.
Seeing everyone in an unidentified house he'd never seen filled Naruto with more confusion. Neji, Tenten appearing to be near death and was that...the Taka!
"Huh? It's the Taka; please tell me what's going on here? What are you looking at me like that for? Why are you guys binding me? What is this place? What are the Taka doing here?" yelled Naruto. Nobody listened to him.
"Shut up and break whatever transformation or body doubling jutsu you're using now." said Sakura hovering her fist above Naruto's head.
"Wait, Sakura, what are you doing?" he asked staring up at her and breathing quickly. His mind couldn't keep up. She couldn't kill him; she couldn't kill the rogue while he still looked like Naruto.
"It's me...It's me Naruto. What's gotten into you guys?" he asked innocently; he knew that his Leaf comrades could never hurt him...ever...
"Wait! Said Kariin. "Somehow, I think he could be telling the truth. I sensed the strong chakra that we assumed belongs to the rogue ninja deep in the forest when this Leaf Village girl was drowning. Then it disappeared again and all I can say is that it's different from this one." said Kariin.
"How do you mean different?" demanded Sasuke.
"This has to be the ninetails boy for sure. I sensed his chakra separately from the other evil feeling chakra right beside it before it disappeared again. It happened the same way that it had when this ninetails boy first arrived here yesterday."
The group of ninja tried to gather their thoughts. The changes were too quick to comprehend.
"Now that I think about it, it makes sense. We lost the rogue running away as Naruto for a while in the forest when he ran ahead of us in an unbelievable speed. All that time could've given him a chance to swop himself as the fake Naruto with the real Naruto who was unconscious, and place him by that tree before running away again" said Shikamaru.
"Which means that the rogue was pretending to be Naruto all along. This is apparently is the real Naruto" said Ino.
Sakura relaxed her hard stance. It was the real Naruto. They had the real Naruto...she turned towards him and gave him a relieved hug.
"Would somebody mind telling me what's going on?" came Naruto still blank.
"You, You're such a knucklehead Naruto" she smiled at him. "Do you remember the rogue ninja we were sent here to assassinate? Well he's been impersonating you since we found him or 'you'...that's why we captured you" she said out of breath.
Naruto looked at the wet floor in an attempt to understand and calm his overworked head.
"Wait, but Sasuke...since you here with us, wherever this place is, and we're not fighting... does this mean you're coming back and joining team Kakashi..." he asked treading softly and careful not to get his hopes up.
Sasuke's bored face looked up at the incessant Naruto. It was the curse...he wondered if they could return the preferred fake Naruto back just so that he wouldn't have to deal with the nagging real one... "Team Kakashi? What's that?"
Meanwhile Sakura's relief was short-lived as guilt washed over her looking at Neji trying his absolute best at comforting Tenten which he wasn't used to. Their eyes met. Sakura looked away in shame. Neji shook it off...
"It still doesn't make sense though. How was he able to go undetected by this Kariin girl for so long until he had to swop the bodies by some tree? And if he was the fake, how did he know personal information about me?" asked Neji.
They all shook their heads confused. Nobody had an answer.
"That's just the thing...how. How did he do it? He was so perfect. He was able to get away with it for a whole day and we still haven't even seen his real face in person yet... Nothing that he did was out of the ordinary." said Shikamaru.
Sakura thought. "Wait; there was something that was strange. Naruto was able to tell me where I'd seen the Kamakura name when he hadn't been there when we first saw it."
"And Suigetsu and I noticed this fake ninetails guy, he tried using some jutsu last night but for some reason he just fell to the floor and screamed as if he was in pain. None of you probably noticed because you Leaf ninja were too busy fighting each other and Sasuke." said Jugo.
"So what does that mean? Maybe he can't perform any jutsu of the person he impersonates but he can...I don't know, read minds?" said Ino thinking about the telepathic jutsu that her Yamanaka clan had.
"No he can't read minds but it's pretty close to it. Now that I think about it, the frozen river coming out of nowhere. The strange apparition like person holding a lantern last night which disappeared. The swing appearing and vanishing. Sakura seeing the swing in her head when she apparently touched some book. The convenience of the candles and matches appearing. Shikamaru being stabbed by a shuriken even though as he wasn't found yet, he was probably close by...they were all mind games." said Sasuke.
"Genjutsu." said Shikamaru nodding his head in agreement. "Sakura and I found eleven sets of cups, plates and spoons in the previously empty kitchen before we found the rogue. We think he placed those dishes there using genjutsu to send us some kind of message"
They all soaked it in.
"I also found out that the rogue's a pretty good genjutsu type shinobi" said Ino feeling quite timid.
"How would you know this?" asked Shikamaru.
"Because last night, I had a dream or a memory, I don't know…a nightmare where I think he placed a genjutsu on me that showed"-she hesitated for a while-"that showed Sasuke drowning me in a pool of water in the bathroom basin. There was blood on my hands. I think I was the one who stabbed Neji but I don't remember." she said quietly.
Neji shook his head at her slowly...Sakura thought about it...it couldn't be as simple as they thought.
"Then why was Neji the only one who saw dead people hanging from trees? Sasuke, I thought your sharingan was able to see through genjutsu?"
"It is. But this time the rogue pretending to be Naruto made the genjutsu specifically for Neji and only for him to see. It could've been payback for what you did to him, stabbing his arm and stomach so he showed you what he does best; drowning and suicide by disembowelment." said Sasuke to Neji.
Sakura hoped that it was safe to assume that the rogue was no longer pretending to be one of them, knowing that it was never safe to assume anything in the ninja world but she took the chance.
"I think Sasuke is right. I'm not entirely sure about the genjutsu part but I do know that the rogue is big on...revenge" she said trying not to look at Sasuke. "I read a poem in one of the books on the bookshelf but I was too afraid to speak out because of the rogue being amongst us. It read that someone was seeking revenge on those who had betrayed him. It went on to say, 'you do seppuku' as if he was ordering someone to do it to themselves."
"You think it's about the rogue ninja?" asked Sasuke.
"I think the books on this shelf are about him or were written by him. There are so many references to him. He could be a Kamakura living here. See I found out from another book that the Kamakura family, which is the name of the family who lived or live here, ran a family owned funeral business." said Sakura.
"What do you mean by that? Were they undertakers?" asked Neji.
"I don't know. But one person, who lived here, one Namiko Kamakura, read self-written poetry at funerals. That's why there are so many books here"
"Well let's find out the real truth about this house." said Sasuke. "Naruto, you have the most chakra and it seems okay to do it now. Break the genjutsu" instructed Sasuke.
They all looked at him as if he was still the suspected rogue ninja...
"What are you talking about?" asked Naruto.
"Just do it. There is a genjutsu seal hanging above us on the ceiling and there's one in the kitchen I only saw it with my sharingan."
The entire group was left reeling at the information he'd kept from them.
"Why didn't you say anything?" demanded Sakura.
"What and alert the rogue ninja that I was onto him? Let's see what's really going on here."
Sasuke jumped towards the roof while Naruto just went along with what Sasuke said and smacked his fists and he ripped off the seal. Everyone waited with bated breath for any repercussions. None came.
The room swirled and swam in front of the all before it completely changed...All of their mouths dropped when they saw what the house really looked like.
8:07 am
Black and ashen. Soot smeared. Coal painted.
The house was beyond charred.
Black. Burned. Desolate.
The once beautiful house with the homely tatami flooring, wooden walls, and white translucent fusuma panel sliding doors were all gone. Now it was replaced by black walls, collapsing beams and columns of the house with the almost non existing soot layered couch that Shikamaru had laid on. The only thing that remained constant was the water leaking from the bathroom beginning to make a small flood in the burned living room.
The entire group of ninja gasped at the surprise.
"It's all burned. I wonder what happened here?" whispered Kariin as her face fell in dismay.
Naruto and Sakura jumped up from sitting below the fireplace to avoid blackening their clothing. Tenten threw the scorched quit blanket off of her body when she saw it transformed back into its real state. Sasuke ran his hands over the soot on the dry area of the floor. It felt hardened against the floor, which meant that if the house had been burned, it had happened quite a long time ago…
They all walked around examining the place. Shikamaru saw another door had appeared by the living room. A new door...he opened it...
There were seven other doors leading to other unknown rooms that had been sealed out of sight by the genjutsu. The entire area was also burned but somehow; there were signs of recovery; someone had swept the soot caused by a fire and some of the wood had been replaced and boarded up.
"Hey guys, there are more rooms this way but they look slightly repaired." he told the other ninja.
Everyone except Tenten walked down the new hallway and slid open the doors one by one. The six of them were empty spare rooms but one was sealed shut completely.
Shikamaru noticed that there were trapdoors and secret doors, hidden passageways leading to other rooms and the backdoor lying scattered all around the new parts of the house. It appeared that every nook and cranny was some kind of place of concealment. They all searched through everything; looking for anything else that could be hiding.
Neji's byakugan eyes found the hidden secret waiting to be discovered lying stashed inside the unlit fireplace.
"Hey guys look here. There are paper bombs stuffed inside here. Why would the Kamakura's need that in the house? Or maybe they torched the house themselves before leaving permanently?" asked Neji.
"At this point, nothing about this house could surprise me any more than it has" said Suigetsu. Sasuke looked quite pleased at the discovery. He walked over to the fireplace and pulled out as many as there were and piled them on the floor.
"We should all be thankful that Sakura told Suigetsu to leave the firewood behind in the forest last night, or we would've lit this fireplace and blown ourselves away" he said eyeing Sakura and Suigetsu who felt just as lucky…
Sakura needed clarity from the supposedly real Naruto. "Naruto tell us about what you remember during the time of the blast" said Sakura approaching him and choosing to stand instead of sit on any burned or wet area.
"Well after the blast all I remember was feeling dizzy and then I saw the little girl then I blacked out and woke up now in the forest-"
"-Wait, what little girl?" asked Sakura. She knew to take him seriously when he said he saw some unknown child because of a similar incident once.
"I don't know, she said that she wanted to play a game with me. But after telling her that I couldn't play she got upset and I blacked out"
Neji was shocked as he remembered something in the forest. "Did you say a game?"
"Yes why?"
"That's what Sakura said to me when I found her in the forest. She said that she wanted to play and after I rejected her childish ways, she was also upset and left me."
"I never did that Neji, like I said before." said Sakura.
"Then it must've been the rogue who transformed himself as a Sakura look-alike and pretended to be you when you were knocked out. That could explain why Sakura was acting like a little girl. What game did she say she wanted to play?"
"Hide and seek" said Naruto casually.
Both Neji and Sakura gasped as everyone looked at them. Neji remembered what Sakura had said to him and Sakura remembered the poem.
"The poem. I read a poem about hide and seek in one of the books on the shelf. That's the book I touched and the image of the pink swing flashed in my head..."
"And I never saw a little girl but Sakura asked me to play hide and seek."
"Sakura, you mentioned a poem? What did the poem mean?" asked Shikamaru.
"The book is called hide and seek and it had the same poem on it on every page. It was very vague." she said walking over to the bookcase and not even attempting to open it seeing as the cover was burned so most likely the pages were like ash now.
"So what about the little girl business?" asked Jugo. Do you think he could also be using a little girl?"
"We can't be sure yet but at least we know that we're dealing with a genjutsu type shinobi who could be a Kamakura who lived in this house and can transform or double himself to look like another person. He has incredible speed and he may be out for revenge. That's what we have so far." said Shikamaru.
After they'd all finished discussing Neji went back to Tenten. She was still shivering and her teeth clattering. She'd tried listening to what everyone was saying but she was still frozen and numb. Neji came and sat next to her.
"Tenten, how are you feeling now?" he said.
"Pain in my legs. Freezing. I'm exhausted" was all she could muster. Neji figured that she was still in a state of shock. He took her shoulder.
"Neji, can you do me a favour?" she asked quietly.
"Sure what do you need?"
"Will you smile for me?"
He was so taken aback at her unusual request. "Why?" he asked; it was one of Tenten's quirks to be silly…in his opinion.
"Because you hardly ever smile so when you do, it makes everything special." she knew that she was being silly but she wanted to loosen him up.
"So you think it was me at one time the rogue as Neji?"
"I can only tell by how you smile. The real Neji would want me to be one hundred percent sure"
Neji tried his best attempt at a genuine smile but it came out awkward and crooked, making Tenten laugh. The luxury of his smile, it was a rarity, She thought about it in her head, it was awkward, embarrassed and preeny as if he was too good or above such 'nonsense.'
"You really thought it was me didn't you?" he asked internally delighted that he'd made her laugh.
"I couldn't be sure. You were acting strangely. The real Neji would've never hurt Naruto the way you did when interrogating him…or me"
Neji looked away from her as his soul was awash with guilt mixed with regret and self-hatred.
"I'm sorry…I don't even know what to say because there isn't any excuse for my barbaric behaviour. But I was afraid and I snapped. I just wanted to protect you especially since we found out that the hidden rogue killed people through suicide... I knew that we couldn't afford to be soft so I panicked, for you. But I wish it was me. I wish I had been the rogue when I hit you, so you wouldn't think that the real me is a monster."
Tenten gave him a long hard look as he couldn't look back at her…haunted by his actions… then she leaned her head on his shoulder
8:26 am
Kariin felt a tiny prickling inside her body coming from one of the rooms that had previously been hidden from them by the genjutsu seal on the ceiling. It wasn't strong enough for her to raise an alarm, although it did spark some curiosity in her.
She shifted her eyes to sweep across the room of ninja who were preoccupied with the paper bombs and discussing. She managed to slip away unnoticed and walked down the new hall, following the flickering inside of her, walking past six rooms and stopping at the seventh one which appeared to be the biggest room. She slid open the fusuma panel door.
Her eyes lit up slightly as she took in the unique sight of a somewhat plainly coloured yet cluttered bedroom with an abundance of candles, dried out flowers, calendars and pictures strewn about the room, long forgotten in the isolated house.
She stepped inside and felt a single trail of liquid slide down her face...Kariin brushed off the nosebleed and continued inside the room without a moment's hesitation...
She walked over to the side table nearest to her; there was a huge pile of letters, photographs, notes, envelopes, poetry books and religious texts stacked on top of each other, all collecting dust...Kariin decided to pick up one of the old photo's:
It showed a group of fourteen people lined up for the photo with the words 'Kamakura Funeral Services' written on the building they were standing in front of. It looked like it could be in downtown Grass Village. The people in the photo were all standing stoically and weren't smiling, except for a young looking woman warmly cradling a toddler girl who already had a waterfall of black hair.
Kariin couldn't help but smile as she examined the photo of the long mysterious Kamakura family and their family run funeral services as the Sakura girl of the Leaf had told them. She figured that the chakra she'd felt must've come from that bedroom flickering with forgotten chakra.
She looked at more photos, of the Kamakura's attending funerals, the women in the picture reading from a poetry book in front of mourners...then there was the picture of the toddler girl she'd seen in the picture of the Kamakura family as a whole...she was more grown than before but...the look in her face, one that no innocent girl should have. A mean snarl tarnished her distraught looking face...
Kariin placed the pictures back and looked up to stare at the many drawings lining the entire perimeter of the bedroom wall. It appeared to be a child who'd drawn the pictures. She noticed that they appeared to be in a sequence, like some kind of picture story.
The pictures began with a happy family of a mother, and a young girl surrounded by a meadow of tall grass.
Next picture: a deformed looking monster arrived and destroyed their home...
Next picture: the young girl who had blue tears drawn on her face was being yelled at by many random people...
Next picture, the mother and daughter were standing in a different grassy plain...but Kariin straightened her glasses as she looked closer and closer... at the picture...
Next Picture: The many people had their faces crossed out by a black ink and their bodies were covered in red blotches...
Kariin was so captivated, so caught off guard by the disturbing picture...
She didn't notice the fusuma door sliding closed by itself until...
An overwhelmingly consuming sharp pang filled her body and made her stiff.
Behind her.
She realised what was happening but she'd detected it too late. She took out a kunai knife...
Too late.
Someone grabbed her abdomen from behind and took her arm holding the kunai and shoved it in her mouth as Kariin tried to scream with eyes wide in horror.
"Didn't I make it clear to all of you that no knives were allowed? Somebody's gonna get hurt. Someone's gonna wanna stab themselves..." came the low demonic drawl of the man standing behind her.
Kariin was completely anchored on the ground as her body refused to move except for the hair on her body that stiffened. She tried in a deep state of panic to reach for the closed-door and kick it to get attention...so close...Sasuke and the others were just in the next few rooms in the living room yet she couldn't reach them...so close...she tried yelling.
"Sssh, now now. If you even make a sound, every bastard that living room who so much as moves will set off all those paper bombs and blow your bits into the sky..." he chuckled sadistically as he shoved the sharp kunai further into her mouth to muzzle her. Kariin could feel the corners of her mouth tearing as the kunai struggled to fit inside her mouth...
A tear trickled down her face as she stood helplessly in the hands of an evil murderer...He pressed his blue chapped lips against her ear sending an electrifying stiffness through her body. His scent was pretty strong. Like blood and sweat...
"You sure got yourself a pretty spankin' little body don't cha? I would sure love to get inside you...get inside your head. Trust me; when I get inside your head, I will drive you crazy, so crazy 'till you beg me to kill yourself. Oh yeahhhh..." he laughed and breathed mouth-watering in her ear.
He slowly slid the kunai out of her mouth, cutting the corners of her lips as she exclaimed softly in agony…
…Back in the living room Suigetsu noticed something forming on Sasuke's shoulder.
"Sasuke, your neck, it has the curse mark is back." yelled Suigetsu wide-eyed. Everyone looked at him alarmed.
"Oh no Sasuke look at my shoulder!" panicked Jugo. Both their necks now had curse marks with the most sickening self-mutilated looking scratches around their curse marks...
"You don't think-
"No. He's not back alive, I would've felt it. Relax it's just a genjutsu...wait a second…" Sasuke said jumping up. He realised what it meant. The rogue ninja had to be nearby. He scanned the room.
"Kariin? KARIIN where are you?" he yelled out. "Quickly, search for her now!"
The entire group of ninja frantically searched around for her. They ran as fast as they could prying open all the panel doors, trapdoors and hidden compartments.
…Back in the seventh bedroom…Kariin could hear Sasuke calling out to her hoping that they would find her soon...
"C'mon open the right door...Sasuke please!" she sobbed in her head.
He smirked. "Looks like they've caught on...but I haven't decided whether I'm going to let you die yet...See there's this game that I like to play but I'm having me some difficulty... if you could just help me...give me a word that rhymes with…
Hyuuga...
"Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke..." Was all she could think. She could hear them coming closer and closer...but she had to stall him for now before he decided to do something drastic...
"I c, c, c, c...can't" she cried unable to speak through the extreme pain of her bleeding mouth as she shook the tears off her face. Desperation clouded her mind and she went blank. There was no chance that she could think of a rhyming word...
"Too bad...Unfortunately that's not the answer I was looking for..." he said stiffly in her ear as he yanked and grabbed a fistful of her cherry red hair.
"Two doors away...two more doors..." she could hear them furiously sliding and slamming all six doors to find her.
The rogue ninja slammed her against the wall and vanished as she screamed and Sasuke Uchiha along with Jugo right behind him, burst open the door to find Karin crumbled on the floor, the bottom jaw of her face swimming in blood...
A/N: Of course it was Naaaaarutooo! But wow, I can't believe that it's nearly the end, two max. three more chapters to go...But I wonder if anyone's caught on with the significance of the chapter headings yet...