Chapter 5: Hide and Seek
A/N: There is more dialogue in this chapter as the investigation reaches a climax...
8:41am
Kariin pressed her hands ever so slightly over the blood seeping out of the sliced corners of her mouth to contain the bleeding as she gazed up despondently at Jugo's warm concerned eyes. He took in her torture while he carried her in his big arms back to the blackened living room.
Sasuke walked down the new hallway behind Jugo carrying the injured Kariin with Sakura and Ino walking next to him; they were carrying the pile of photos taken from the seventh room along with the five disturbing crayon and ink drawings, in order, pasted on the walls by a child. They had all recoiled at the unnerving drawings.
Sasuke shook his head incredibly pissed; pissed at himself that he hadn't seen the incident coming and pissed that Kariin had almost gotten herself killed so foolishly. Her death would've greatly affected their team Taka dynamics...Sakura watched Sasuke's scowl wishing she knew what was going on in his head; she tried to eject any jealousy of his worry and panic of the Taka girl Kariin's injuries.
"Is she okay?" asked Naruto as they arrived back in the living room. The cold and blank stares from the ninja arriving into the living room answered his question.
Kariin watched the Leaf ninja girl who had fallen into the genjutsu frozen lake shiver against the mostly scorched blankets she was clutching as Jugo placed her next to Tenten on the nearly non-existent burned couch. Then her eyes shifted to the other Leaf ninja girls who took out a medical kit and began wiping the blood off her jaw and chin with a damp cloth.
Sakura and Ino concentrated their teal coloured chakra around a fussy Kariin's mouth to heal the two and a half centimetre cut extending out from the corners of her mouth into her cheeks.
Kariin wanted to bury her head in shame but there was too much blood on her face to move her head. She was fuming with anger at the condescending treatment by the Leaf. After she had behaved like a child, now she was being treated like one. She couldn't take it and needed an outlet to express her embarrassment and short temper.
"Gimme that, I can do it myself!" she snapped at the pink haired Leaf ninja, snatching the cloth from her and wiping her mouth. She regretted speaking immediately as the sting of her cut mouth throbbed excruciatingly.
"Can you heal yourself too? Ino and I shouldn't even be using Konohan medical ninjutsu taught exclusively to us only for the use of the Leaf and by the Leaf to heal someone considered an enemy." Sakura shot back. Kariin bit back a retort. She was overwhelmed with maddening fear and guilt. The minute her mouth was healed she jumped into explanations and excuses.
"Sasuke, forgive me please! It's all my fault, I'm so sorry Sasuke", she whined dramatically, "I wondered off like a naïve little genin. I didn't realise that the seventh room had previously been sealed shut. It was so reckless of me." She cried over-apologetically hoping that Sasuke wouldn't express his annoyance at her ridiculous behaviour.
"What were you thinking leaving without notifying anyone? We had a deal not to allow anyone to leave in single digits. It's so unlike you to fall for such a trap Kariin" he lambasted at her crossing his arms.
She was finally able to look down and hide her face. "Exactly; you know that I would never have wondered off like I did, which means whatever tricks he's using, he's brilliant at it. Brilliant enough that I fell for his bait, playing around with chakra like it was a toy."
"So then what did he do to your mouth?" asked Suigetsu soaking in the comfortable watery environment.
She shook her head. "He shoved a kunai in my mouth to gag me; I couldn't even see if he looked like the man in the picture because he was standing behind me; holding onto me." she said bitterly feeling violated. She couldn't take it anymore.
"Is there anything that he said to you?" asked Shikamaru hoping that the rogue would unknowingly have given her some kind of clue to his location.
As reluctant as she was to think back to the terrifying incident, Kariin only remembered one thing in particular that had caught her unawares.
"Which one of you here, presumably from the Leaf, responds to the word Hyuuga?" she asked slowly lifting her head up and scanning the group. All the Leaf ninja's eyes including former Leaf shinobi Sasuke shot straight to Neji.
"Me. That's my surname. Why?" said Neji cautiously; he had no idea how the Taka girl knew his last name. Kariin observed him sitting close to the Leaf ninja who'd almost drowned.
"You better start counting your final hours," she whispered looking him straight in his eyes as his and Tenten's next to him widened in shock, "You're a dead man-
-Now who the hell do you think you are saying things like that-
-The rogue ninja called your boyfriend out by name. He asked me to help him think of a word that rhymes with 'Hyuuga'." she said to Tenten after Tenten's outburst.
Tenten's hands shot straight over her mouth in shock as the rest of the Leaf ninja looked at each other apprehensively. Shikamaru cursed under his breath. No shinobi feared anything more than someone on their team being singled out as a target. Naruto crunched his fists while Neji however closed his eyes and looked down; giving a small smile of confidence.
"How silly," he sighed nonchalantly, "I'm not afraid of anything. Death threats, as vague as they might be, are just part of being a shinobi. Clearly he feels threatened by me which has prompted him to try and kill me. So I guess I must be doing something right..."
Tenten looked at him outraged at his lack of caution.
"But this is different. We have no idea what we're dealing with. He's targeting you now just like he did with that genjutsu!" she cried; she was far more afraid for him than he was for himself. Neji stared into her dreading eyes.
"There was one other thing he said to me which I didn't understand. He said something like 'didn't I tell you that no knives were allowed because someone's gonna get hurt or stab themselves'" said Kariin.
Sakura's eyes shot to Shikamaru. That was the one piece of evidence Sakura had been hoping for from the beginning...
"That's it! That's all we needed. Confirmation straight from the horse's mouth." said Sakura excitedly, standing up on the wet floor. "Remember what Shikamaru said about us him finding the eleven sets of spoons, plates and cups in the kitchen that had appeared under the genjutsu...we forgot to say that it was written in a poetry book entitled 'Broken Pieces of Silver' straight from this bookshelf. Which means the rogue ninja did write that poem and it means what I've wanted to find out. He has been using these books to communicate with us and more importantly...these books are connected to him!" she said as Shikamaru and the rest of the group except Kariin appeared to be quite satisfied at the revelation.
"You're wrong." claimed Kariin vehemently.
"What do you mean I'm wrong? What you just said, he told you that 'no knives were allowed' is written in that exact book 'Broken Pieces of Silver' in the poem about 'ereben' or eleven spoons, cups and plates'. He used the poem to tell us that he was hiding among us" said Sakura but Kariin wasn't convinced.
Kariin ran her fingers through her cherry hair in distress and looked up as Sasuke in the momentary silence. Her eyes were begging for him to hear her plea.
"Sasuke, she breathed, "We need to leave here before that psychopath comes back. The storm is calming down now and the rogue has been ousted from our two Taka-Leaf groups. We have no reason to stay here anymore. Please…this isn't our mission."
Sasuke looked at Jugo and Suigetsu; he could see the wary expressions on their faces that they felt the same way. Then he looked at the Leaf and especially at Naruto who stared back at him with a big gleam in his shiny blue eyes, just waiting...waiting for any announcement that Sasuke was leaving... because he would never allow it and would gladly give chase to somehow take Sasuke back to Konoha...
...Sasuke on the other hand only then realised how badly the events would turn if something were to happen to Naruto...he would lose his leverage from a powerful someone from the Akatsuki he'd betrayed a while back.
"Sorry Kariin, but we need to see this through to the end and make sure that this rogue bastard is killed...especially because Naruto had been the rogue." We need to make sure that Naruto survives." he said carefully hiding his motives.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" chimed Naruto way too hopeful and gullible thinking that his once best friend was finally starting to care about him. Sakura placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder trying to calm his relative excitement.
Kariin shook her head at the wet floor in frustration. "We have no idea what we're dealing with. This guy, he's able to mask or hide his chakra or at least manipulate it. It's like a light switch he can click on, off or even dim and flicker it to the point that I didn't even realise that it was him because I know is chakra as being suffocatingly strong. He could be standing just outside the door right now and I wouldn't know. I mean look Sasuke, your curse mark is still there with whatever sickening scratches around it. He's using genjutsu on you right this minute" she ranted desperately.
"It begs the question though, for the rogue ninja to use a genjutsu on Neji to see his father and make the curse mark appear on Sasuke's shoulder...how does he know all of this?" asked Shikamaru. Sakura's eyes shifted towards Kariin.
"That's right; Sasuke and I have never had these scratches around our curse marks before." said Jugo.
Sakura's pale green eyes began to bore fixatedly into Kariin's light eyes. She was trying to communicate something to her. To make her feel the heat of her silence...
"Kariin. You know we can't help you if you don't tell us what you know. The sooner we're done with this mission, the sooner you can leave like you want to."
"I don't know what you're talking about" snapped Kariin.
"The man in the picture. The rogue ninja. We know you recognised him. Is he a Kamakura living in this house? Does the doll in the picture belong to a girl that Naruto could've seen in the forest?" she asked with everyone staring at Kariin.
Kariin remained silent for a moment. "I don't know anything about a doll or a girl"
"You know what, forget it, you're hopeless," scolded Sakura towards Kariin completely fed up and throwing her hands in the air, "We'll just have to find out about the rogue ninja by ourselves. We have plenty of resources here linked to the rogue and clearly we're going to have to sift through all these books to find out about him"
"I think you're missing the main objective here Sakura. Our mission is to eliminate the rogue ninja, not find out about his life or what happened to the Kamakura's" said Ino.
"Ino, I think the only way to find and kill the rogue and perhaps find his weakness is to find out about him and the Kamakura's using the breadcrumbs that they left behind" she said referring to the books, pictures and drawings.
Shikamaru confirmed with a nod of his head and Sakura felt even more confident after his approval that she was doing the right thing. Neji Tenten and a reluctant Sasuke walked over to the many pictures, drawings and books to begin the search for answers.
"This is going to take forever." whined Suigetsu who more than happily sat in the pool of water flooding the floor.
9:10 am
Shikamaru flipped through the photographs of the Kamakura's given to him by Ino until he stopped at one picture that made him recoil. A girl who appeared to be the same girl he'd seen in the bigger Kamakura family as a whole only slightly older this time. It was her facial expression. It reminded him of when he'd seen Gaara trying to kill Rock Lee in a hospital during their Chunin exams years ago. Her facial expression had the same menacing bloodlust written all over it.
"Hey Naruto, does this by any chance look like the girl you saw in the forest?" he asked holding the picture for him and the rest of the group to see her villainous face.
"Yes! It's her," said Naruto but the closer he looked at the photo the more his shock grew, "She looks so mad...but she didn't have that kind of look on her face though. She looked quite untidy and come to think of it, she had one trail of blood coming from her nose."
Sakura stopped scanning book pages and her head shot up in shock. So did Kariin and Tenten.
"Oh my goodness," whispered Sakura, "I had a trail of blood coming from my nose when I heard a strange high pitched voice coming from the forest-
-Me too but I only felt a nosebleed before I entered this house" said Tenten.
-And me...in the seventh room." whispered Kariin.
The room was completely taken aback.
"You know, come to think of it, all those screams that hurt our ears were very shrill and high pitched...the same way a little girl would scream...I can't believe it, there really is a little girl in the forest. But how is it that the rogue hadn't found her or killed her?" said Tenten.
"Wait; remember there was a doll inside the rogue ninja's pocket. And all these crayon drawings. They could both be on the same team, helping each other...but let's not jump to conclusions...we should keep looking" said Sasuke.
Sakura paced around trying to think about all the information they had found out thus far. Then she walked over to the fruitful blackened bookshelf. Most of the books were damaged beyond repair which gave Sakura a thought. Now that the genjutsu had been lifted off the house, it would probably be a good idea for her to take another look at them and see what had been hidden away by the genjutsu.
"But why would the rogue purposefully leave behind clues to his life for us to find? Does he want us to find out?" she said inside her head. She leaned in closer to the shelf and saw the ashen pieces of paper shoved in between the book spaces. One of them had miraculously survived the burn because it had been shoved at the back of a thick book which only had its cover and front pages burned.
It was a clipping of a newspaper article:
The Kusa Chronicles:
Asami Wataru
We regret to inform the citizens of Kusagakure that Ms. Namiko Kamakura of the Kamakura Funeral Services tragically died yesterday, after drowning in Yoritomo Lake outside the Village. Unfortunately her body has yet to be discovered by local Grass Village authorities. Kamakura Funeral Services has thus now been discontinued seeing as the rest of the family had vacated to other lands since the attack on Grass Village. She is survived in Kusagakure by her only child, her daughter, who was taken in by a distant cousin after the rest of the Kamakura family refused to take her in-
Sakura read the small snippet of the article with a sinking and sombre feeling. Alas the one person that they'd found out lived in the house they were staying in, had tragically died. The rest of the article, Sakura noticed curiously had been torn off rather than burned off like most of the other books and texts on the shelf...Clearly someone wanted to conceal the truth once again.
"Hey guys listen up," said Sakura to the rest of the group, "I just found a piece of an article here from the Grass Village newspaper, and it says that Namiko Kamakura, the person whose name is written on one of these books, died after drowning in Yoritomo lake but her body wasn't discovered. Therefore their Kamakura family business was closed because all the other Kamakura's emigrated from Kusagakure after some attack on Grass Village. Then her daughter was taken in by a distant cousin after the rest of the family refused to take her in." she said feeling sorrowful after the grim article.
A lightbulb went on in Ino's head. All the pictures and drawings they had taken from the very significant seventh bedroom had one particular picture that could reveal the answer.
"Attack? Wait a minute, one of the pictures we took off the wall had some kind of crazy looking monster painted on it; Maybe some child was trying to paint whatever the monster attacked their village...it could've been some kind of tailed beast, or...the oni that attacked us yesterday when we arrived".
"It can't be a tailed beast because there would be nothing left of the Grass Village. Although it could be the demon dog because it was a summoning and summoning's only attack when their owners tell them to. So the rogue ninja could've summoned the beast to try and destroy the village." said Sasuke.
"What it the date of that newspaper article?" asked Kariin sceptically.
"Three years ago. That's probably why we didn't hear about any attack, we were still genin" said Sakura.
"If that article is from three years ago, then it wasn't the rogue who attacked the Grass Village"
"How do you know?" asked Sasuke.
Kariin remained silent. Sakura wanted to punch her lights out in annoyance.
"So then according to the article Namiko had remained in the village while the rest of the family moved away after the attack?" asked Tenten.
"I don't think so," came Shikamaru, "If you look at these pictures in sequence like we found them, the last drawn picture shows the little girl and her mother in a location different from their first location but it's a similar grassy plain, so they could've left the Grass Village but not to other lands. They could've...moved to this house because as Naruto said, he did see a girl in the forest"
Kariin lifted the photo of the entire Kamakura family as a whole and stared at it. There was only one person holding a child. It was the smiling woman cradling the baby girl with the dark hair. It had to be her.
"This woman, she has to be Namiko Kamakura. Perhaps this little girl is the daughter who was taken in by a cousin when Namiko died." she said holding it for everyone to see.
"But how can it be the same little girl I saw in the forest when she was taken away by some cousin?" Naruto asked confused.
"The article doesn't specify where she was taken; there could be another house in this forest that we're unaware of" said Shikamaru.
"What I want to know is why the rest of the Kamakura's rejected that defenceless little girl, it's so cruel" said Jugo indignantly.
Sakura shook her head at them although she also wished to know what would cause a family to abandon one of their own innocent children. "I don't know but if you look at this picture that the girl could've drawn, there's so many people yelling at her and her mother with her crayon drawn blue tears and the picture comes after the picture of the weird looking entity that destroyed everything and before the picture of people yell at them. Which could mean that this woman we assume is Namiko Kamakura and her daughter were somehow implicated in the attack by these people drawn in before moving"
"But why move here, why move to such a godforsaken place such as this?" asked Ino.
"It's actually quite clear now that I think about it," said Shikamaru unaware that not everyone was not on his superior cognitive level, "Why would mother and daughter live in such an isolated place such as this? Think about it: the isolated location, trap doors, extra rooms, hidden passageways and not forgetting the paper bombs...It's highly likely they were protecting themselves or running away or hiding..." said Shikamaru.
"From what?" whispered Naruto.
"Whoever or whatever attacked the village or anything and anyone that threatened them. Just because people had blamed Namiko and her daughter for the attack, it doesn't mean that they were responsible for it; I'm betting that it was a false accusation. I mean just look at this picture, this girl looks miserable and inflicted with pain and injustice"
None of them could deny that the picture of the girl with the terrible facial expression was unalarming, she looked ready to destroy the world.
Sakura stood where she was at the bookshelf and continued to search through some of the books she'd previously read during the genjutsu seal but searched them again now that their contents were no longer hidden.
She opened the book she'd previously read entitled 'White Lotus'. It appeared to be the only book that was written specifically by Namiko about personal accounts rather than poems for funerals. She read a poem entitled 'Snake in the Grass'
'Snake in the Grass'
Like a moth to a flame
His servant came
Snake in the grass
Burning down the house
That parasitic louse
His master destroying the village
Looking to pillage
Why go after my gentle child
People of the Grass
No hearts
Told them where to find us
-Namiko Kamakura.
Sakura believed she finally knew who the betrayers were that the rogue was targeting...People of the Grass Village who had exposed the location of their hidden house to some monster that eventually ended Namiko's life. But the poem was probably about her and her daughter...so how did the rogue ninja fit into the picture. Unless he was the distant cousin who had taken her in and helped the daughter seek revenge on the Grass village people for their betrayal by making them kill themselves. She thought back to the haiku 'betrayers of mine, I will surely bury you, you do seppuku'
When she was finally convinced of the clue, she relayed the poem back to the group of ninja...
9:38am
The search continued for the group of ninja except for Suigetsu who looked overly pleased at chilling in the cold water while everyone else worked.
Ino searched through the pile of photos and drawings again then flipped through pages and pages of books until her eye caught something that was neatly slipped into one of the pages of a book.
"Here we go. I found another piece of the article. Someone must've torn it into bits to conceal it everywhere." she said handing it over to Sakura to read.
Sakura hungrily began reading the second bit of the article.
-A local writer here in Kusagakure, Shiratori-sama, explained why the people of the Grass and the rest of the emigrated Kamakura's were unwilling to accept her as their own.
"I'm glad that that little girl is gone. Gave me the creeps, me and everyone in town. Good riddance to that whole family and now that the girl is gone, it means that the demon 'Snake in the Grass' will never come back here looking for her again. Her and that mother of hers"
When asked as to why they were glad that the girl was taken, no one wanted to answer; it had become a taboo subject in Kusa.
When further asked what the cousin looked like, one resident, Aomori-san, was quoted as saying "He had long slivery white hair tied up and a friendly smile. Oh and he also had round glasses. Said that he was her cousin from the Sound Village-"
She looked at the newspaper clipping again closely. Sound Village. Sound Village. SOUND VILLAGE...It changed everything.
"I should've known...this girl; she was taken in by the only 'relative' who would take her in. Someone from the Sound Village with silvery white hair, round glasses and a smug looking grin on his face. Now who does that sound like?" said Sakura sarcastically shaking her head.
Jugo, Kariin, Suigetsu and Sasuke looked at each other.
"Kabuto Yakushi" spat Sasuke in revulsion.
"That rat!" exclaimed Naruto. "What did he want with an innocent girl who just lost her mother?"
"Kabuto only ever did what Orochimaru told him. Orochimaru must've wanted the little girl for some reason" said Shikamaru.
"Of course! Orochimaru attacked the Grass Village..." said Sakura, "he could've been looking for her. The little girl. Think about the sequence of the pictures we assume were drawn by the little girl: She and her mother were living happily until a monster, in this case Orochimaru, destroyed everything. Then the picture of the many people yelling at her and her mother and the little girl drawing tears on her face they could be blaming the attack on the fact that Orochimaru had destroyed the village looking for her. Then the next picture, they were in a different grassy area. They could've moved to this house as Shikamaru said to get away from all the negativity."
"And if you think about all the hiding places in this house and all the paper bombs, it means that they were protecting themselves and hid themselves in case he ever came back looking for them," said Shikamaru, "The poem Sakura told us about entitled 'Snake in the Grass' tells it all. Like a moth to a flame, his servant came, burning down the house, that parasitic louse. That's it, Orochimaru sent his 'servant' Kabuto to come for the girl and her mother. He was the one who had burned down this house. Namiko and her daughter must've fled away into the forest for her to write this poem but eventually I think Kabuto found them and killed Namiko by Yoritomo Lake. Then he was under the pretext of being her distant cousin and took her to Orochimaru knowing that no one, including the Kamakura family now living in other lands, would take her in as they feared her"
They all nodded their heads in triumph. All the pieces of the puzzle were beginning to fit in nicely.
"One thing still can't fit; how does this link to the rogue if he wasn't the cousin who took her in?" asked Naruto, "and what are the special abilities of the little girl that would make Orochimaru to want to take her away?"
Sakura turned back to one of the books she'd read during the genjutsu, eager to find out what it really contained inside now that they were closer to the truth. 'Kunoichi on the Battlefield: A History of the Female ninja' was not blank on every page like it had been hidden. The pages were abundant with ninjutsu styles and forms of all the fire, water, air and earth styles.
"Who's to bet that the rogue copied these styles from this book?" Sakura asked flipping the book around for the others to see. Look at the real content of this book, there are so many genjutsu and ninjutsu techniques used by female ninja throughout the millennia. There's one for 'blinking speed' but none for body doubling." she said.
Sakura turned to the last page and noticed one jutsu in particular was written with an orange crayon. It was a genjutsu, the rogue ninja's specialty.
"Hey Sasuke, there's one genjutsu written in here with crayon. You're the only genjutsu type shinobi here, maybe you should try it" said Suigetsu peeking at the last page.
"You want me to try a jutsu we know nothing about written by some brat who once lived here being controlled by a freak?Written in crayon?" he asked incredulously. No one seemed to argue with him. He shook his head at their naivety.
"Okay hold the book upright so I do the jutsu properly" said Sasuke impatiently. He studied the page of its forms and readied to call the peculiar sounding jutsu.
"Ninja art: hide and seek" he said confidently.
Nothing. The group of ninja waited, anticipated, and looked carefully around the room...waiting.
Suigetsu's heart began to pound. His water sensitive skin could feel the water stirring slightly...
Nothing...
The silence that the jutsu hadn't worked was almost convincing until...
-DOOM... DOOM... DOOM-
Everyone's eyes shot straight up in alarm at the constant banging coming from the roof. Kariin began to shake violently. Sakura could feel her own hairs on her skin stiffening.
"Neji" whispered Tenten curling closer to him.
"On it. Byakugan" he scanned the roof and the entire house.
Nothing...
-DOOM...DOOM...DOOM-
"My byakugan doesn't see anything up there" he said surprisingly quite calm.
Kariin felt the intensely pressing power smack her body and she exclaimed in fear. "Ahhh! Oh my Goodness. I feel it," she whispered terrified, "I can definitely sense the chakra up there. This time it's for real and it's strong" she cried.
Sakura's mind went blank as she stood next to Naruto who was just about ready to pounce on anything that revealed itself.
"Nobody move, and be quiet" hissed Sasuke staring at the ceiling and holding his hands out.
It started with the wall. A message was being written on the wall.
Ino screamed. Shikamaru covered her mouth.
HIDE AND SEEK
HIDE AND SEEK
ALL I WANT IS YOUR BODY
"Calm down," said Sasuke stiffly, "he's just playing with us. It's a genjutsu-
-Sasuke was cut off. The genjutsu curse mark with the sickening scratches around his neck along with Jugo's...began to burn with a fire-like intensity.
Both Sasuke and Jugo fell onto the flooded wet floor...and began screaming in a tortured pain. Jugo's face began to change to a greyish colour and strange black markings appeared. Sasuke squirmed and writhed in agony.
The entire group of ninja turned to them alarmed. The shrill high pitched screaming they'd all known too well came from every corner of the house and began piercing their ears with its devastation. Sakura, Kariin and Ino screamed in terror. Naruto panicked not knowing what to do.
"SASUKE! BREAK THE GENJUTSU!" screamed Kariin holding onto Sasuke's hand to channel her own chakra for him to break the powerful jutsu.
Naruto also flew to Sasuke's side helping him to break the jutsu while Suigetsu and the rest of the Leaf ninja helped Jugo and his changing appearance... but before they could get there...
It all stopped.
The screaming, the torture the noise...stopped.
Sasuke and Jugo lay in the pool of water on the floor, heaving and breathing, trying to calm down. Sakura's eyes jumped around wildly; Jugo and Sasuke hadn't broken the genjutsu...it had been someone else.
Once the silence filled the room...They all heard a noise coming from the kitchen
Clap, clap, clap...
Sakura stiffened. Kariin wanted to run away. Naruto was ready to pounce...
The man had finally appeared in the living room...For the first time since their mission began, they were finally face to face.
He was wearing a gardeners overall. Brown. Dirty and blood stained. His ash-grey skin colour was sickening. The bloodied bandages on his shoulder unsightly, his blueing lips, as horrifying as his demonic looking red bloodshsot eyes and menacing face.
He clapped his hands and smiled.
"You didn't do that jutsu properly but I must applaud you for getting this far. Well done, you got me the first round." he said in a soft baritone drawl. Sakura felt her skin crawling in disgust.
The entire group of ninja backed up excluding Naruto who narrowed his eyes and balled up his fists. "You bastard!" he roared, "We're going to kill you then rescue the girl you're hiding!"
Sakura pulled Naruto back in fear knowing all too well that he was a jump straight in type of shinobi.
They all witnessed a frightening menacing gleam spark from the rogue ninja's eyes. "Is that so, well if you want to find Himiko, you're going to have to destroy me first!" he said with his voice rising in excitement.
"No problem!" yelled Naruto pulling out a kunai and rushing forward.
-No Naruto!" yelled Sakura but he'd already jumped towards the rogue ninja who'd moved out of the way. Sasuke jumped up from the water trying to match his speed and seized his katana while everyone advanced towards Naruto, Sasuke and the rogue.
Sakura swore under her breath; she wasn't ready for a fight...She hastily pulled out her medical kit and tore open the wrapping containing the poison syringe.
"C'mon, hurry up" she cried desperately in her head...She was able to free the poison syringe with its silvery liquid made by Lady fifth herself and positioned it carefully in her shaking hand.
"Calm down Sakura, calm down!" she said out loud. It was now or never...
"Shikamaru, shadow possession now!" she yelled.
Shikamaru did the handsigns and trapped the rogue as he was about to dodge one of Sasuke's katana swings.
Sakura had no time for hesitation. She ran towards him and stabbed the syringe into his soft flesh injecting him with a lethal concoction...
She stood back with the rest of the ninja group waiting for results of his crumbling body being eaten away.
Their jaws dropped. Shikamaru let go of his shadow possession in shock.
Nothing happened.
Once the rogue was free of Shikamaru's jutsu, he pulled the syringe out of his arm and threw it onto the flooded floor. He smiled and looked down at the weapons in their hands.
"People will just never listen, will they? I clearly stated no knives allowed, unless you want to kill yourselves. I'm trying to be fair here."
They looked at the weapons in their hands. Kunai knives.
Ino screamed and dropped her kunai fearing that he could use whatever jutsu he uses to make his victims kill themselves.
Then he looks at the ground and all their eyes followed.
They all notice that the ground was covered in water; he could use his seppuku jutsu to drown them.
Sakura was blank. The poison hadn't killed him...he was indestructible...
"Now let's try this again. I'm it" he barked; the minute he'd said his last word, he was almost out of sight. They couldn't allow him to escape again...They all gave chase this time running behind him.
They ran as fast as they could behind him as he skipped and jolted in delight and fun way ahead of them with the speed jutsu he'd learned from the 'kunoichi on the Battlefield' book. They were so fixated on finally catching him...they did not realise where they were headed outside...
"No don't go into the forest!" yelled Shikamaru but it was too late as they'd all flown into the treetops and right into the forest full of genjutsu.
10:00 am
It was early afternoon when the Taka-Leaf ninja team began their fruitless chase for the rogue who'd finally made an appearance in their midst.
But once again. He was out of sight. They should've known better.
"I think we lost him" came Ino as the group stopped running.
"Dammit!" exclaimed Naruto pounding his fists on a tree in frustration.
"Naruto you idiot," cried Sakura slapping his face, "When will you ever stop jumping in head first without thinking! You could've gotten us killed!"
Shikamaru came running behind the group. "Guys, we've got to get out of here, don't you realise where this is!" he cried.
They all looked around and realised their mistake. The forest. Playground for the hidden rogue ninja.
"C'mon quickl-
-SNAP-
Everyone's head looked around wildly; trees began falling one by one.
"Scatter!" yelled Jugo.
They all had no choice but to jump out of the way as more and more trees began falling... One by one became six by six as the trees piled and smashed on the snowed ground. The rogue had to be near.
They began to run... they began to separate from each other while trying to dodge falling trees...
Neji used his byakugan to scan the area hoping to find the chakra network before it disappeared. The momentary distraction of using his byakugan left him unawares of a tree falling behind him. He saw it and jumped out of the way...too late.
The thick snowed leafless tree fell on top of his foot.
He yelled out in agony.
"Wait, I'm stuck. Tenten!" he yelled but nobody could hear him through the chaos of falling trees and the scramble to get out of the forest...
11:00 am
Mid-afternoon. The ferocious wind of the snowstorm had completely vanished.
Neji Hyuuga was alone in the forest.
A giant thick tree had collapsed on top of his right leg. He breathed and tried to calm himself from the pain of his crushed foot and all the chaos. The other's would probably only notice he was missing when they were out of the forest.
But he was relatively calm, as always. The situation was more than he could handle.
He took one deep breath before clutching his right leg and pulling on it to dislodge it from under the tree... It was excruciating. He yelled out in pain as he heaved and tugged his leg out. Finally with great difficulty his leg was freed.
He breathed and sighed. It felt like the bone had been crushed, as exaggerated as it seemed. He massaged his painful foot before pulling himself up to balance on his left leg. It would take him forever to get out the forest if none of the Leaf came back for him. For motivational purposes, he just pictured the kunoichi on his team with the soft brown eyes, brown hair and the silly smile as he took a step.
He stopped immediately. But not from the overbearing pain...
Someone was standing a few metres behind him.
Neji had anticipated this, but not the injury. He stood no chance.
He forced his petrified body to turn around slowly...slowly...
The smell of blood and sweat. The thick rope tied in a noose in his hands. The evil face.
Neji felt sick as his body turned to stone, but he couldn't allow himself to be killed on a mission in the barbaric nature of seppuku.
Neji took a step with his left leg. The rogue didn't move behind him.
Neji began hopping on one leg to get away from him.
The rogue ninja took a step and began walking forward slowly...slowly.
Neji had no choice but to use his painful leg. He cried out in desperation as pain seared through his right foot. He stumbled, limped and trudged about the snow trying to get away.
The quiet rogue ninja behind him sped up his walking pace. Until they both stopped at a faint noise was heard calling from nearby.
"Neji! Neji where are you?"
Hope at last. They had discovered that he was missing and had come back to find him. He could gladly hear it was Tenten's breaking voice.
"TE—
Neji choked and gagged as he was stopped from yelling by the thick rope squeezing the air from his throat. Stars flickered in his wide eyes as the noose tightened around his neck.
The rogue ninja tugged on the rope from behind causing Neji to fall on the snowed ground.
He had very little breath left to call out to the ninja just a few trees away from them now. He extended his hand out and groped the air in desperation. They were so close.
The rogue ninja pulled the rope and dragged Neji Hyuuga ever deeper into the unknown snowed forest...
X
"Neji!" screamed Tenten with her voice breaking and tears swimming in her eyes; it was all her fault. She should've never let him out of her sight especially since he'd been named as a target.
"Don't worry Neji's strong, He can handle anything that the rogue does to him" said Shikamaru as Sakura placed her hands around Tenten who wasn't convinced. She looked on the brink of collapse.
"Kariin," came Sasuke agitated, "Do you fell anyth-
"Over there!" she yelled suddenly pointing to a nearby row of trees. "Wait, it disappeared again." she said.
"Sakura, Ino, Tenten and Naruto stay here," Shikamaru instructed, "Everyone else come quickly before-
...The sound of snow crunching nearby was heard approaching them. The all looked around alertly...
Neji Hyuuga stumbled out of the shadow of a nearby tree towards the group.
Tenten heaved a sigh and broke out of Sakura's arms to throw herself into Neji's arms. Neji looked pleasantly surprised.
"Woah there, Tenten. What's wrong?" he asked.
"I thought...I thought he got to you. The rogue." she sniffed burying her head in his chest. She was deeply traumatised.
"Don't worry, I just got a little lost in the chaos but I'm fine now. I was lucky this time"
"What happened to your foot?" asked Ino watching him stumbling off balance.
"I must've sprained it when I was running away from the falling trees" he said casually.
"Everyone. Let's get back to the house before he shows up again" said Shikamaru.
Tenten and Ino helped Neji walk as they all exited the forest back to the house.
The second the get back to the house Sakura took Kariin by the collar of her Akatsuki robe and pulled her right up to her face.
"Kariin, for the last time, who is he? I know you know! Tell us or nobody is coming out here alive, including you Taka" said Sakura.
"She's an information specialist Sakura," said Sasuke, "It's not in her nature to divulge classified information"
"An information specialist, are you kidding me? Do you think that fact is going to save all of us-
"-He was one of Orochimaru's test subjects" said Kariin finally. Sakura finally let her go as all stunned eyed were now on Kariin.
"How do you know that?" Shikamaru demanded.
"I worked at a prison or holding cell for Orochimaru's test subjects. He wasn't located at my facility but somewhere else. I remember when word broke out of a prison escape I was given a list, pictures and the number of escapees to try and locate them. He was one of the escapees that we never found. Hayashi Fukazawa."
The information left them all reeling. It appeared that not even the Taka had known this from her. But a thought clicked in Shikamaru's mind; his last name was Fukazawa...not Kamakura, but Orochimaru proved to be the only link between the two thus far.
"So the whole bit about being a gardener was a lie." said Suigetsu knowing Kariin's knack to manipulate information.
"No. It could've been his cover while staying here." she said remembering the logo on his clothing.
"We're assuming once again that Kabuto took the little girl to Orochimaru and as Kariin just said, Hayashi Fukazawa was imprisoned as one of the many people entrapped as Orochimaru's prisoners. They could've met there" said Sasuke.
"I don't remember seeing any little girl in my prison. But then again, Hayashi wasn't kept where I worked, I'd only heard about him when it was too late to capture him as he escaped"
"How long ago did he escape?" asked Shikamaru.
"Two years ago"
"That's probably when he came to Grass Village to terrorise and make people commit suicide here in the Grass Village on behalf of the little girl who'd been accused for Orochimaru's attack." said Shikamaru.
"No. The little girl wanted revenge on the people of the Grass because they'd betrayed her and her mother's location, this house, to Kabuto." said Sakura remembering the poems 'Snake in the Grass' and the haiku about seppuku.
Sakura stared at her. "C'mon Kariin, you know the most about him, we need to find out as much as we can from the books left behind here. There a link between this Hayashi Fukazawa 'the rogue ninja' and the little girl who used to live here. If we find out about this little girl we can find out about the rogue ninja.
"He called her Himiko. Himiko Kamakura." said Neji as Ino healed his broken foot.
It was starting to feel like cat and mouse chasing games, they needed to find and finish him. But Shikamaru had only just wondered something scary.
"Wait a second. Why didn't the poison work, this mission should be done by now! I'm so sick of this" he asked.
The group of ninja just stared at each other. Sakura could feel the terrifying truth creeping up on them.
"I thought about that too. There's only one explanation that the poison syringe didn't work."Hayashi Fukazawa is already dead."
They all looked around confused at each other...
"The girl, Himiko, she's using a reanimation jutsu?" whispered Naruto as Sakura nodded.
"That doesn't make sense. Why would Orochimaru want to kidnap a girl to obtain powers from her that he already has?" asked Shikamaru.
"I guess we'd better keep searching then. We're so near to the truth, I can feel it" said Sakura.
11:00am
After several hours of searching and late afternoon approaching, the whole group was exhausted and most had abandoned the search to take a break as they were beyond their wits. The only person continuing was Sakura who'd found a place in the corner of the room and had taken the burned stool and sat on it to avoid sitting in the water. She scanned every poem and piece of text she could find then she opened up the map of the Grass Village as Naruto came up to her.
"Any luck Sakura?" he asked smiling at her. She looked up at him. Nobody was as effervescent as Naruto Uzumaki; he always had extra strength to carry on.
"Well I found Yoritomo Lake, located a couple miles from this house. So Namiko and her daughter were living in this house when Kabuto came looking for them and they fled the house and hid in the forest before he found them and killed Namiko then took her daughter."
Naruto shook his head at the injustice.
Sakura looked carefully at the map until something caught her eye. "Hey look Naruto, Tenchi Bridge. It's only a couple of miles from here," she said genuinely surprised, "I can't actually believe that we've been to this area before without realising. The Grass Village."
"Oh yeah, I remember, it was our first mission with Captain Yamato and Sai. It's probably why Kabuto and Orochimaru knew this place so well, since they'd once come here to attack the Kamakura's"
They both smiled at each other for a second remembering team Kakashi...
Meanwhile Shikamaru sat on the nearly burned into oblivion couch and stared at the ceiling to gather his thoughts when a burned out Ino came up to sit next to him.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm just trying to think...this rogue has to have a weakness, everyone does" he whispered.
"What are we going to do though once we leave here? Naruto won't allow Sasuke to escape here without another fight." she said concerned.
"We can easily restrain Naruto if he acts alone. But if Sakura helps him 'bring Sasuke back' then we'll be out of luck. We'll have to see how many of us Leaf ninja are still willing to fight for him." said Shikamaru.
Ino took one sweeping look from the corner of her eyes to the other side of the room where Sasuke was talking amongst the Taka.
"I couldn't care less about Sasuke Uchiha." she shrugged simply.
"Really?" said Shikamaru surprised; Ino was the one who always fought, drooled and fawned over him.
"Yeah. He was the most popular boy at The Academy because he was so cool and mysterious not to mention hotter above any other boy. "
"Thanks-" joked Shikamaru.
"-But he's changed somehow and betrayed the Leaf Village. Sakura and Naruto are the only people who still fight for him anymore, he's their problem now"
"What if it were me? What if I'd left the village seeking revenge on someone who killed someone close to me?"
"You already did remember; when you, me, Choji and Kakashi sensei went after the two Akatsuki who robbed us of our sensei. But you weren't obsessed with doing it alone and by the wrong means by betraying your village.
"That's true. But none of us really know what Sasuke's been through in his life so we can't really judge him, you know. Not that I've ever liked the guy."
"For what it's worth, I would've never given up on you just as Sakura and Naruto haven't given up on him"
Ino gave one quick look back at Sasuke then turned back to Shikamaru.
"What do you think Choji would be doing right now?" she whispered softly.
"Complaining that he didn't get enough to eat."
She chortled and shook her head. "You're right, maybe it's a good thing that he isn't here then or we'd have run out of stored food already." She looked away in the momentary silence until...
"Ino?"
"Yes Shikamaru?"
"I'm sorry"
"For what?"
"For failing you and everyone here. I know how much all you believe in my leadership and now were in this mess because of me. This mission is a stone's throw away from being a complete fail."
She looked at him surprised; Shikamaru had long since matured past feeling down on his confidence. He'd grown up once their sensei had died, stepped up because of the responsibility left to him.
"Shut up Shikamaru; I don't want to hear it. You were chosen by the Hokage as leader of this mission for a reason despite not being the highest ranked as Neji is. That means people in high places in Konoha have confidence in your abilities. That doesn't happen by mistake. Listen...the only reason I'm not picking fights with Sakura right now just to feel better about myself is because you're here. I know we can finish this mission, we haven't failed. I always feel safe when you're made team leader. You're a genius…and I know that Asuma sensei would be proud of you just like me and Choji" she placed her hand on his lap.
He turned to her and placed his hand on top of hers squeezing it tight.
"Thanks Ino" he whispered smiling from the corner of his mouth with her returning his smile.
Both didn't realise how the quiet and tired haze of the house was so comforting. Both didn't realise until their faces leaned in closer to each other…
They both took a moment to stare at each other.
He brushed her fringe aside; he never got the chance to see her full face because of the waterfall fringe always in her face. But now as they leaned closer to each other he realised how perfectly alien blue her sparkly eyes were. Their foreheads collided; noses touched slightly, blank stares firmly locked onto the blue and brown. It happened so quickly yet slowly that they were caught up in the moment, holding each other's cheeks…until the alarming sound of an enormous hardcover four hundred page book slamming its pages made them both jump apart and come back to their senses.
"Oh excuse me; I just dropped this thick book. My bad" came Sakura giving her best fake smile she'd learned from another replacement member of team Kakashi to the other ninja who had turned around to check on the commotion. Naruto had been trying to zero in on Sasuke's conversation with the Taka, so he'd missed the happening. An outraged Sakura was the only one who'd seen it. At such a time and place...they had found time to kiss each other.
For Ino and Shikamaru the moment was over, reality came back in a snap and it was time for realisation. Shikamaru looked back at Ino whose now strategically placed fringe was back in her face; she did not dare to look back at him but stared at the flooded ground feeling embarrassed. Shikamaru stood up and walked away pulling out a smoke from his pocket and Asuma's lighter to relieve the guilt and confusion of realising that he'd cheated on his real girlfriend.
Sakura watched Shikamaru walk away satisfied.
"Hey Ino can I have a word with you?" asked Sakura.
"What do you want billboard brow, I'm busy" she said annoyed.
"I shouldn't have to remind you that this is still a mission. None of the rules have changed. We can't get carried away in certain situations just because were away from everyday realities. Don't take advantage of this situation." she said trying not to be too direct but Ino insisted.
Ino sighed impatiently. "Would you please be more specific?"
"Shikamaru has a girlfriend; back off him" she scolded.
Ino looked embarrassed and angry. "Who gave you the right to play judge? It was a mistake anyway."
"I mean it. Temari will tear every strand of hair off your pretty little head one by one" Ino looked at her fearfully; she had a spiteful gleam in her eyes with her unkind words and her tight grip.
She looked down at the tight grip then at Sakura then pulled herself free and walked away.
Meanwhile outside...
Tenten walked outside towards Neji standing on the porch like a watchmen.
"Neji, what are you doing out here by yourself? It's not safe, especially for you." she whispered. He remained silent but turned to stare blankly at her.
"I'm sorry for leaving you behind in the forest earlier, there was so much going on you know?"
"That's okay, it actually helped me get a better scope of the forest you know." he said grabbing her shoulder and pulling her closer.
"That's great. The sooner we find out what the rogue's weakness is, the quicker we can find and eliminate him. Are you okay though?" she asked staring him in his eyes.
"I am now" he whispered. Tenten looked up at him and blushed as his face inched closer to hers.
Before she could think further, his soft lips were on hers. only after a few seconds did she break away from him.
"Neji, what are you doing?" she whispered blushing and trying hard to pretend she didn't enjoy it.
"What do you mean? I thought you loved me?" he said blankly. Her jaw dropped at his bold question and her cheeks flushed an even brighter red.
"Wha...I never said...I mean not like..." she murmured caught off guard but Neji pulled his face back towards hers and kissed her again. This time...more aggressively.
Tenten noticed immediately and tried to push him off her but he wouldn't budge.
"Neji! Stop it, get off me!" she fought to push him away as he grew ever more aggressive.
Tenten stopped immediately when she realised that his hand was around her throat.
She only needed one second to scream...
Too late...
Neji's hand tightened around her throat as she gasped for breath and tried to fight him off. Her movements were too slow and breath diminishing until she passed out...
Neji dragged a limp Tenten down the patio and placed her in an undiscovered trapdoor under the patio stairs, then he used a genjutsu to conceal her body. He walked back up the stairs to see someone else coming outside.
Shikamaru walked outside to light one up when his foot hit something. He looked down at it. It was an ugly unkempt doll with long blond hair and brown eyes. The doll had dishevelled hair with a dirty faded floral dress. Then he had a thought. It appeared to be the same doll in the picture of the rogue ninja.
He was about to go back inside to show the others when Neji came up to him from the stairs.
"What's that you've got there?" Neji asked casually.
"It's the doll from the picture. Remember the picture we saw of the rogue with a doll in his pocket?"
"Why would anyone ever leave something like this here?" asked Neji. Shikamaru looked at Neji; to him it sounded more like a question of sadness than confusion.
Shikamaru placed Asuma's lighter and the cigarette back into his pocket and bent down. The moment Shikamaru picked up the doll he felt something sliding down his nose.
Blood.
"Your nose is bleeding" said Neji calmly walking up to him.
Shikamaru realised but it was too late. Neji picked him up by the throat as Shikamaru was halfway through doing his shadow possession hand signs and smashed his head repeatedly against the wooden wall...knocking him out.
Neji dragged his body to the same hidden trapdoor under the patio stairs where Tenten was lying unconscious...
A/N: By now you should have a pretty good idea about what's going on...Anyway finally, the last chapter is next, or at least I hope so...but if it is, I promise that I'll explain everything including the time not matching up the descriptions and etc.