Chapter 6: hide and Seek
A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long, I was going through what we varsity students call 'death weeks part: 1 and part 2' where we're pretty much overworked to the death by assessments for a few weeks before we can qualify for finals...But anyway shout out to GOLDENPIGGY for always being Right On the Money as the pseudonym suggests for guessing correctly...
11:00 am
Flip...scan...flip... scan. Tick...tock...tick tock...
Page after page after page after page…
With the loud ticking of the wall clock disturbing her mind, Sakura sat on a black stool drowning in a pile of books from the shelf in the tense living room full of unoccupied and restless ninja. Her soft pink hair gently brushed against the dry pages of the unburned books she'd been sifting through relentlessly. She felt her head waning as the neverending wave of books came crashing on her lap as Naruto handed them to her from the shelf. She was their last hope; hope of finding out any weakness of the rogue ninja using the resourceful books like she had after the breakthrough of other poems.
She kept her tired eyes firmly fixed on the pages not wanting to even look anyone in the eye, not even by accident as she didn't want to let them down. Especially someone like Naruto who stopped handing her books to chance a hopeful glance in her direction now and again, checking on her progress. Unbeknownst to him, he was only making the matter worse by applying unnecessary pressure on her. Everybody was.
"C'mon Sakura, what's taking so long this time. I thought you had this figured out. We're losing the light and we need to finish this so we can finally get out this dump" stressed Sasuke shooting an impatient glare of at her while he leaned his elbow on Kariin shoulder, delighting her to no end. Sakura tried to ignore the offense.
"Would you just give me a sec. It's not like anyone else could do this" she said through gritted teeth.
Sakura pinched her eyes closed for a second fearing that she'd failed everyone. She didn't have the heart to tell all the worn out ninja who'd just about had enough of everything, that there was no more evidence in any of the books she'd read, not especially since Sasuke was so adamant on her not screwing up...she knew that his approval of her abilities still mattered to her. But no one was going home until a weakness of the rogue ninja was found so he could be eliminated.
An impasse. Fustration.
She continued to sift through the pages as she heaved a sigh and placed a hand on her throbbing head in frustration. The pounding in her head seemed to come alive when she realised that it was actually coming from somewhere else as a banging sound...from outside. It couldn't be the rogue ninja; she wasn't ready yet, she hadn't found a weakness but welcomed the distraction.
"Naruto would you just wait here for a second, I'll be right back" she said throwing the books in his hands as she stood up.
Splash.
Sakura looked down at the floor felling uneasy. The water streaming from the bathroom was creating a serious flood of the house now as the water reached her ankle.
"Where are you going now?" asked Kariin impatiently. Sakura shot a nasty glance at her before turning back to the front door staring at it carefully trying to figure out what the noise could be.
She reached out for the doorknob and turned it slightly before it was suddenly twisted open and pushed towards her from outside.
Neji Hyuuga pushed the door open and almost knocked her off balance as he hastily came inside. He gazed blankly at her. She looked at him in mild surprise as she was caught unawares; he knew that he was being targeted by the rogue yet he had been outside by himself.
"Oh Sakura, I apologise for that-
"It's okay Neji; erm did something happen to you just now?"
"No, why do you ask?" he said quietly.
"I heard erm…nothing never mind, anyway you shouldn't even be outside by yourself knowing that you've been targeted by the rogue." she scolded.
"Then...would you like to step outside with me for a moment? I would like to discuss the misunderstandings we had between us during this mission and how we can fix our teamwork for future assignments. I'll close the door so we can speak in private." he asked extending his hand out eagerly to her and taking one step back from the threshold.
Sakura raised an eyebrow at him while looking at his hand reaching out to her; as much as she wanted the opportunity to make amends after their damaging infighting, Neji had never been this considerate to her before nor had he ever asked for her to take his hand in his. She looked at him relaxing his fixated gaze. As she was about to take his hand and step outside, curious about what he really wanted from her, Naruto's loud voice boomed at her from inside.
"Sakura, I don't know how much longer I can hold these books." cried Naruto from inside struggling to balance the books. Sakura turned back to Neji after rolling her eyes at Naruto's whining.
"Sorry about this Neji, let's just go back inside; it'll have to wait for after the mission."
He stared at her for longer than could be appreciated. Before she was able to get confused, he said "You're right." and walked back inside.
As she stepped aside to allow Neji to walk inside first, she noticed something that made her tilt her head in surprise. Neji's glorious dark hair which had always been characteristically tied near the bottom, was now tied at the centre of the back of his head, similar to Ino's hairstyle; it made him look more feminine.
Everyone watched as Neji followed by Sakura walked back inside the house. Ino stared at the door for a few seconds when both Neji and Sakura walked in before a frown appeared on her face.
"You know what, there's no use pretending that any progress has been made. I'm sorry guys but...I can't find any more evidence in these books." Sakura announced as she stood by the wall shaking her head.
A hum and grumble of frustration chorused through the house, mainly by the Taka team. Sasuke balled up his fist in annoyance.
"What's the point of you being here if you aren't able to make any important difference when we're trying to actually kill the rogue? That was your mission wasn't it?" Sasuke spat harshly.
Ino stood up from the burned couch and walked into the kitchen, scanning the place from left to right. Then she walked to the bathroom, ignoring everyone's griping and arguing back and forth, then walked down the new corridor and slid open the doors to look inside.
"...Then why did you rescue me huh? From that beast yesterday? You should've just let it kill me to get me out of the way if you think I'm such deadweight." yelled Sakura feeling insulted as Ino walked passed them not taking anything in.
"That's only because I saw the medical cross on your backpack so I figured that you were a medical ninja and we Taka would need your training. That's the only reason, seems to me that you're as one dimensional as ever." he said harshly.
Sakura felt the sting of his words. She'd forgotten that Sasuke's attitude was the same hurtful selfish person that had constantly hampered former team seven's teamwork. Just to think that she'd thought Sasuke cared about her enough to save her life, but it had been a matter of her usefulness, as always.
"Sasuke you jerk. Sakura can destroy an entire forest with her fist if she wanted. Besides, it's not her fault. What are we supposed to do if we can't find anything?" yelled Naruto.
"Consider this ridiculous mission a fail and leave this place since the storm is long over. Come back when you are better prepared and with proper backup. " said Sasuke. Sakura sank back into her stool next to Naruto. She looked at Naruto; he seemed reluctant to give up, it wasn't in his nature after all. Not to mention she didn't want to appear as a failure to Sasuke and prove him right. Neji stood silently behind Sakura watching them all intently.
"Shikamaru?" Ino called out in the hallway to nothing opening and slamming the doors of all the rooms fruitlessly.
She turned around and walked back to the group of ninja contemplating to end their mission as unsuccessful. The last time she'd seen him was after her initial embarrassment of being swept up in the moment with him and she'd heard him…walk out the door as she'd heard the door close.
Ino walked past unnoticed by the group of ninja and splashing her way through the length of the room making a beeline towards the door hastily opening it.
Nothing and no one.
She shook her head as a panic sparked inside her; she scanned the entire room of people. From Sakura asking to talk to Naruto privately in the kitchen while pulling him there by his orange sleeve, to the four team Taka members rolling their impatient eyes in frustration to...Neji. He shifted his gaze when he made eye contact with Ino who narrowed her eyes at him.
Sakura pulled Naruto by his sleeve into the kitchen trying to think of what to say to him if they did have to abandon their mission. And what to do when they leave...with regards to Sasuke. She turned a stubborn Naruto around to look at him.
"Naruto, maybe Sasuke's right about this-". She stopped talking when something inside the kitchen cupboard caught your attention. Sakura eyes grew wide at the sight of the set of dishes that had appeared during the genjutsu phase of their house experience. They had reappeared.
"What, what is it Sakura?" asked Naruto seeing her shocked face.
"They're back," she whispered "...These dishes weren't here when we got to this house. They appeared under a genjutsu, which means that the rogue is trying to say something to us..." she trailed off as she counted all the sets. Previously there had consisted of eleven or 'ereben' representing the ten shinobi of the Leaf and Taka in the house and the one rogue ninja.
Her heart beat faster when the numbers didn't add up to eleven.
Two sets were missing...
Back in the living room, Ino brushed her long blonde fringe out of her face as she marched up to the only present jonin.
"Where's Shikamaru?" she demanded from Neji.
"What are you talking about? How should I know?" asked Neji furrowing his brows and slightly narrowing his eyes at her in mild surprise. Ino never took her penetrating blue stare off his implicitly defiant transparent eyes; his challenging gaze provoked and stirred a monster inside her.
"You're lying Neji!" she yelled in such a fiery intolerance so loud that it alarmed the rest of the group and also prompted Sakura and Naruto to walk back into the living room.
"What's going on here?" Sakura asked afraid of the answer especially after what she and Naruto had just seen.
"Shikamaru's missing and Neji's done something to him!" yelled Ino.
"Wait—Shikamaru? Wasn't...he..." Sakura trailed off about to say 'outside'. The Leaf ninja knew more than anything that someone as smart as Shikamaru would never stay outside by himself for such a long period of time knowing what they were dealing with.
Naruto gasped when he noticed. "Then where is he?" he whispered.
"Wait a second" Sakura whispered as a disturbing thought entered her mind. She rushed to the bookshelf and threw open the book entitled: Broken Pieces of Sliver. The familiar and once vague poem about dishes was still written in the book.
Under a new description...
Nine spoon
Nine cups
Nine plates
No one eating
No knife allowed
Her racing heart skipped a beat as a familiar sickening feeling numbed her body. She couldn't believe it. She dropped the book in the water on the floor. The poem had changed to represent the new number of people in the house. There was still a genjutsu placed on them. She prayed that it didn't mean terrible news for Shikamaru.
"What have you found?" asked Sasuke sounding alarmed now.
"Naruto and I just saw all those dishes that had appeared under the genjutsu in the kitchen. But two sets are gone now from the original eleven, which means that nine people are still remaining in the house including the rogue ninja..." she whispered frozen, "Thee must be one more person. Shikamaru and..."
They scanned the living room trying to spot anyone missing.
"Tenten!" yelled Naruto incredulously.
Ino's hand shot to her mouth as they realised that two members of the Leaf team had been taken right under their noses. She shook her head at the insanity; people were being snatched without them even knowing, it was so reckless for them to notice immediately...
"We're being watched!" she gasped to the rest of the frantic ninja as Sasuke and his Team Taka stopped to look at her.
"You," Ino spat suddenly pointing a finger accusingly at Neji, "You must be the rogue!" she yelled chest heaving and falling in the pre-hysteria. Ino kept her acidic blue eyes firmly locked on Neji's calm stare. Sasuke, Suigetsu, Jugo and Kariin all turned to stare at Ino and her commotion with Neji who kept silent.
"What are you talking about Ino, calm down. The rogue is no longer pretending to be one of us remember? We already exposed that he was pretending to be Naruto earlier." said Sakura taken aback by her hysteria.
"No! Neji is the rogue ninja and he's taken Shikamaru somewhere. Neji was the only other person outside yet he's the only one that came back." she yelled in a higher pitch at him and stared him down. She took out a kunai knife as eyes around the room grew wider at the sudden and looming confrontation. She started gaining on him. Sakura rushed towards her and she and Naruto pulled her back and away from Neji.
"WHERE HAVE YOU TAKEN HIM? I'LL KILL YOU!" she screamed hair flying and whipping as she lost all control, still trying to get to him with her ninja weapon but was being restrained by the two team Kakashi Leaf ninja.
"Let me go! Now! It's him. IT'S HIM! He's taken Shikamaru." she screamed panicking as she was being pulled away. Sakura covered Ino's mouth shaken by the paranoia that she'd just witnessed from Ino. Kariin was also shocked at something else...if the brainiac from the Leaf team was missing along with the girl who'd nearly drowned, then how had the number of chakra she felt remained constant?
"Quickly, everyone look around for signs of a struggle," yelled Sakura holding onto Ino.
"We won't have to; I can still feel the same number of chakra around me. It's foggy but it's definitely in this house. It must mean that the rogue is only able to hide his own chakra"
"Can you tell us where they are?" begged Ino.
"Not exactly, and that's what scares me" she said apprehensively looking at Sasuke knowing that she was always able to pinpoint where chakra was coming from.
"This house isn't that big, there are only a number of places they could be," said Sasuke turning on his sharingan and scanning the room when he noticed the bogus time on the wall, "By the way, ignore the time on that clock. The real time will only be revealed once all this is over"
5:10 pm
Ino was the first one to run; she ran towards the trapdoor in the hallway and pried it open with one swift tug and was already making her way through. Everyone else followed after her. From what they had discovered, all the trapdoors and hidden passageways were somehow interconnected so she would have to run through the place like a maze. She never stopped as she called out Shikamaru's name. Sakura watched Ino panicking sadly; it was all a blur to her while exchanging glances with Naruto as millions of thoughts circled her head in a panic. Losing one of their most valuable people, not to mention loyal friend was not an option. She hoped against everything that the last place they would need to look would be the dreaded forest.
The ninja group checked every pore of the hidden passageways looking for any sign to indicate what might have happened to Shikamaru and Tenten.
"Wait," came Sasuke looking with his sharingan, "There's a trapdoor here that can only be seen by a genjutsu type shinobi. It's hidden here" he said kicking a trapdoor embedded inside the wall of one of the hidden passageways and a step ladder reaching down to the ground to which they climbed down.
A dark and damp room was lying right underneath the house. The room emitted a powerful putrid stench even as cold air filtered inside. They had never seen the place before.
"Feel that cold air, there must be another way to get into this room" said Jugo walking in carefully with the rest of the ninja group.
"And this smell, something's got to be in here." said Suigetsu pinching his nose and standing next to Sasuke.
"Naruto, you know what to do." said Sasuke looking at Naruto knowingly. Naruto smacked his hands tightly mustering up as much chakra as he could. The room began swirling slowly but even Naruto couldn't break it completely. Slowly as the room swirled a portion of the reality of the room became evident.
A mahogany table...Ino held her breath in hope...
Something covered in a white sheet lying on the mahogany table with its head exposed...
A body...
The group of ninja gasped in sickened revulsion when they saw it...Ino almost fainted in relief when she realised it wasn't Shikamaru or Tenten lying dead before them. Instead...
The ashen faced body of a young woman whose skin had long since been stripped of its natural colour was lying on the table.
Sakura stepped closer to the body along with the rest of the shocked and sickened ninja. She didn't feel as squirmish being a medical ninja having to deal with sick and sometimes deceased patients. She felt her jaw drop when she realised that she'd seen the woman before only in pictures...
"Namiko Kamakura." she whispered staring at the lifeless face of the once smiling funeral poet, women and mother. A sense of grief wiped through her; she felt like she knew Namiko, having shared a piece of her life by reading her personal thoughts, accounts in her books.
"Who? How do you know who this is?" asked Naruto recoiling.
"She was the woman who used to live here. According to the first torn piece of the newspaper article I found, her body was never found by Grass Village authorities after she drowned in Yoritomo Lake. Now we know why. Her body was here all along."
The body of Namiko Kamakura seemed to freak Ino out as she feared the same fate for Shikamaru. She backed up breathing rapidly and clutching her hair in stress.
"Ino calm down okay, well find him and Tenten somewhere in this house. Kariin said that she can still feel their chakra so they're still alive okay." said Sakura holding onto Ino's shoulders.
Ino tried her best to calm down at Sakura's reassuring words. "Sakura," she breathed, "I'm sorry for acting like a spoilt brat yesterday when I wanted to heal Shikamaru alone. I just wanted him to know that I can be of use to him and take care of him you know." she whispered.
"Ino, I think that Shikamaru already knows that, both he and Choji, but if something did happen, you have to understand that it's not your fault" she said.
"Yes it is! I was entrusted by Asuma sensei to always take care of him... I promised Asuma as his dying wish. What am I going to say to Choji, Kurenai sensei, to his parents?" What am I supposed to say to Asuma?" she cried as her voice threatened to break, momentarily unaware that their team ten sensei was no longer with them.
Sakura had no idea what to say to her, she was on the fringes of insanity. Her eyes shifted to the too quiet Leaf ninja standing by the table but not daring to look at it, with his lack of concern for his own missing teammate quite unmistakeable.
Sakura looked closer at Neji and noticed a purple ring around his neck that appeared to be a bruise. She remembered what the Suigetsu and Jugo guys of the Taka had said. When the rogue ninja was pretending to be Naruto, he'd tried using some of Naruto's jutsu and failed by falling to the ground and yelling in pain. If their theory was correct then it meant that Neji wouldn't be able to use his kekkei genkai.
"Hey Neji would you mind just using your byakugan to scan through the area to make sure that you can't see any chakra?" she asked innocently enough.
"Sure let me check back in the hidden passageway so I can get a better view." he said about to walk away.
"But there's no need...I mean you can see through the walls with a wide radius isn't it? Just turn on your byakugan." she said trying to come across as casual.
He stared at Sakura in the somewhat awkward silence as they all looked at him waiting for him to follow the instruction.
"I don't want to be here," whispered Jugo backing up and shaking his head; the vividness and rawness of seeing a dead body reminded him uncomfortably about his troubled past of killing people, "I don't want to hang around corpses".
He walked out of the room as the rest of the group followed along with Naruto behind Sasuke's team and Neji left giving one final glance at the two Leaf kunoichi before heading out. Sakura cursed in her head as they left without the two Leaf ninja; if it hadn't been for Jugo's distraction, she would've probed Neji further.
Ino ran out of the room back to the hidden passageways and out the trapdoor into the house again to continue the search for Shikamaru and Tenten. As they reached the hallway of the seven rooms, their frantic search effort was slowed down by Sasuke when they reached the living room as his pseudo curse mark began to burn. He yelled out in pain clutching his shoulders while everyone turned to him as he cried out in the incapacitating pain.
"Sasuke let me heal you quickly," said Sakura bending down to get a look of his nasty wound and curse mark created by the genjutsu. "Ino, Naruto, guys, go ahead, Sasuke and I will catch up"
"Okay, guys let's move" said Naruto fired up and ready for action.
"Let's go Kariin, you're the important person in this search" said Ino grabbing her arm and treating her like a human radar.
"Sasuke, are you okay?" she asked as she led him into one of the previously hidden seven rooms nearby.
"Yeah it was just a genjutsu as always." he said lying on the floor of one of the seven rooms which were thankfully dry.
"Don't get up; I've got a healing gel in my backpack. I'll go get it for you" said Sakura quickly running out to the living room to fetch her medical backpack.
When the group ran away to continue their search; Neji who tagged along from behind, slowed his pace so he could fall behind. The rest of the group were too preoccupied with their search to notice him fall behind on purpose and leave to an unknown location.
5:46 pm
Sasuke was lying on his side on the dry tatami floor of one of the rooms in the house waiting for Sakura to return to heal his shoulder when all the pain had subsided except for tiny prickles now and then. He stared at the white wall when the hairs on his arms began to shift uncomfortably:
"Sasuke…"
He sat up and froze when he heard someone's voice...Sasuke shook his head as a nauseatingly ferocious hatred boiling inside him when the same genjutsu used on Neji Hyuuga was employed against him. Family: An unacceptable line that should never be crossed, especially in his case...
His mother's voice.
"Sasuke, my little boy, where are you?"
He began shaking as the depravity for bloodlust of the rogue threatened to consume him...hearing the voice he hadn't heard, that he yearned for, for too long compelled him to get up. Mikoto Uchiha's voice echoed throughout the room. He didn't want to get others involved. Clearly the rogue wanted him alone using such personal entices. A door leading to the outside appeared under the genjutsu. Sasuke did not hesitate for a second, he wanted to punish the evil rogue, and he knew it had to be the forest. He was led out of the house...
He drew out his katana begging for a fight to release all the anger...
...Meanwhile Sakura returned with her healing gel from her medical backpack and walked back to the room.
"Hey Sasu—
It took a few seconds for her to realise that the room was empty. She did a double take and looked around the room even though there was no place for anyone to conceal themselves. Sakura furrowed her eyebrows; he'd been here a mere second ago and she hadn't seen him leave the room. There was only one door to the room.
"Sasuke?" she called out. She wondered if he'd used his fast teleporter-like speed to leave the room that she hadn't seen. Finally she walked out feeling anxious and left for the other rooms.
Empty. Empty...empty...
"Sasuke…Where are you?" she said apprehensively moving her head from left to right feeling agitated. All of a sudden, a door appeared. One that had never existed previously. One that she'd never been through. She decided not to go inside but backed out. Sakura fast walked around the house looking around for the rest of the ninja group.
Nobody was there.
She was alone in the house, trapped in a genjutsu so powerful that she couldn't release it.
A spark of relief prickled inside her when she saw a flicker of an Akatsuki coat and cautiously followed it. She called out his name again until she decided to turn back...but as she did she turned around and bumped into Sasuke.
"Sakura, what are you doing?" he asked simply.
"Oh my-Sasuke what happened? Where were you? Where is everyone else?" she breathed as her jolted heart began pounding her chest.
"I was here, just like always...as is everyone else."
"But every room was empty and everyone disappeared so I thought I was in a genjutsu."
Sasuke just stared at her. His curse mark appeared far worse than it ever had with its sickening scratches around it.
"Sasuke what's wrong?" she asked clutching her backpack to her chest feeling guarded.
He walked up to her and kissed her. If she were in her right mind it would've been the best thing to have ever happened to her but something was off; she knew that Sasuke would never kiss her. She pulled away from him and felt something slippery sliding down from her nose to her upper lip.
Blood.
Her eyes grew wide as her breathing quickened when she saw it. She let out a scream.
"Let's play a game" Sasuke said blankly. "Hide and seek, hide and seek, hide and seek, hide and seek..." A little girl's voice was then heard laughing coming from Sasuke's mouth.
Sakura backed out of the room and began running until she bumped into another Sasuke. And another one and another one.
She screamed and smacked her tough hands together to break the genjutsu as unnerved as she was when she continued screaming. Until she opened her eyes and heard someone yelling her name.
"Sakura, Sakura, SAKURA! Sakura calm down, what's wrong?"
Sakura opened her wide terrified eyes and found that Naruto was holding onto her. All of the Sasuke's she'd just seen turned into her Leaf teammates and Taka who were huddled around her. She breathed hard and tried to calm down.
"Sakura what happened? You have all of us worried, and your nose is bleeding." said Naruto.
"Genjutsu, the rogue." she gasped wiping her nose of blood.
"What did you see?" asked Ino hoping that it could be a clue to where Shikamaru and Tenten could be.
"Sasuke…Sasuke! Where's Sasuke?" she cried.
All the remaining ninja in the living room scanned the room and stood in silence trying to think or hear anything that might indicate where Sasuke was.
"He's not in this house!" Kariin shrieked feeling his chakra in a distant area. Naruto's whiskers thickened into a threatening black as his fingernails threatened to grow into talons. Sakura began to panic; she had no idea how to reverse Naruto's transformation by herself if his ninetails cloak appeared.
"Sasuke's missing?" Where is he?" Jugo roared at the Leaf ninja; he stomped closer to them as black markings slid onto his face changing his skin and eye appearance. He was about to swing his giant fist at the watery ground when a familiar prickling throbbed inside Kariin; she didn't have to guess who it was, she knew it all too well.
"Wait!" Kariin yelled "I can feel him, he's—
A frustrated yell echoed outside from the thawing forest.
The ninja group rushed for the front door with Naruto and Jugo leading in front. They slammed the door open and waited in anticipation as someone appeared.
Sasuke Uchiha emerged out of the shadows of the darkening forest. Kariin's eyes shone at the sight of him, as did Naruto's until their smiles and delights froze on their faces.
Sasuke stumbled out. Black Akatsuki cloak blotched in stains of his own blood. His white shirt dyed red by his own blood. His katana skewered through his abdomen.
Sakura's heart stopped. Naruto froze. Kariin covered her mouth.
Sasuke fell flat onto his face, the katana slipping out slightly as his body hit the ground.
Kariin was the first to scream as they scrambled out the door and ran to him. Everything was a blur; Sakura could feel her tears streaming down her face and her ears drowning out any noise as they picked him up and carried him back into the house.
Back in the living room, Sakura dislodged the katana and began healing him. Naruto lifted his sword and saw the words 'No knife allowed' scratched on it. Sakura touched his bloodied chest...thank the heavens. It had missed his vital organs. A smile appeared on her face. Sasuke came back into consciousness as she wiped his face of any sweat.
"Sasuke." she whispered not caring about anything else. He sat up quickly and in alarm.
"Sasuke, don't' move so fast. I just healed you-"
"-It was the rogue," he stated looking up at all of them close to his face, "The reason why we haven't been able to finish this is because we were targeting the wrong person. The rogue ninja is not Hayashi Fukazawa; Fukazawa is dead as we all know."
"What do you mean?" asked Kariin looking him in the eyes.
"The rogue ninja is actually the little girl. She's the one behind all this. Her genjutsu power is omnipotent and deserves to be revered. I've never seen anything like it, and she's just a little girl..." he gasped in astonishment.
The world began to spin dizzyingly too fast as they were all left reeling at the information. Sakura could feel a carpet being pulled from under her. She tried to speak but was rendered speechless.
"Himiko" she whispered softly in her head unbelieving.
"She's able to possess both dead and living bodies without having to reanimate them using the reanimation jutsu. I saw Neji's body there discarded in the forest but still alive...That's probably why Orochimaru came after her, to use that skill, perhaps kekkei genkai, of hers to take over people's bodies without having to wait three years or going through a painful and rigorous method whenever he needed a new body to prolong his life."
Sakura remembered the poem in the personal book 'White Lotus' that Namiko had written. It made sense to her now.
"Her family owned a funeral business so she must've learned of her abilities to possess dead and living bodies' there." she said taking the book from the shelf, grateful it was not among the severely burned ones.
Changes in the wind
My gentle child
With a gentle soul
Blowing in the gentle breeze
What powers are these?
The imitation of bodies
The light in your eyes
I see through your disguise
A fear of the scourge
Hide until its safe to emerge
You are buried deep
For now go to sleep
"This must be it; her mother Namiko probably wrote this poem when she found out about her daughter's ability and when they both came to live here. 'The imitation of bodies, I see through your disguise' that's when she was probably possessing bodies and pretending to be the person. A fear of the scourge is Orochimaru, but this part 'you are buried deep, for now go to sleep..."
"It's talking about the bodies in the forest", he said needing to elaborate seeing their widening eyes, "The whole forest is under control of a massive force of genjutsu like a spider's web. There are dead bodies lying scattered underground and hidden by the genjutsu."
"Sasuke, you don't think that the little girl is also dead do you? Like she's a ghost?" asked Naruto gulping his fears down. Sasuke merely shrugged his shoulders.
"How is it that Kariin was unable to feel the chakra at times?" asked Suigetsu.
"She hides her chakra when she's inside you. That's why she was able to get inside Naruto even with the ninetails. She locks away her chakra and goes undetected."
Naruto remembered what his fox spirit had said when it was so agitated. "How can I reject that chakra if I can't find it?"It had roared. "That's right. The ninetailed fox definitely felt her inside me but couldn't keep her out because he couldn't find her, then she screamed as she ran past me and the fox"
"But I found a weakness. She's unable to hide her chakra while travelling from body to 's why Kariin is able to feel her chakra for a few seconds as she changes bodies then dissapears as she enters another one. " said Sasuke.
"That's also why Ino was the only one who'd acknowledged that there was something in her head. She has the Yamanaka clan telepathy so she must've felt the chakra inside her head. I wonder if it works similarly." said Sakura looking at a disturbed Ino.
A lightbulb went on in Sakura's head as she remembered what had been written on the wall. 'Hide and seek, hide and seek, all I want is your body'.
"Hide and Seek, this is all just a game to her, she's just a little girl so she calls it hide and seek like the kids game. I mean, what do parents do to try and help little children understand difficult situations? They frame it within a context that they can understand. I'm betting that her mother Namiko told her that they were just playing a game of 'hide and seek' as they hid from Orochimaru who was seeking them out as a way for her to understand and not be afraid and to have a hiding place if he ever did show up. It makes sense, look at this house with all its hidden rooms, locations. "
Sakura stood up and covered her eyes while everyone else watched her.
"One, two, three four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven...ready or not, here we come Himiko." she yelled.
A few seconds later, sinister writing appeared on the wall...
You better start hiding...
I will be the one to seek you out...
You don't want me to find you...
Kariin held onto Sasuke in fright as a shaky rambling sound was heard coming from the bathroom. The ninja waited in anticipation for whatever was to come...
The burst pipe that had been leaking under the genjutsu rattled until...
It exploded; releasing a monstrous tsunami wall of water that seemed too improbable to fit in the house. The ninja's screamed, held onto each other and braced themselves for the unescapable giant wave that felt like a solid concrete wall when it thrashed into them, then washed them all away...
Ino and Jugo were the first ones to disappear...
6:18 pm
Kariin lifted her head above the water gasping for breath as she stood up on both her legs. The water was skin numbingly icy but luckily it only reached her chest. She whipped around looking for everyone else but it appeared that she was the only one there.
The house had now become a maze of walls and unending corridors, doors and rooms. Perfect for hide and seek.
She stopped walking and held her failing breath for a second when she saw a bubble float to the surface of the water.
Suigetsu poked only his head out the water taking advantage of being in his natural habitat.
"Suigetsu, don't scare me like that!" she snapped.
"So do you need my help manoeuvring through this genjutsu water or not?" he teased after her sudden snap at him.
"Wait, I can see someone's shadow, coming over there" she pointed frantically towards the right angle corner of the wall to their right. Suigetsu could feel her shaking and not from the icy water as she absent-mindedly clutched onto his skinny shoulders.
Someone with dark brown hair and farmers robes was gliding silently down the maze of halls through the water, seeking them out. Suigetsu covered Kariin's mouth knowing that she wanted to scream. He remembered the writing on the wall 'You don't want me to find you...'
Kariin and Suigetsu embodied frozen statues and kept their inhaled breaths as they prayed that they wouldn't be discovered. Suigetsu could hear Kariin's overworked heartbeat in the silence.
Hayashi moved, sliding eerily in the water… closer… closer…closer…Kariin let out a soft moan in dread as Suigetsu tightened his grip on her mouth…
The rogue ninja as Hayashi Fukazawa stopped…then decided not to continue walking their way and instead changed direction.
Kariin heaved out a long held sigh in relief as she stood shaking while Suigetsu closed his eyes and shook his head. The nightmare was over. He was gone. Now they had to somehow find everyone else without bumping into the rogue.
Kariin looked down as another bubble floated to the surface.
"Suigetsu stop doing that" she whispered sharply. He shook his head at her.
"That...that wasn't me!" he said unnerved.
They both looked at each other in a knowing way...
Kariin felt a hand grab her leg from under the water while Suigetsu felt another hand. There was no time to scream as they were both pulled under forcefully into the depths of the darkest genjutsu.
6:20 pm
Sakura Haruno moved slowly in the still water clutching her side once it was apparent that it was impossible to walk on the surface of the water. She stopped to heal the cut from when they were all swept away by the water and her right side caught the sharp end of the fireplace poker as frozen as her hands were. She didn't have enough chakra to break the overpowering genjutsu she was trapped inside.
Someone turned the corner as her heart jolted into her throat. Blue-black hair, charming cute face...Sasuke Uchiha. She froze not knowing whether he was the real one or not. She took out a kunai from her pouch.
"No Sakura wait, it's me" he said walking in the water towards her.
"Stay away from me." she breathed trying to run away in the icy water. Her mind kept reminding her how the rogue killed people by seppuku...by disembowelment as she'd already been cut by the poker on her diaphragm, or...water...Sakura let out a tiny scream as Sasuke gained on her...
Thankfully Naruto Uzumaki was swept into the hallyway that she and Sasuke were in. He saw his teammate just in time and sprung into action by jumping up and punching Sasuke in his face thinking that Sasuke had revealed himself as a pretender. Sasuke fell backwards into the water as Naruto stood next to Sakura waiting. Sakura breathed in relief at the rescue by her teammate as Sasuke lifted his head out of the water.
"Wait you idiot, it's me Sasuke." he said massaging his cheek. When Naruto and Sakura exchanged glances he knew what they were thinking. He took Sakura's head in his hands and pulled her closer to look into his dark eyes; making her blush slightly.
She saw his sharingan turn on. He couldn't be the rogue. They both relaxed their stances.
"Where's everyone else?" asked Naruto.
"I don't know but we need to get out of here if we ever want to find them. Naruto you're the only one who has chakra stronger than all of us but I think we can overpower this genjutsu if we combine our chakra," said Sasuke.
Sakura felt the most pleasant jerking of her insides when Sasuke took her right hand and held it tightly, then did the same thing to Naruto. Understanding what he was doing, she took Naruto's other hand as she and Naruto stared at each other with overjoyed smiles.
"Together," Sasuke said determinedly looking at them both, "Together", choked Naruto and Sakura looking back at him, overwhelmed by the emotion of the moment.
6:37 pm
"RELEASE!"
The entire room swam in front of them as all three overpowered the immediate genjustu and the flood waters vanished completely. The house was finally back to its dry charred state without a drop of water found anywhere except for the three former team seven shinobi.
Sakura scanned the room as they let go of each other's hands; it appeared that they were the only ones left. Then her eyes noticed something.
It was pasted on the back of the bookshelf.
"Here it is. The last piece of the article, but it only has the credits and references of the articles' writers and contributors." she said peeling it off the back of the shelf.
Sasuke took it from her and turned it around. Something was written on the back of the article in orange crayon once again.
Hide and Seek
Hide and Seek
All I want is your body
In the ground
Or just outside
I just want a place to hide
"I guess that confirms it then. 'In the ground' meaning dead bodies and 'or just outside' meaning ordinary and living people around." said Sasuke.
"Sasuke we have to finish this and now. Remember what happened when you did her made up jutsu before? She came here as Hayashi. Maybe it could work the same way" said Sakura.
He nodded his head looking at both Naruto and Sakura as he tried the quick handsigns again.
"Ninja art: hide and seek"
5:49 pm
Nothing came at first.
Then...the familiar earthquake grumbling of the ground...
Naruto saw it first.
A bright light beaming from a distance outside the window. As it came closer he saw what it was: the giant oni beast pulling a wagon on fire being dragged by its flaming tail headed towards the house. He gasped. Time began to move in slow motion.
"GET DOWN!" he screamed as Sakura and Sasuke saw it; Naruto crawled closer to Sakura as did Sasuke instinctively as they all covered their heads and placed their bodies firmly flat on the ground.
A giant roar sounded just before the galloping demon beast dog leaped forward with perfect trajectory as it ploughed through the house with all its fire. Sakura gave a slowed down scream as wood and fiery debris came raining on them.
The instant the oni had broken through and reached the other side of the house, it disappeared.
The old team seven looked up; the entire house was engulfed in a ring of fire entrapping them where they were. The house had already been burned previously now there was nothing left to burn yet the fire kept on dancing around them.
It had been reduced to a wall-less, roofless house with only three remaining support beams standing. Sasuke looked up in time to see someone throwing a flaming piece of wood towards them. He drew out his katana and sliced it and blocked it as Naruto and Sakura turned around.
The silhouette of someone holding a lantern was seen walking through the now non-existent door. Hayashi Fukazawa walked out and stared them down.
"It's time to play my favourite game hide and seek. You've been here for four and a half hours now and I'm done waiting."
Sakura felt her stomach dropping as she looked at Naruto and Sasuke; they'd all forgotten that in a genjutsu, time was an illusion as well. This meant that the entire time that they'd arrived at the isolated house; everything had been a genjutsu right from the start. Sakura couldn't believe that the two days they had spent at the house had actually only been four and a half hours in reality.
"Now, I'm going to give you a chance to run and hide just like all the betrayers of mine in Grass Village. You don't want me to find you." he grumbled lowly turning to Sasuke. "All the bodies you saw in Minamoto No forest are the losers of this game who were found."
"What are you talking about?" asked Naruto.
"One by one, I trapped people of the Grass Village in my genjutsu then told them to run and hide away from me, giving them a fair chance to escape. If I find them...I go inside their bodies and make them kill themselves by water, by knives making it look like seppuku. This is my Hide and Seek."
"She's sick!" yelled Naruto.
"But why," whined Sakura, "You're not supposed to be a monster".
"This is my way of seeking justice and revenge. The betrayers should also know what it's like to run away and hide in fear while someone haunting tries to seek you out. They deserve to know the same pain as my mother and I felt. The people of the Grass did this to us."
"Then when will it stop?" demanded Sasuke annoyed at the childish lack of discipline. "You've already had your revenge on the people of this village. Or are you going to stop once there's not even a single person left? Revenge is a dark, consuming and poisonous process that demands proper planning, not childish games. Otherwise you'll just end up as empty as you are now." Sakura and Naruto looked at each other pained; those words of his had haunted them for so long.
"You wouldn't understand it." he cried never knowing that he was talking to the wrong person.
He closed his eyes. "Now I'm going to start counting so you'd better start hiding. One. Two. Three..."
Sakura looked at Naruto and Sasuke who didn't dare move. They couldn't be afraid anymore. No more running or hiding.
"...Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven. Ready or not, here I come" he said removing his hands from his face. He looked at them blankly when they were still standing and staring at him in defiance.
"We're not here to play your sadistic childish games" roared Sasuke angrily as he launched forward. He threw his katana sizzling with the lightning of chidori but Hayashi tilted his head to one side and it missed him, but not the charge. The blue lightning charge struck his eye and it fell out to their horror.
Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura jumped forward as Sakura balled up her fists ready to strike.
"Shadow clone jutsu," yelled Naruto extending his palm of his hand out as his clone spun an orb of blue into his hands. "Rasengan!"
Hayashi saw Naruto coming towards him with the jutsu that he wasn't able to do when he's possessed Naruto's body. He quickly twisted and tangled his fingers together in a quick formation before Naruto had the chance to strike him.
"Ninja art: hide and seek" he roared.
It happened too quickly for them to react. Hayashi's bright orange chakra was visible as he closed his eyes and his chakra traveled in the air.
Sasuke saw it heading his way; his sharingan and speed were the only power that could keep up with the speed with which the chakra could travel. If Kariin were there it was only then that she would feel it. He readied his chidori to strike it in mid-air. If his theory was correct then the chakra would be useless as it missed him, the same way as Ino's mind possession jutsu.
He saw it coming...
Then suddenly: it disappeared. Sasuke gasped in shock as he realised and swore under his breath.
Sakura and Naruto watched Hayashi and Sasuke's bodies drop to the floor and contort in the most sickening way. His squirmed and writhed and limbs twisted in the incorrect bone braking angles. Sakura screamed at the horror as they watched their eyes roll back into their heads. It was quiet for a second then:
Sasuke stood up and smiled at them.
"Ooh, this boy's cute! Such gorgeous eyes and body. But I don't get it. Why won't you play hide and seek with me?" said Sasuke in a whiny tone as his sharingan disappeared; the rogue ninja was aware of the power of who it possessed but couldn't use it.
"No we won't let you get away with Sasuke's body!" yelled Naruto.
"Why? Are you afraid that I'll use his intestines as a skipping rope?" he said darkly.
Sakura's stomach tightened at the sickening words that a once innocent girl could even think of. For Naruto, the shock of hearing the horrific gory words talking about his friend made him freeze for a second, which is all the rogue ninja needed to launch forward aiming for Naruto and seized a fistful of his yellow hair, pulling him with great speed towards his body.
Sakura turned to see the rogue ninja as Sasuke with one arm around Naruto's neck and the other pointing a kunai at Naruto's temple. He was in a tight headlock.
"No, Sasuke stop." yelled Sakura. She waited anxiously staring at Sasuke afraid of what he might do.
"Stop fighting or I'll force this knife through your friend's head." said Sasuke blankly.
Sakura felt her blood boil and ran towards the rogue ninja in Sasuke's body; she couldn't tolerate anyone impersonating Sasuke...She growled as she swung her fist at him but her surprised eyes grew wide when Naruto yelled at her from the deadlock grip around his throat.
"Stop Sakura! You're going to hurt Sasuke!" he cried with shiny blue eyes in Sasuke's arms. Sakura could see that even though it was really the rogue ninja, Naruto still had his protective personality over his best friend and wouldn't allow anyone, not even Sakura to hurt him.
"I thought you said that no knives were allowed?" cried Sakura panicking and hoping that the rogue would stick to her own rules.
"I know. But this friend of yours I'm inside has brought a katana so it's only fair now. I have only one request. I will give you all your friends back and allow you to leave if you allow me to have this one body for myself." he said pulling Naruto's hair firmer.
Sakura exclaimed out loud and groped in the air at Naruto. "What are you going to do with him?" demanded Sakura staring at the fake Sasuke.
"Experiment on him further. I've never hidden inside the host of a tailed beast. I had no idea I could do it. So, I want to find out whether I can still go inside the body if I kill him and leave the monster still inside for more power. For future purposes." he said simply.
Sakura gasped; she was under the impression that the little girl would never resort to the kind of methods that 'the snake' her and her mother feared so much had evilly employed.
"Experiment? You're just as much of a scourge as Orochimaru was. Is that what your mother wanted for you?" she demanded.
Sasuke's eyes began to bulge slightly out of their sockets as his body trembled at what she'd said. Naruto shot her a 'stop it' look but Sakura knew her question about Namiko was important in stirring up emotions in her hidden daughter.
"Orochimaru," he whispered shakily trying not to lose control, "You think you know her, Namiko Kamakura just because of a few books and pictures? You don't know anything about my momma. She was a gracious, kind-hearted woman who didn't deserve the unfair punishment and death given to her by the devilish people of this world." he whispered shaking.
"It's not about what people deserve or not because you've become the same kind of monster that you and your mother feared for so long."
"I've never killed anyone who is not of the Grass Village" he spat. Sakura heaved a slight sigh internally; it meant that all their Leaf Village comrades and the Taka were okay. "But this will be my first time" he yelled throwing Naruto at her and using the opportunity to run away.
Naruto and Sakura gave chase to the fake Sasuke jumping over the wicked flames blackening the house further. Sasuke was headed towards the patio but a wall of fire barred him. He stopped at the entrapping fire and fell to the ground instantly.
Sakura and Naruto gasped in fear as they saw his body drop suddenly and dangerously too close to the fire. "Please be okay Sasuke. Naruto will never forgive me if anything..." she said in her head.
As they got to Sasuke, they dropped to their knees to help him up, his pretty onyx eyes flickered open to see Naruto staring anxiously too close to his face. He doubled back slightly and saw the fire surrounding them.
"Sasuke, are you okay?" whined Sakura covering her mouth trying to keep recover from the shock.
"Yes but what happened after she possessed me?"
"She told us that you were cute and she likes your body. Then after she wanted to kill me, she ran away and we saw you fall on the floor." said Naruto smiling slightly with his eyes shining with tears as he saw his friend in normal condition. A smile broke across Sakura's face at Naruto's comment and silliness, she did agree with the cuteness statement after all. Sasuke shook his head and tried with great effort not to smile as well; it turned into a broody pout.
"Little freak of nature. Her chakra already begins to hide in the air before it comes into you. That's why I couldn't stop It." he cursed standing up.
A loud clap reverberated through the destroyed house through the forest as they were enveloped in total darkness.
7:04 pm
Sakura stirred and opened her eyes in the instant that the darkness had been lifted. The pink haired kunoichi was sitting at the base of a support beam. She looked down and noticed that she was tied to the column by a thick choking rope tied like a noose.
The genjutsu of the rogue ninja was an incredibly formidable power in her arsenal she knew as Sasuke had said. She looked over to her left and saw Naruto and Sasuke were tied next to each other on the same beam. She was the only one separated.
"Where did the rogue ninja go?" whispered Sakura anxiously turning her head from side to side while struggling against the tight rope binding her to the beam.
Naruto struggled against the binding rope to try and free his arm to release the genjutsu but the rope was body breaking tight.
"I can't get loose to break the jutsu." Naruto complained. Sakura only wondered why she was tied up alone and separate from Sasuke and Naruto. "Let me try reaching my katana" came Sasuke.
The familiar creaking of the wooden floorboards came as all three stopped. The situation was precarious. They were bound to columns by tight rope while a vicious body snatcher was coming...
Creak, creak, creak.
Hayashi Fukazawa arrived in sight of them all and stared at Sakura only with his one remaining eye. There was a straight fireless path leading right to where she was tied. He stopped walking and dropped to the floor as the orange chakra traveled to an unknown location. The three ninja gasped at the spectacle...
Then someone was walking towards them through the fire.
Sakura's heart skipped a beat as she finally saw her for the first time.
A little girl.
Appearing to be around ten years old, she had ghostly white skin, long dark hair, a single trailed nosebleed and a white dress with was unrecognisable with its dirt and stains. Sakura could see her curse mark on her left shoulder with all the self-mutilation looking scratches around them. Then there was her face, it's beauty and innocence hidden by the evil and ferocious, twisted and contorted expression of enraged bitterness, just as it was in her picture that made Sakura recoil.
She was carrying her Barbie doll in one hand and Suigetsu's blade in the other hand walking closer and closer to her in great speed. Sakura stared at her in awe: she couldn't believe just how everything they'd been through on the mission beginning with the blast had all been orchestrated by this one lone little girl.
"Run Sakura, RUN!" shouted Naruto terrified for his teammate.
Sakura struggled against the ropes binding her as she heard Naruto's fearful scream for her to get away. She began to panic as Himiko came closer. She knew that she would have to stop the possession of her body at all cost or the little girl would take over her body and control her movements to stab herself with Suigetsu's blade.
Himiko did her impossibly fast jutsu just as Sakura freed her arm and punched her on her cheek without enough momentum so Himiko's head merely slumped backwards as the little girl's chakra became a visible shining orange. Then Sakura held Himiko's small head tightly in her one hand.
Sakura hand began burning furiously as she felt the pure, raw, powerful chakra burn intensely up her arm.
Sakura and Himiko both screamed as their eyes rolled to the back of their heads when the body possession jutsu backfired as it had been interrupted before Himiko could release her chakra fully.
Sakura and Himiko lost consciousness.
Everything went white...