(Welcome back! This is the Fourth Chapter of a 10 Part Arc. The Ninja of the Hidden Smoke Ninja don't give up so easily. Can Team 3 survive another attack? I love feedback and constructive criticism, so please leave a review so I can improve my writing and storytelling skills. Enjoy!)
"Let's take another break and rest here for a bit," says Kayo as the team moves through the trees. They've made their way through a large forest, far away from the lake they took a rest at earlier. The team drops down from the thick upper branches and lands smoothly on the ground. Jando throws himself against a tree trunk and takes out a ration bar to snack on.
"Keep your Byakugan active, Jando," Kayo orders, "We don't want anyone sneaking up on us."
"Yeah, yeah I got it," he replies airily, waving his hand.
"So what do you think, Sensei?" Kuroda asks, "What is the enemy's next move?"
"Well…if I were them, depending on the personnel I have available, I would probably try to move ahead and get in front to set up an ambush," she speculates.
"If that is the case I suggest we take a different route than we normally would," he replies, placing his hand under his chin.
"I am pretty familiar with this region, so it shouldn't be a problem," she says, her eyes looking up as she tries to recall her past ventures in this area.
"But if we take a detour won't it take us longer to get home?" Jando asks.
"Yes, but if you don't have to fight then you should do what you can to avoid fighting," Sakura interjects.
"Very good, Sakura," Kayo compliments, "Combat takes up a lot more energy than traveling. So we preserve that energy by going around rather than busting through any enemy trap."
"Seems like they haven't noticed me yet," thinks Kaneo as he spies on the group from high up in the trees, "Looks like that Hyuga kid Bosch told me about hasn't truly perfected his famous Kekkei Genkai yet. Since I have the element of surprise I might as well try to take them out before they notice me." Using a high-speed movement technique he vanishes from the tree branch.
A small cloud of violet colored gas appears only a short distance away from Team 3's location. It is in the perfection position so that none of them can see where it has formed. The gas slowly expands and starts closing in and surrounding them. "Sensei, are there any sulfur deposits nearby?" Sakura asks curiously.
"Not that I know of," she answers, "Why do you ask?"
"Well, there is that weird gas coming toward us," Sakura responds pointing towards the gas.
"What are you talking about, Sakura?" Jando asks skeptically.
"Crap, it's all around us!" Kuroda shouts frantically.
"Don't breathe it in, its poison!" Kayo warns, having dealt with this type of attack during her many years of being a ninja.
"How the hell did they sneak up on us?" Jando wonders as he covers his mouth, "I should have been able to see them with my Byakugan."
"It is everywhere, even overhead," Kuroda thinks as he searches for a way out, "I could use my Flying Thunder God Technique to get everyone out safely, but that would mean exposing my ability to Jando and our assailants."
Kayo pulls out a scroll, unrolls it, bites her thumb so it bleeds, and smacks her hand down on the scroll all in one swift motion. As her chakra pours into the scroll it activates and releases a massive blast of air out in all directions. Unaware of what her master was planning; Sakura is forced to hold her dress down so that it isn't blown off. The gust of wind drives the deadly poison far away and saves the team from certain death. Sakura breathes a sigh of relief, Jando is still wondering how his Byakugan failed, and Kuroda eyes are darting all around looking for the attacker.
"Watch out for a secondary attack," Kayo cautions as her scarlet eyes scan the surrounding woods. The Genin act quickly and form up on her so that everyone is facing a different direction.
"Sensei, I didn't know you could store wind in a scroll," Sakura says.
"You should have learned that in the academy," Kayo replies, "You can store almost anything inside a scroll as long as it isn't too big and it isn't alive. I'll teach you how to do it once this mission is over."
"Do you see anyone, Jando?" Kuroda asks.
"No, I don't see… wait there is someone coming right over at four o'clock," Jando reveals, irritation showing on his face, "Definitely a ninja based on the amount of chakra I am seeing."
"Very impressive," says Kaneo as he pushes some bushes aside and comes into view, "I wasn't expecting my Poison Gas Jutsu to work, but I certainly didn't think you would deal with it so quickly and effectively."
"Look at his headband," Sakura whispers, "He must be a companion of that other Smoke Ninja."
"Jando, keep an eye out for any of his friends trying to sneak up on us," Kayo orders.
"My subordinate, Bosch, said you were skilled," Kaneo says calmly as his eyes scan over the group and then settle on Kayo, sizing her up, "It looks like he was telling the truth."
"I guess that means you are the leader of your operation," Kayo says defiantly, "We're not handing over the sculpture to you."
"You must be Kayo Yuhi, I've heard of the Yuhi Clan before," Kaneo responds, "My subordinate said you claimed to be a master of Genjutsu."
"What of it?" Kayo asks, curious as to why the man cares about this.
"Oh, nothing really, I just wanted to get a look at my opponent with my own eyes," Kaneo explains, "But now I guess it is time to get things started."
"Another four on one battle?" Kayo questions, "You Smoke Ninja are really cocky."
"Oh, this isn't going to be a battle," Kaneo says, with a confident smirk, before making a combination of hand signs with blinding speed, "Ninja Art: Smog Choking Technique!"
His right arm becomes engulfed in a thick, dirty, grey gas-like substance. He motions his arm forward and the gas shoots off, changing into the shape of a large hand while it moves. Kayo attempts to slice the newly formed hand in half when it gets near her, but the kunai just passes right through. A look of surprise slips through her determined expression. The arm twists around and weaves through the formation, each member trying to attack it and a stunned look appearing on their faces when they fail. Finally the smoky hand reaches Sakura and grabs hold of her throat. She tries to slash the arm off, but her attack also passes through. The gaseous hand clamps down on her esophagus and starts choking the life out of her. She tries to free herself, but to no avail, and her eyes start rolling towards the back of her head.
Kuroda flips into the air and tries to smash his leg through the grey arm, but again it passes through like nothing is there.
"Damn it! How can his technique grab hold of Sakura but none of our attacks can touch it?" he thinks in frustration as he glares at the enemy, "Fine, then if I can't touch it then I'll just have to attack the person who created it." He charges at the smoke ninja, but Kaneo pulls his arm back and yanks Sakura through the air. He smashes his left fist into her gut, completely knocking all the remaining air out of her and causing her to lose consciousness.
He throws her over his shoulder and then shakes his right arm and his Jutsu deactivates. "You bastard! Let her go!" Kuroda shouts with menace in his eyes.
"I told you it wasn't going to be a fight," Kaneo ridicules, "I think a game of tag is so much more fun. Let us play a round, shall we?" With that he spins around and takes off with great haste.
Kuroda moves to charge after him, but stops himself and thinks, "I've got to calm down. He is using her as bait. If he wanted to kill her he would have just choked her out with his Jutsu."
"What are you doing?" Jando shouts, "We need to go after her!"
"I want to go after her, but we need to think about the mission first," Kuroda says calmly, "Sensei, what do you want to do?"
"The mission is important, but we are Leaf Ninja," Kayo reminds him, "We don't leave our friends behind. We're going after her."
"You know he is just leading us into a trap, right?" Kuroda says.
"I know," she says, "We'll just have to deal with whatever he has planned when we catch up to him. Let's move out."
Along the way Kayo summons her mechanical bird and they use it to follow after Sakura and her kidnapper. They track her chakra to a large cave entrance and decide to enter in order to save Sakura. Kayo steps forward into the unknown determined to save her pupil from whatever despicable plans the enemy has. Jando takes a big gulp, his confidence wavering for a moment, but then steps inside, ready to go to battle. Kuroda however is strangely calm, his mind seemingly elsewhere. Yet when he takes the first step into the cave he becomes focused on the task that lies ahead. The dark, damp cavern swallows all the daylight from outside but luckily someone seems to have set up a lighting system to bring illumination to the darkness. With every step they venture ever deeper into the mysterious hideout.
"Here, take this one," Kaneo orders as he tosses Sakura's limp body over to his associate.
Bosch catches her and comments, "Oh, this one is actually pretty cute. I really didn't get a good look at her earlier." His tenses up in arousal and he licks his lips as he scrutinizes her unconscious form
"You can do whatever you want with her later," Kaneo says, "Just make sure you take care of the two boys. I don't want my contest with the Yuhi woman interrupted."
"I'll take care of them, no problem," Bosch says, determined to make up for his previous failure.
(Sakura has been captured by the enemy. Team 3 has abandoned their original mission and race to save their comrade. As always, if you want more information on my characters you can see their bios on my profile page. Be warned, there may be some spoilers. Also I'm in the process of getting pictures drawn for the characters, but I have no idea how long that will take. If you're interested in drawing and have a DA account then send me a Message. Enjoy the next chapter, and please review.)