Chapter 44: The Search Is On
"You killed the Lady Sage?" asked Onoki in disbelief as he stared down the Rain messenger.
"Indeed I have." said the messenger, his voice unwavering as he locked eyes with each Kage. He made contact with Gaara last; the Kazekage's jade green eyes betrayed no emotion, even though Gaara was feeling a large pang of murderous intent begin to grow within his chest.
"If that's the case," said Mei as she took a step forward. "Then where's her body?"
"It's around here somewhere." said the messenger as he waved his arm to gesture around the room. Gaara had to fight back the urge to command his sand to kill the man right where he stood.
"Well aren't you funny?" asked A sarcastically as he crossed his arms. "We all know you're lying, so why don't you make things easier for yourself and tell us what happened to the Lady Sage . . . or do I have to seriously beat the answers out of you."
"Your threats fall on deaf ears Raikage-san." said the messenger as he shook his head "Have you heard of the phrase 'Don't kill the messenger'?
"Why are you brining that up?" Tsunade asked suddenly as she raised an eyebrow in suspicion.
"Let's just say that you won't need to soil your fingers with killing me." said the messenger as he unzipped his flak jacket to reveal a series of explosive tags along his torso. "I'll do that job myself."
The Kages' eyes widened in surprise as the messenger brought his hand to his face. Gaara quickly leapt into action and summoned his sand to protect himself and everyone else in the room before the messenger could blow himself up. A large echoing boom could be heard across the area as the walls were blown into pieces upon impact of the explosion. It felt like the whole place was being leveled by a high magnitude earthquake that wouldn't cease for hours. The seconds felt like hours, but soon enough the rumbling stopped and everything became eerily quiet.
"Well that was an impact." muttered Mei as Gaara finally took down his sand shield; the room they were standing in was completely gone. A whole entire section of the building was completely obliterated by the blast.
"Those explosive tags he had on his chest were definitely C4s," muttered Darui as he looked around the area. "It took out a good section of Mifune's building."
"Wait a second . . . where is that old samurai?" asked A as he looked around the area.
"Over here!"
Everyone turned to see the Sand Siblings standing by a fallen Mifune a few yards away.
"Is he alright?" asked Onoki as the group ran over to the siblings.
"Not really," muttered Temari as she and Kankuro flipped the Iron leader over to his back. "It appears he's been poisoned."
Tsunade crouched down to Mifune's side and raised her palm over his face. A light green chakra covered her hand as she moved her hand over Mifune in a side to side manner.
"Poison gas, but it's definitely low level. I'll be able to heal him in a few minutes." said Tsunade as she brought both hands to his chest.
"That's good to know," muttered A as he crossed his arms. "Mifune is our best bet now to figure out what happened to the Lady Sage."
"Amegakure really has outdone itself this time," muttered Mei as she looked around the snowy area. "Attacking the Kage Summit and having one of their own take out the Lady Sage and practically half this building in in one blast is definitely what I call thinking big."
"One thing is for sure: I highly doubt that the Lady Sage was killed by a meager messenger like him." said Onoki as he put a hand under his chin. "For starters, we would have sensed a large amount of tailed beast chakra around here if she was killed, but I don't sense a drop of it. Also, I've read her record; she's not one to die at the hands of a guy like that Rain nin."
"Then what do you suggest could have happened to her, Lord Onoki?" asked Kakashi as he turned to the elder Kage. "Do you think she's been . . . transported to Amegakure somehow, or do you think she's become mute and invisible and is trying to get our attention as we speak?"
"You have quite the sense of humor Kakashi," muttered Onoki as he turned to the silver haired jonin. "But to get back to what you said earlier; transportation jutsus aren't that uncommon. Isn't that right A?"
The Raikage let out a small grunt in exasperation as he turned forward. "You make a good point Onoki. Most of the transportation jutsus have origins in the Land of Lightning, but we tend to keep the techniques secret as best we can. If the messenger deed indeed use a teleportation jutsu on the Lady Sage, then he must have had a lot of chakra reserved in him for that technique."
"Or . . . he could have transported her far enough so that she would appear within the clutches of his associates."
Everyone turned to see Mifune with his eyes open, staring out into the sky as Tsunade finished healing him.
"Thank you Lady Tsunade," said the samurai as he slowly sat up into a sitting position.
"Anytime Mifune," said Tsunade as she placed her hands on her hips. "Now, do you remember anything that happened before the explosion occurred just now?"
"I remember plenty," answered Mifune as he crossed his arms. "I was momentarily knocked out by the poison gas the messenger spewed onto my face, but I managed to wake up before the Lady Sage disappeared."
"What happened?" asked Gaara as he crossed his arms, expertly hiding the worry within his voice with his stoic tone.
"When I regained conscious, I saw the Lady Sage standing with a disgruntled look on her face as she pushed against an invisible force. I saw her look down and when I looked down at the floor to see what was holding her back for myself, I saw that there was a large kanji etched across the ground below her. A bright light then shone from the kanji, enveloping the Lady Sage before disappearing completely. The last thing I remember before losing consciousness was seeing the ground empty of the kanji . . . and her." explained Mifune as he looked down at the ground.
"So it's safe to say that Lady Izuka was probably transported away by the jutsu the messenger used." suggested Darui as he raised an eyebrow.
"Considering the fact that we should have at least sensed a surge in tailed beast chakra if her body was indeed destroyed, then yes, a transportation jutsu is indeed a possibility." said Onoki as he let out a sigh.
"The question is this. How far did that jutsu take her?" asked Mei as she looked around at their surroundings.
"She's probably close," said Mifune as he got up to his feet. "I doubt that messenger had enough chakra to send Lady Izuka all the way to Amegakure."
"If he did transport her somewhere close, expect a few Rain nin to be guarding her." muttered A as he turned to his guards. "Let's get looking."
C and Darui nodded their heads and the three disappeared from the scene, heading for the northern areas. Mei and her party decided to follow suit and ran to look through the area south of the building. Onoki and his group decided to search from above and Tsunade's group ran for the west.
"C'mon; we need to search the eastern areas." said Gaara as he started to walk east.
"I'll send my samurai to back up you and the other Kages on the search." said Mifune as he bowed his head before disappearing. Gaara let out a small sigh as he began to run east, Temari, Kankuro, and Ryu following right after him.
"Gaara . . . are you okay?" asked Temari as the siblings and the dragon ran into the forest.
"I'm fine Temari." Gaara said stoically as he stared straight ahead. "If the Rain nin get their way and figure out how to unlock the seals that keep the tailed beasts within her, then we are going to have mass chaos on our hands."
"Don't worry Gaara! We'll get Izzy back!" said Kankuro as he stared at his brother. "We got to."
Gaara snuck a look at his brother through the corner of his eye before turning his attention forward.
"Thanks Kankuro"
Kankuro let a small smile come across his face before returning to a neutral expression. Temari soon followed suit, and so did Ryu. And Gaara continued to lead the way, all of them hell bent on getting their friend and ally back.
Please review!