Chapter 15: The Legend of Demon Island

At the sign of first light, we were back out looking for Naruto as Shino and I were in the boat seeing one of his bugs fly towards his finger.

"Still no sign of Naruto… none of my scout beetles have seen or smelled him." he said hearing the slight tint of worry in his voice making me frown.

"What if… you think Naruto is okay?" I asked sadly looking out at the calm water seeing no sign of life.

"He wouldn't be beaten so easily." Shino said making me look over at him as he replied, "After all he is a Leaf Ninja."

"We should head to the town and see if they know anything." we heard Anko yell from shore making us nod heading back to land walking to the town still feeling guilty for not being awake to help defend him.

"I am the ship's financial administrator and well aware of your situation however we have not heard anything about a stray boy washing up on shore." the man in front of us said staying quiet as Anko did the talking.

"I'm afraid that's not the only bad news." he said making me turn my eyes up to him as he frowned saying, "The schedule for our ship delivery has been moved up."

"You're leaving earlier?" Anko said with slight distress as he nodded saying, "Our new departure is for tomorrow morning. I'm sorry for such a late notice but with the alliance between us and the Land of Water we must push our departure forward."

Anko was quiet for a moment before saying, "I understand… still we need to spend as much time here as possible to find our teammate."

"Of course." he said as Anko replied back, "We will meet you tomorrow morning at the port for guard duty… with or without him."

I looked over at Anko, I knew it was our duty to help this town but still Naruto was out there, and we had no way of knowing if he was injured or stranded. Still, I had faith that we'd find him sooner or later, he was as Shino said a ninja of the Hidden Leaf.

We decided to split up again with Anko going her own way while Shino and I asked around town, so far no one had heard from Naruto or seen anyone fitting his description. Whenever we brought up the water it seemed they were all too scared to talk about it.

"He's been taken by the spirits." an old women said as her daughter replied, "Mother that's just an old myth."

"We've heard that phrase before taken by the spirits, what do you mean?" Shino asked as her daughter shook her head saying, "It won't do any good..."

"We don't care please tell us what you know." I said as she looked between us saying, "The subject isn't something we can discuss with outsiders..."

"Maybe we can help, we came here to get rid of the demon of the ocean." I said seeing her look at me surprised replying, "You came to do what… alright then."

"For generations fisherman have told the legend of Demon Island, the legend warns against even going near that isolated place. From the beginning, the waters off Demon Island were rich in fish but the hidden reefs there made it too dangerous for boats." she looked out at the water continuing, "Most people headed the legend and stayed away but during an unusually cool summer ten years ago the fish disappeared from the sea. We had no choice, so my husband and I ventured into the treacherous waters, and we caught many fish."

I saw her face suddenly shift to sadness as she looked at us saying, "But when I returned to the surface with our haul the boat was empty, my husband was nowhere to be seen. Since then, everyone who approaches the island disappears, even the ones who search for the missing. Now no one will go near the island for fear they will be taken away too."

"An island where people mysteriously go missing..." I said rubbing my chin as Shino said, "It's so bizarre."

Thinking for a moment I looked at the woman saying, "Wait we heard of a girl who was taken away, she came back."

"Oh yes… Isaribi." she said with slight fear as I replied, "One last question… where does she live?"

After getting directions, we both found Anko telling her the good news, she may be the link to finding Naruto. Perhaps she could tell us how she escaped or even the best route to get to the Demon Island, all we knew for sure was it was worth a shot.

"So, she's the only one who came back from disappearing?" Anko asked as I nodded saying, "Yea, I figure it was worth checking out."

"She may also have some useful information about Demon Island too." Shino said making me nod as we all jumped through the trees.

Suddenly Anko stopped putting her hand up signaling us to stop as I looked past her seeing the girl Isaribi walking along the beach saying, "That's her… what should we do now?"

I saw her look around a little as Anko replied, "Let's find out where she's headed, but keep back so she doesn't know we are following her."

We saw her go through a small opening in the rocks keeping our distance until she was in a little section of sand that connected with the ocean. She walked into the water to her ankles suddenly stopping seeing her bandages come undone. My eyes widened seeing her body transform to take on a more fish appearance as Anko stood up from her hiding spot.

"So, you must be the demon of the ocean." Anko said seeing her look towards us splashing us with water.

I watched her dive in the ocean saying, "Wait!"

I began chasing after her with Shino right behind me, but Anko remained frozen as if she was deep in thought. Turning around I grabbed a kunai reaching into my pocket for an explosive tag wrapping it around my kunai. Looking ahead of her and so I wouldn't hurt her I threw the kunai as it hit some rocks above blocking her into the little pocket of ocean.

Shino got out some shuriken and used strings to attach them together easily lassoing the girl once she came up for air.

"Stop struggling there is no escape." he said as I took a step forward saying, "Careful don't hurt her..."

He turned towards me going to speak when I heard, "Hey you guys!"

Turning my head, I saw Naruto running towards us making me smile, "You're okay… we were worried about you."

"Unfortunately, you're a bit to late..." Shino said seeing Naruto look at him replying, "What do you mean?"

"We think she may be the demon of the ocean..." I said still a bit hesitant to believe it myself.

Looking towards her she looked down sadly as Naruto said quietly, "Isaribi..."

"Naruto?" I questioned seeing him step forward saying, "It's you, isn't it?"

Instead of answering she broke free of Shino's strings diving into the ocean as I said, "Wait we can't let her get away."

"Be careful she's not very strong." Naruto said holding us back as Shino replied, "Explanations will have to wait, we can't let her escape."

I heard panting beside me seeing Anko gripping her shoulder as Isaribi appeared again with a man beside her making Naruto point at him saying, "Hey who the heck are you, let Isaribi go!"

The man laughed saying, "You must be joking this girl is an important lab rat and if something happens to her, I'm left responsible."

He began sinking into the whirlpool he created as Naruto began to run towards him, but I grabbed him just in time saying, "No Naruto if you go missing in the water again, we may never find you."

"But… he's getting away..." Naruto said seeing the defeat in his eyes as she disappeared.

Anko suddenly cried out falling to her knees in pain as she fell into the water, but I grabbed onto her before she could sink.

"What now?" Naruto said defeated as I looked at Shino before saying, "First priority is making sure Anko is safe, so we'll go back to shore until she wakes up."

"What about Isaribi?" Naruto said as I looked at the water saying, "Don't worry Naruto we will figure out what to do and act accordingly."

He nodded seeing the defeat in his eyes as he helped me hold Anko up leaving the water, things just got a bit more complicated.