Chapter 55: Behind The Crystal Wall
Groaning lightly, I could see the sun shining through my eye lids opening them as I blinked a few times getting used to the brightness. Wiggling a little more I froze up realizing sometime in the night I had wrapped my arms around Shino while his arm was awkwardly stuck around me.
"So, you've finally woken up." he said calmly shifting so my arms weren't around him trying not to elbow him in the head saying, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable.
"It is fine, but we need to head out to find the others." he said seeing him go to unzip the sleeping bag letting me climb out while he followed.
"Did your bugs finish?" I asked hopefully as he nodded replying, "It appears to be so, but I won't know until we're against the crystal user."
Stretching my sore limbs, I jumped down from the tree looking around as I said, "The others probably didn't stray far from the originally place we were hiding out, we should start there."
He nodded as we began our trek in that direction seeing a familiar large white dog landing beside them while Kakashi looked towards us, "You both have returned."
"Was your mission a success?" Kakashi asked watching Shino hold his arm out seeing the bugs begin to crawl out of his sleeve while Kiba replied, "You were able to find it!"
"We're really lucky, I found a female insect that survived with her eggs and they just hatched. It's the next generation of insects." Shino said watching Kiba flash a smile saying, "This insect is resistant to that jutsu?"
"As I told Yuna that is a good possibility that it has a high tolerance but I won't know for sure until it's put on the field." he said putting his sleeve back down watching Kiba frown, "I thought you had some great countermeasure against them."
"Kakashi-sensei we need more time." Shino said in a serious tone as I titled my head, "Why is that?"
"I'm going to increase the number of these insects all at once." Shino replied confidently as Kakashi nodded, "Alright, we need to have a countermeasure as soon as possible."
"Understood." Shino said nodding as Kakashi turned to the rest of us, "Well, what about us? The enemy already knows about us and could act at any moment."
"It's possible they'll leave to avoid wasting time on us or provoking a fight." Hinata said while Kiba retorted back, "In any case our mission is to capture the enemy and obtain information. If we lose track of the enemy, they may pose a threat to the Hidden Leaf later."
"We'll keep searching for the enemy." Hinata said confidently seeing Kakashi smile saying, "Right, Yuna you'll stay with Shino to provide him back up still."
"Of course Kakashi-sensei." I said nodding as Kiba smiled at both of us saying, "You both try to catch up with us soon okay?"
"Of course." Shino said bored while Hinata smiled, "Good luck Shino."
In an instant they jumped off as Shino walked into the opening of our hideout saying in a serious tone, "Keep a look out from here, I won't be long."
Nodding I saw him use some hand signs as a giant bright light erupted from around him shielding my eyes. Turning I saw Shino had made a large cocoon watching it begin to move as the bugs stirred inside of it. After a little while I felt the earth below me shake and a large explosion sound in the distance, the rest of them must have found the enemy.
"We can go now." Shino said walking towards me as I nodded heading in the direction of the sounds watching thousands of Shino's bugs begin to swarm around the area locating them as a smoke bomb went off.
"What the hell are they doing?" Kiba coughed below us as Shino said, "It seems that the enemy has good senses as well."
"Shino!" Kiba yelled surprised while Shino looked in the direction the enemies went saying, "How unfortunate, I was just about to finish casting a net around them."
Hearing movement Kakashi appeared besides the others saying, "Is everyone alright?"
"Yea but Hinata is hurt." Kiba said worried as he kneeled beside her saying, "How bad is it, can you walk?"
"Yes, somewhat..." Hinata began putting on a brave face but I could see in her face she was in pain hearing Kiba say, "Kakashi-sensei did you get that big guy?"
"No I couldn't get him but he's injured." Kakashi said seeing Kiba frown replying, "They got away from us too..."
"Then it means the fight isn't over yet, there should be another jutsu user nearby." Kakashi said as I replied, "Right, we haven't encountered the one who left the pink crystals."
We gave Hinata a moment to rest as Shino said, "It seems backup has arrived but we have more important things to track.
"Can you follow them?" Kakashi asked seeing him point ahead of us saying, "It's the only place where the parasitic insect net wasn't complete."
Akamaru growled as Kiba sighed, "Yea, looks like we'll have to determine their objective."
"Right, let's go." Kakashi said ready to move but Shino stopped him saying, "Wait."
"What's wrong Shino?" I asked concerned as he looked at his hand saying, "The parasitic insects are behaving strangely, it's as though they can't find their way out."
"What do you mean?" Kiba questioned hearing Shino say, "How do I describe it…. They seemed to have lost all their senses and seem to be wandering aimlessly."
"Could it be some sort of Genjutsu?" Hinata suggested seeing Kiba shake his head, "They didn't use anything except physical attacks."
"No, it's also possible that they simply chose not to use it on us." Shino said making me nod, "Perhaps they didn't want us knowing to keep it hidden from us a while longer."
"Hinata see if there is a sealing jutsu or barrier." Kakashi said watching Hinata nod activating her Byakugan seeing her look around frantically before collapsing as I kneeled next to her, "What is it?"
"Infinite… images of us..." Hinata said hearing the fear in her voice becoming aware of Shino's bugs going crazy around us while Kakashi said, "Seems we're sealed within some sort of barrier."
"We thought we had the enemy sealed off with the insects, but their outer perimeter was further off is that it?" Shino wondered hearing Akamaru bark as Kiba tensed, "The enemy is back."
Seeing crystal fragments head in our direction Kakashi told us to scatter as I got my kunai out leaping out of the way from getting hit. Turning quickly, I came into contact with a woman with blue hair smiling smugly towards me.
"You are the only one I haven't seen do anything special." she said seeing a crystal blade in her hand as I blocked it watching her materialize another.
"Don't underestimate me." I said with a smirk back pushing myself off her blade deciding not to rely on my blood just yet.
We both began sparring back and forth as she taunted me but it only fueled me to fight harder seeing her look past me. Going to attack her she jumped off retreating as I made my way to the others seeing everyone except for Hinata.
"What happened?" Kakashi asked hearing Kiba reply, "She just up and left..."
"The same thing happened to me." Shino said as I frowned saying, "Where is Hinata?"
"Here is your friend." we heard turning as the ground began to move revealing Hinata trapped in a crystal.
"Hinata!" Kiba cried out looking at her making my fist tighten as we ran towards her stopping when the enemy appeared from behind it saying, "Light sealed inside the Jade crystal can never get out so don't move."
She materialized another crystal blade pointing it towards Hinata saying, "If you guys follow us around any longer, your friend will end up as shattered shards of light."
Hearing a rumble we all looked up as the crystal began to break apart making me smirk tightening my fist, "Looks like back up has arrived."