Chapter 334: Congé
n. an unceremonious dismissal
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An exhausted giggle snuck past Kagome's lips as she watched the two boys, who'd just been locked in a terrifying battle… nap peacefully side by side. Naruto let out a grumbling snort while Gaara's face twisted into an annoyed expression at the noisy intrusion. Another giggle built in Kagome's chest before a rustling noise caught her ear.
Kagome froze in place as she turned searching eyes towards the rustling trees. Slowly her fingers retreated to the band under her shirt where Kankuro had hidden a kunai this morning, a spark of blue purification power jumped from her fingers into the metal of the ninja weapon.
A cracking stick resounded through the clearing that was quickly followed by a string of muttered curses. The low but peevish arguing was familiar, and a sigh of relief left Kagome, as her head dipped low.
"Kankuro! Temari!" called out Kagome hopefully.
The arguing paused followed by an increase in rustling before a black haired boy fell from the sky. Kagome screamed as she tugged and threw the kunai towards the red eyed stranger. The boy deftly caught the knife before turned it back towards her. Kagome squeezed her eyes shut waiting for the blow.
Shhrk! Pierced through the air causing Kagome to flinch back. When no flash of pain followed Kagome slowly blinked an eye open. A shadow overcame her while a tattered cloak seemed to float in the air above her, thin blue strings glowed translucently connecting the cloak to Kankuro panting behind her.
"Tch," scoffed the leaf nin before demanding, "what happened here?"
Kagome leaned to the right to see the boy from behind Kankuro's puppet. The boy was staring down at Naruto his face mostly blank except for a twist of concern that twitched at his eyebrows.
"Naruto is fine, he and Gaara are just sleeping," reported Kagome as she slowly pulled her shaking legs beneath her.
"Gaara is sleeping?" questioned an incredulous Temari as she quickly approached to help support Kagome while also moving her fan as a shield in front of them.
"It's okay, the second seal seemed to have held," whispered Kagome. Temari gave an abrupt nod to show she had heard.
"You won; you defeated our trump card. Just let us go and you won't have any more problems from us," negotiated Kankuro.
The boy considered this arrangement, before he relented with a slight nod of assent.
Temari huffed a breath of relief when they reached a secluded cave 11 kilometers from Konoha's outer walls. She would have preferred for them to have gotten further away, but none of the team seemed fit for continuing the arduous trek back to Suna. While no one was sporting injuries, all three siblings suffered from Chakra exhaustion and Kagome had already pushed herself beyond collapse.
With care Temari heaved Gaara off her back and carefully arranged his body onto the floor of the cave, his head pillowed by her battle fan. Kankuro dropped bonelessly to the ground across from them while Kagome awkwardly held herself up on the wall of the cave now that her human crutch had abandoned her.
"Should we start a fire?" asked Kagome, ducking her head down to look out the entrance of the cave at the effervescent forest outside.
"We can't risk the smoke signaling our whereabouts," regretfully informed Temari as she collapsed beside Gaara, resting her elbow on her fan beside Gaara's head. Kagome nodded her understanding.
"Hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to make a fire and have a hot meal, for now…" said Kankuro gingerly holding out half a ration bar towards Kagome.
"I knew you were losing it, but I didn't think you had gotten that bad," sniggered Jirayia as he roughly slapped Kakashi on the back. The silver haired ninja took a step to catch his balance while his sharingan lazily spun in his eye socket. His attention was transfixed on the slip of paper securely attached to the building's wall.
"I watched 3 different A-rank jutsus strike this building, and not a single crack has been found in its foundation," analyzed Kakashi as he warily pulled his gaze away, efficiently drawing his hitai-ate over his spinning eye.
"Is that a seal from the Suna Priestess?" questioned Jiraiya, his mood turning serious as he observed the seal beside Kakashi.
"Yes, we thought that we had taken all of them down," explained Kakashi. Multiple Genin teams had spent the day before the exam locating all the scattered seals. They had found hundreds of them, but apparently not all of them. The ninja turned to examine the horizon. Most buildings had crumbled during the Sand-Sound Invasion, but a few buildings stood like pillars untouched by the carnage around them.
"Just who is this Priestess?" marveled Jiraiya, a fluttering keenness rising in his chest.
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