SOUND FOUR
It's dark in the forest and the trees are wet and thick and tall. Stand here with me for a moment and look around. Do you see the blood mixing with the mud? The tendrils of mist floating around like ghosts. This is where a bunch of kids are killing each other now. It's the Leaf against the Sound and the Leaf is losing hard.
Let's not waste time with them anyways. We're in a hurry, aren't we? Aren't we here to save Sasuke Uchiha? Just don't get your hopes up. Some people make too many wrong choices. Others, like the girl who now appears before us, never had the chance to choose.
Her name is Tayuya and the music you hear comes from her flute. At some point, someone taught her to play music; now, bad things happen to the ones who hear her melody. But she's not one to dwell on the past. Those memories are old, and blurry, just like the vision of her opponent now: that boy you see in the background is Shikamaru Nara, the chunin in charge of this mission. And the mission is failing.
Some shinobi can and will play with your senses. Their techniques are called genjutsu, or simply, illusions. It's not easy breaking them. But sound based genjutsu can be interrupted by another sound, if it's loud, and sudden enough. Like this one. Naruto lands on a tree and the force of the impact shatters the wood under his feet. Shikamaru snaps out of the illusion. And he counterattacks.
"I don't need your help! Go get him!", Shikamaru yells, as he forms his hand seals. He's gathering every bit of his strenght and just as the clouds obscure the full moon; just as the shadows grow denser and darker, he attacks.
The shadows engulf the tired girl from her feet up to her waist. And the last thing Naruto sees of her is her red hair fluttering like a bonfire as Tayuya struggles against the shadows. There's nothing she can do now. Naruto is gone now. So he doesn't see how Shikamaru forms another hand seal. How one shadow separates from the others in the shape of an human hand. But the Nara boy does see it. And the memory of grabbing Tayuya by the throat with shadow hands and crushing it will never leave him. It will haunt his dreams for quite some time. And he will remember the sound, the loud crack, every time he snaps a twig. Every time he breaks a chopstick. You get the idea.
He's had enough. Was this really necessary? "I wonder how the rest is doing", he thinks. "Goddamn it." He's the only chunin in the entire rescue team: all the others are genin, the youngest, greenest, shinobi in the village. The adults just did not care about a rogue Uchiha boy. "If he wants to leave, fine", someone said. "I never liked his kind." So the kids had to step up and now they're dying like rats in some forest nobody ever heard about. And he's supposed to save their asses? He never asked for this. Being a leader? That's just too bothersome. "All I want is a good rest", he thinks, as he falls to his knees. "I'm fed up with this shit."
Meanwhile, Naruto dashes from tree to tree, leaping dozens of meters each time. He's running as fast as he can. Will it be enough? How could he know.
Somewhere else, Choji Akimichi puts a pill into his mouth and things, with a sad smile, "I guess I won't make it to dinner tonight." Not too far away, Kiba Inuzuka embraces his dog, Akamaru, as his enemy comes closer to them... We see a flash, and an arrow pierces the air with a terrible whistle. Neji Hyuga tries to dodge it, and barely succeeds. Will there be a next time? How could he know. Elsewhere, Gaara of the Desert uses his sand to save Rock Lee's life and he nearly fails this time. How can they win this battle? They are outmatched. But as we said earlier, let's not waste too much time with them. Let the scene fade to black, slowly, like in a movie, and move on.
Now we see the forest from the sky and in the background, look closely, it's them: the stone giants depicting Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha. We're reaching the valley where, so long ago, the legendary battle took place. It feels like destiny is pointing its finger at something, like telling us: "this is where it ends."
