A/N: Hey guys...so I'm still alive, and I am so sorry for the long, loooong hiatus. But I swear it felt like life was just having a go at me, between lack of sleep, annoyingly time consuming university projects, problems with my university, family issues I also got covid. The version that left me in bedrest for almost a month...anyway, I'm kinda back to full health so here I am with a new chapter, let's knock on wood and hope things remain calm.
Chapter 71: Lingering stench
Keeping the expression on her face calm was far more effort than Kagome would've liked, but the almost identical glares behind her were a little too much for her not to laugh.
As much as Sasuke and Suigetsu had tried their best to get out of this impromptu shopping trip, the girl had given no space for them to wiggle out. Any lingering hope of escaping died the second the group entered the kimono shop. Especially since both the Higurashi and the silver-haired kunoichi found themselves overly amused at their response to the gentle tones of the civilian princess. Of course, the Taisho matriarch never stopped the subtle comments and silent questions, but she jumped at the chance to join Kagome in teasing the irritated teens. Having her attention pulled in so many directions to try and keep some semblance of control over the situation was exhausting, but it had been a while since she gave such a genuine laugh.
"All of it will be delivered to the main house, of course," Kimi explained as they left. "If anything requires to be fixed once it arrives, say the word. Trust me, they'd rather remake the whole thing than have their clothes remain ill-fitting."
"I'm confident the quality will be far better than what we've made do with," Sasuke grunted behind her at her self-deprecating comment.
"I do have to wonder if perhaps I went a little...overboard." The civilian princess looked back at the shop.
Since most of what her group truly needed was more variety in actual clothes, the bulk of their purchases were orders for clothes. It made sense, Kagome supposed, that there weren't any normal shopping clothes within the Taisho compounds. With such a relatively small number of permanent inhabitants, it made no sense to waste resources making duplicates of something that had a good chance of not being used. Add to it that most people here were active shinobi, and any family that attempted to copy outside shops would go bankrupt. Instead, the tailor served as a semi-boutique, with a handful of half-done designs set up in the front and a massive catalog of fabrics. After all, what a shinobi required from their clothes selection depended a lot on their fighting style. The last thing a taijutsu specialist needed, were baggy clothes to hinder their movements, but people like her often needed extra fabric to hide tools, scrolls, and poisons.
Accessories, on the other hand, were very much ready to be bought.
From innocent, intricate knickknacks to the sort of things that justified the paranoia ingrained in most shinobi, the small tailor shop made sure to cater to its clientele. Courtesy and genuine interest had her accepting a handful of items to add to her wardrobe, but Izayoi-sama's list filled most of the bags currently carried by the rest of her group. A kind, subtle way to remind them that the Taishos beat them in numbers and money. Exactly how much of this whole thing had been a calculated move and how much was just the Taisho matriarch taking advantage of a favorable scenario, Kagome wasn't sure, although she didn't doubt the civilian princess wasn't clueless when it came to clan politics. Some as careful as the pair of leaders wouldn't allow anyone who could become a liability in council meetings, and from what Rin-chan had let slip, Izayoi-sama was always present.
"That's ha;f of what Toga is good for, darling..." the official matriarch trailed off, mischievous smile in place. "Well, one-third, I suppose there are still a couple of years before Sesshoumaru can win against him."
"If he hears you, he'll start sulking." Despite her words, the patriarch's lover laughed.
"Men can be such prideful creatures."
"Aren't all shinobi?" Kagome added, a bit too direct, but it wouldn't affect much.
"I suppose." Kimi-sama's shrewd gaze landed on her. "Perhaps a little, such a burdensome, little thing."
Something forcibly pulled her attention away.
Living inside the Taisho estate brought with it a certain level of relief. The lingering reiki that laced the barrier made it easier for her to remain calm, but paranoia didn't just disappear. So Kagome's habit of scanning their surroundings regularly, remained despite how annoying it could be with so many ninjas coming and going. Eventually, the girl learned to ignore the burst of chakra coming from the training grounds... but what came back from her scan was neither chakra nor came from the expected direction.
"Kagome?" Sasuke's voice brought her back.
"Someone is coming..." They were approaching the entrance of the estate. "And they're fast."
"Huh?"
A light wave of reiki came from across Izayoi-sama.
So, the Taisho matriarch was a sensor.
The silver-haired woman looked in the same direction, a slight frown marring her usually undecipherable expression. "It would seem Koga's team is on their way back." Kagome's gaze narrowed at the tone. "At least, he and Ayame-chan are."
"And one of them is dying," the girl added after a second scan.
Whoever this person was, they were uncomfortably close to death, their energy so weak she'd missed them with her first sweep.
Azure eyes flickered to the older women.
It would be easy to disregard Izayoi's gasp as the naive response of someone who stayed away from the gory part of their field of work, but the Taisho's matriarch slip made something clear. Shinobis rushing in while deathly injured was not a common occurrence.
No...not only that.
Along with the fastly approaching chakra signature, she could feel something else.
It only took a glance to have Sasuke give the bags he'd been carrying to Juugo. One order and the orange head headed back to the manor after taking Suigetsu's packages; Kagome herself was racing to the gates. Behind her, the Taisho matriarch followed her closer after sending the civilian princess with Suigetsu.
By the time they arrived at the gates, a redheaded woman was falling to her knees, her legs unable to carry the weight of the larger nin on her back; the kunoichi managed to bridge that distance faster than they did, Kagome could respect that.
The kunoichi was screaming for help.
"Is it ok for me to have a look?" Her tone was firm, cutting the woman's panic.
"I..." Unfocused green eyes attempted to search her face. "Please, please!"
Blood was quickly seeping into the floor, the familiar smell mixed with something putrid. Shallow gasps were coming from the young man now lying on the ground. There was discoloration in the skin around the wound she could see. Was the tissue becoming necrotic? Poison?
Low on chakra, bloodloss, poisoned. Typical diagnoses would not do.
Bypassing all but the last one-handed seal, Kagome placed her left palm on the teen's head and froze.
Then, she cursed. Twin syringes were in her hand in a heartbeat, quickly piercing the man's neck and filling with blood samples.
Sasuke." The syringes were in the Uchiha's grasp while her right hand hurried to grab her tanto.
Rushed motions had the man's tattered clothing pushed aside, her left hand racing to rest almost on top of his heart. Silver light glinted off the blade for half a second before Kagome plunged the weapon down, and pain registered in her mind; the steel cut through her flesh, carrying her blood with it as it pierced the man's chest.
"What are you – !"
"Unless you want him to die, don't get in her way." Sasuke's remark was irritated as he pushed the redhead back. "If Kagome thought she needed to go that far, he's in a bad place."
Koga's internal organs were failing at a rapid pace. Not one of them was working at full capacity, and the poison the Higurashi couldn't recognize was corroding any and everything within the man's body. It latched on to his chakra system too. Almost as if the thing was trying to consume him from the inside out.
But her blood was flowing within him now as well.
Using it as a conductor, the girl pushed her reiki, hurried one-handed seals helped guide it, careful not to overtax the man who did not share compatibility to the foreign energy. Reiki poured from her, focusing on the vital organs and his chakra network.
Heart first, then lungs.
She couldn't close the wound until those were working again.
Not too much. If it went overboard, then Koga's body would get badly affected. The world around her muted as her focus centered on the dying man. Push the substance out of his chakra network; once it was out, she could–
Nausea threatened to overwhelm her.
Stinging pain screamed at her nerve endings, her chakra rising as it felt.
The poison.
It was attacking her.
Attempting to corrupt her own network.
Reiki rose on its own, overflowing her own body as it fought back.
Control almost slipped by as she sent the healing energy back into Koga, rushing to push back the toxins. It tried to latch onto her again, even as it continued trying to consume the man's body.
It rang a bell.
Changing the properties of her reiki, she went on the offensive, focusing on the poison. Just the right amount, Kagome reminded herself. She couldn't use too much in a non-Higurashi body. There was something odd in how her energy seemed to jump to destroy it, but the girl pushed the thought out of her mind. Later, after she stabilized him, she could think about it. For now, the kunoichi shifted the nature of her reiki now that she couldn't feel any poison left.
Stop the bleeding, fix the worst of the damage.
As the heartbeat under her hand gained a slow rhythm, the noise surrounding them began to reach her ears again, and along it, a pained groan. Dulled blue eyes attempted to open, an unfocused gaze trying to center her.
"Wh...wha..."
"Everything is fine," Kagome said, voice soft and reassuring. "I'll heal you in a sec; just don't fight it, alright?"
With careful movements, the girl made sure to weave her seals as she sent another short burst of reiki forward. A number of injuries would have to be left behind; too much reiki had already flowed through the older teen's system that she couldn't risk overtaxing his chakra system with it. The last thing she wanted to do when there was a crowd watching was to make a mistake and leave the guy with a permanently damaged network.
Another health scan confirmed no signs of the foreign substance was left, and she fought back a sigh; as long as she could heal it, they could handle it. Taking a slow breath, Kagome sent one last burst of reiki to heal the cut in his chest as her hand dislodged the blade that served as the tool that kept her blood flowing into him. The skin of her palm knitted itself back up as soon as the steel was out.
"He'll be fine," the Higurashi reassured the unknown kunoichi after Koga lost consciousness. "A more in-depth examination should still be done, but he should be back on his own two feet in a few days."
This time, the redheaded girl managed to give Sasuke the slip and rushed to grab her bloodied hands. Gratitude evident in every motion as the older teen fell to her knees in a gesture that had become familiar after spending months liberating captured prisoners from Orochimaru's facilities. Still, Kagome willed heat to rush to her cheeks as she smiled.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you."
"W-well, I only did what I could." The tiredness in her voice wasn't fake. "I'm just glad I could help."
"Come on, Ayame-chan, you're also hurt, aren't you?" Sango-chan's voice came from behind her. Clearly, they'd attracted a crowd.
"Keh, let's get the idiot to the hospital too." Inuyasha passed close to her, with the fake monk helping him lift the unconscious nin. "Get out of the way, people!"
Before Kagome could get up herself, a hand appeared in front of her, and despite her lingering worry, she had to bite her tongue not to smile at the silent Uchiha while he helped her rise. His paranoia was just a bit more extreme than her own. Her slender fingers closed around twin syringes.
A careful gaze wandered around the street.
The Taisho's youngest annoyed yell had sent most of the gathered shinobis back to pretending to be interested in their own business. All but the silver-haired matriarch who remained standing right where she'd been, golden eyes analyzed them shamelessly, perfect mask in place. Cleaning the blade on her white sleeve, Kagome sheathed back her appropriated tanto.
"As long as the person is still breathing, the Higurashi blood limit can create a miracle...or so the stories I've heard say."
The girl played with a plan in her head for a second before taking a step, hand extended and a single blood-filled syringe in her open hand. If the odd feeling she got was related to what she felt years ago, then getting information was vital.
"Why bother with that?" Unsurprisingly, Sasuke spoke as soon as the door to their shared room closed around them.
The walk back to the main house was nothing more than subtle comments and words loaded with hidden meanings. It left the Uchiha with no option but to bite back his own words. Sure, the years under Orochimaru helped him to control his temper, letting him keep up with some of the girl's less intricate games, but the afternoon had made quick work of all his patience. But that didn't mean he was unable to read her, and something was bothering her.
"I needed to confirm something."
"You're back!" Juugo jumped up from the unnecessarily fancy sofa. "What happened?"
"Princess over here was doing her usual...!" Usually, he'd disregard Suigetsu's complaining, but as Sasuke followed his line of sight, he almost snapped. "Wait, what the–!"
"The blood is contaminated," Kagome said, giving no second thought to the extra eyes in the room while she kept taking off her long sleeves, only to move to her high socks. "Juugo, get a blanket for me, will you?"
Crimson covered the ex-Kiri nin's face, and the Uchiha could taste the blood on his tongue, trying to remind himself that even if Kagome was quickly untying her obi, there were more layers of fabric beneath her upper kimono. And really, neither of the two males inside the room would ever date to try and touch her; whether it was out of devotion or fear, it mattered not.
"Just from touching the thing?" Suigetsu questioned, his gaze purposefully avoiding the girl's form.
"No, not quite. If that was enough, then that girl would've collapsed before making it here. That was mostly out of luck if you ask me, though." Ignoring his annoyed look, the Higurashi let the second outer layer down on the towel. "Had she'd had an open wound...well, someone else would've found their corpses eventually."
"It was that bad?" Juugo asked, eyes fixed on the floor.
"I've never seen a poison like it."
"And you only managed to get two blood samples," finally, Sasuke jumped in on the conversation. "So why give them one?"
Even with no interest in poison himself, the Uchiha had come to learn the basics of what was needed to study toxins and antidote creation virtue of being close to the young kunoichi. He also knew Kagome's knowledge about the whole thing was leagues above his own, and most of the gaps she'd had back in Konoha, were filled thanks to Kabuto's teachings. Taking blood samples was not something she did regularly anymore.
"I couldn't recognize it." It was slight, but he could hear the frustration in her voice as she spoke. "The speed it was corroding his vital organs was too much for me to risk attempting to extract the poison alone. I also have no clue what to do to start countering it since it was also trying to consume his chakra network." Making sure her last layer of clothing wasn't stained by blood, the girl began to pull one of her other dresses out of a scroll. "Most interesting of all...the moment I tried to get rid of it, it tried to get me too."
"Wha..."
"You mean...the thing was alive or something?" The disbelief in Suigetsu's voice mirrored his own.
"I don't know. For all I can tell, this could even be a kekkei genkai of some sort."
"So, why give one of the samples away?" Sasuke insisted.
"Because, although I've never found this toxin before, I think I've read about it in one of my family's scrolls. There was a description of how to get rid of a similar substance..." she trailed off while understanding dawned on him. "And it was really subtle, but I think Kimi-sama recognized it; on some level at the very least."
"They were supposed to have been aiding your family for a long time before Konoha was founded, if this poison came from a clan that was trying to attack the Higurashis before, they could still have some sort of record," the Uchiha managed to get out despite the tension in his frame. "And yet, they didn't say a thing."
"Which is quite interesting, isn't it?" her smile was wry.
"What if they're just trying to confirm it is that poison?"
"Perhaps, the chance is certainly there," Kagome said, humoring Juugo's innocent proposition.
"But not even comment on it?" Suspicion dripped out of Suigetsu's every word. "That stinks of something else going on."
Something that could easily be related to the alliance that was so important for such an illustrious clan to risk crumbling the entire balance of their place between the Hidden Villages. And yet, it was something they were making sure to keep quiet. It bothered him, for as much as both heads would often make a reference to this arrangement, not once had anyone ever explained what this alliance actually implied or what was expected from their little group.
"Is it related to what was watching us in Suna?" Sasuke asked.
"That's unlikely..." Confusion shone in her eyes. "But I felt something like it before. Back when we left Konoha."
It took him longer than a second to recall what she was talking about this time.
So many things had been going on, one after another, that her comment about being watched during the last part of their journey to Orochimaru's facility had slipped from his mind for literal years. The whole thing didn't seem to be connected to anything else. It didn't take any effort to dismiss it as just some greedy nin keeping surveillance on the survivors of two historical clans.
If that was related to the poison that almost killed the Taisho shinobi, though...
"You think whoever attacked them was the one who was keeping watch on us," he finished his thought out loud.
"I don't want to jump to conclusions." With a shake of her head, the girl stepped toward him.
With a soft scoff, the Uchiha grabbed the offered obi ends, tying it in the easiest of the bows she'd nagged him into learning when they were children. Back then, helping her with some of the more complicated parts of her attire was part of his routine, and now, the gesture was one of Kagome's ways to help him calm down. She was going overboard.
"We went all over the place." Juugo finally turned back towards them now that the girl was fully clothed again. "I thought no one could follow us."
"They can't...not in any way we can detect it, but somehow, we are still being monitored." The Higurashi finished tying the ribbons of her clean sleeves with fluid motions and wrapped her arms around his own. "Regardless, if this is related to us, then I need to come up with something that's able to counter it before we get to move from here."
There it was, the reason behind her overly soothing actions.
"You're going to ask them permission to use whatever they use as a lab," he wasn't asking a question.
"I have too few samples to work with; I don't want to risk wasting anything by using rudimentary tools." Slender fingers intertwined with his, another calming motion. "There's no point in trying to get a report about who attacked those two right now, chakra exhaustion will keep that guy unconscious for a while, and the girl is going to be kept by the hospital."
Kagome didn't quite say it, but this was her way to tell him she didn't want him to be inside whatever medical facilities she'd get the Taishos to lend her. In any other situation, Sasuke would complain about it, except even he had to admit that the basics he knew he would be of no help to create an antidote. The Uchiha would only be in the way, which would frustrate him even former.
"Let's go, Suigetsu," he said, after squeezing her hand twice in quick succession. He wasn't upset.
"Huh?"
"We're going to the archives." He was already near the door.
There was nothing he could do about finding a cure for the poison, and no matter how much he didn't want to stay here with no time limit, he knew she was right. If the girl's intuition was correct, they might need to deal with this unknown threat. During a fight, there was no guarantee they could find enough time for Kagome to heal them or a place protected enough for that to happen. But there was still something he could do. After all, if this potential enemy was related to an older clan that had a link to the Taishos and the Higurashis, breaking the code from her family's scrolls had suddenly jumped up on their priority list.
Luckily, since the Higurashi's kekkei genkai didn't involve an eye technique, it meant that he could work on it without needing the girl to translate the texts like he'd had to do when decoding the Uchiha treason plans with her.
"Thank you." Kagome bridged the distance, letting a feather-like kiss on his lips. "Meet me in an hour and a half to go to Kimi-sama."
The silence that enveloped the empty, winding hallways could be considered eerie, he supposed, maybe even unnerving.
The thought came and went from the young teen's mind as he waited on one knee for the full description of his mission to be done. It wasn't anything terribly complicated, and he'd already received the dossiers from all the people involved earlier this week with the instruction to memorize every single detail of the original members of Team 7, led by Hatake Kakashi.
If he was being honest, it sounded like an easy assignment.
While the individual members held some value because of their use as political chips, they were pretty basic themselves.
"Not just around the same age as Uzumaki Naruto," the man in front of him continued. "You're stronger than anyone in your generation in the village...more than anything, your artistic mind is simply amazing. From today until the mission is complete, your name is Sai."
He toyed with the sound in his head for a second or two; it was a simple name, one single syllable and not hard to remember. It would work well enough for what was needed.
"I am called...Sai," he repeated, smile in place.
"Don't use a fake smile like that in front of me." Danzo gave him a disdainful scoff.
"I'm sorry, the manual said that the first way to appeal to someone is with a smiling face." The young teen, Sai, frowned. His hands moved to try and push the corners of his lips upwards. "I've practiced, but...I'm still unable to make these facial expressions."
It was only to be expected; none of his previous missions required him to do anything other than getting rid of the target as efficiently as possible. Take the information given, gather more with his art ninjutsu if necessary, infiltrate and eliminate his mark, or steal what was demanded of him. An easy routine he, Sai, had refined into an art in and of itself. But it wouldn't be enough this time. This time, the targets had effectively vanished from the surface of the Elemental Continents; other than some obviously curated rumors, the location of Uchiha Sasuke and Higurashi Kagome remained a mystery. After those two had every single Hidden Village get an information overload when they destroyed Orochimaru's facilities, all credible reports on them had stopped for months until they showed up in Suna. It was noteworthy. It was dangerous.
Which was why he (Sai, his name was Sai now, he had to get used to it) had to be part of a team instead of following his usual routine.
The Godaime Hokage was giving Hatake Kakashi's team as close to full authority when it came to the two rogues ninjas as it could be done. They were still technically acting on her behalf, but the woman was refusing to listen to the sensible advice from the Council, so the only way to obtain reliable information would be to be a part of team Kakashi itself. Ingratiating himself with the team was not really a part of the requirements, but the books he'd gotten said it would be far easier to obtain information about his targets if he could get along with his new teammates. After all, both heirs were said to be quite exemplary in their capabilities. While he may be able to take them one on one, all information suggested that was an unlikely scenario. There was also the issue of the two unknowns taken from Orochimaru's facilities.
Sai would have to look for another book. Failure was not an option.
Pattern recognition was essential when it came to breaking codes, but understanding the person who created the code, the implications of the time and place it was created was also helpful.
Theoretically, being with a member of the clan who created the cursed thing would help him find the key. But Kagome had been brought up by his parents, and the Uchihas didn't appreciate a single concept from the Higurashi's ideology. Ironic, considering those two families were the first to band together with the Senjus. Yet one more way his parents had screwed them over. Regardless since the girl's family was paranoid enough to code individual numbers, they didn't even have a baseline for the correct time period. Which meant Sasuke had to gather as much information he could find in the annoyingly well-stocked Taisho archives.
It was neither a fast nor rewarding thing to do. Even having Juugo and Suigetsu help barely made a dent, but Sasuke would be damned if he couldn't get at least one helpful account out of this stupid research. Behind him, he could hear the former Kiri-nin groan and push away yet another scroll. Suigetsu wasn't a brute, but the older teen wasn't the sort of person who would willingly spend days researching. Sadly for him, the guy would be useless in a hunt for an antidote. Had the Uchiha thought he could handle Juugo's potential outburst without going overboard and potentially harming the orange-haired shinobi, Kagome would've sent him to the library as well. Familiar motions placed another scroll in his hand. Eyes turned crimson tried to catch the girl's family name or the style he'd come to associate with them from the texts they'd recovered from the Higurashi compound.
A flash of silver turning the corner caught his eye. His grip tightened as his gaze re-focused on the text in front of him.
"It would seem Kagome-san has offered considerable aid to our clan." Taisho Sesshoumaru didn't bother to pretend this was a casual encounter.
"She likes to help others."
"Of course." The silent scoff on the guy's voice grated in his ears. "By now, there should not be a soul who hasn't heard about it."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Sasuke was quickly losing his patience.
From the very beginning, the Uchiha all but hated the members of the renowned clan, and he'd found nothing to make him change his mind, but if there was one person between them all Sasuke outright despised, it was the legitimate Taisho heir.
The weapon specialist was tolerable at best. Kagome seemed to enjoy her company, so he made the same attempt to ignore her existence as he'd done with the Hyuuga girl back in Konoha. The woman was mostly harmless, Sango wasn't strong enough to be any real threat against them, and according to the Higurashi, the older teen could prove useful if they moved carefully.
While not harmless, the fake monk was too obviously sly for the girl to lower her guard in his presence; plus, after that first joint training session in the village, the con artist had proven to be smart enough to keep his silver tongue toned down. This one. Sasuke properly disliked, but at least Miroku knew to keep his physical distance and when to back down from his word games.
Proper hatred was what he felt for the youngest Taisho. Brash and uncouth, the silver-haired teen had little to no self-control and had an uncanny ability to say the exact wrong thing to push Kagome's buttons. In a way, he reminded him of...
Idiots, both of them.
People like them were entirely incapable of going through with something as delicate as emotional manipulation. Still, the fact that Inuyasha managed to get the Higurashi's mask slip even just a little left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Yet, it was Taisho Sesshoumaru he despised.
Poised and proper, the perfect heir to the legendary clan had the meaning of the word arrogance wrapped around him like a second skin, and as much as Sasuke hated to admit it, chances were it was no bluff. Where beating the members of the Taisho's main team was doable, Sesshoumaru was an unknown variable, a threat that couldn't be brushed aside like the rest of the normal shinobis they encountered. The older teen really was the perfect heir, and he could see the same calculating look in his eyes that mirrored the glint on the heads' gazes. Unlike the rest of the Taisho shinobis, the clan heir had a good idea of what was going on.
"We've received Ayame's report on the attack," the Taisho heir said, no inflection in his voice. "Father insists your group should be allowed to study it and question Koga once he recovers consciousness. Rin can lead you to the hospital once you require it."
"And? You want us to say thanks?" the Uchiha finally snapped.
His tone must've been quite rude to have Suigetsu rush to try and shut him up. "Whoa, hold on, Sasuke..."
"...if our stories are true," Sesshoumaru continued as if no one had interrupted him. "The Higurashi clan goes back as long as our own, perhaps even further back...of course, those accounts are closer to legends at this point."
Flicking a strand of silver hair, the Taisho heir turned and left, clearly bothered at having been used as a messenger. Delicate paper crinkled under his fingers, a tight grip closed around his wrist. Crimson-tainted eyes glared at Suigetsu.
"Look, the guy is fucking annoying, alright." With a shake of his head, the former Kiri-nin refused to back down. "But the princess is gonna get pissed if we get banned from the library because you destroyed one of their scrolls."
Snatching his hand away, the Uchiha scoffed.
He really needed to blow off some steam if Suigetsu, of all people, managed to keep a cooler head than him.
At least, Sesshoumaru's last comment confirmed the suspicion that the Taisho clan had attempted to break the Higurashi's code before. Without the second half of the code, understanding the texts was impossible.
Ever since they started trying to untangle the mess of conspiracies and secret plans, they'd encountered nothing but obstacles. And yet, now it felt like one of the main players was heavily invested in helping them figure things out. What they had to do didn't change, but it was something else to consider. Fine, he'd follow the trail that was laid in front of him; there was still some time before he'd agreed to rejoin with Kagome, might as well try and find something useful.
"Stop looking in that shelf." The order still came out strained, but he wasn't fuming anymore. "Let's just go back as much as we can."
Impassive eyes looked at the blond running around the village.
So far, he wasn't impressed at the Konoha jinchuuriki. Not only had the blond been unable to notice that he'd been followed all morning, but was also loud and completely transparent with his emotions. His incompetence didn't change the fact that Uzumaki Naruto was the key to locating his targets, and there was nothing he could do. The Uchiha and the Higurashi were deemed too unreliable to be left alone now that the two were out of Orochimaru's grasp but refused to come back to the village. Still, he needed to know how useless his new teammate was since it would determine how much extra work would be required.
His paintbrush fit into his hand with the same ease as always.
A couple of simple sketches would do.
Perhaps somewhat predictably, it wasn't the jinchuuriki who noticed his presence. The other two chuunins who'd been conversing with the blond reacted first, the thin one tackling the jinchuuriki to the ground while the other moved forward, fist inflating to punch one of his ink drawings. Well, the new crop of regular shinobi was not entirely worthless if it took a single hit from the fat one to get rid of his sketch, even moving fast enough to crush the second ink lion. That said, they took far longer than they should when locating him when he was sitting right there, out in the open. Capable shinobis should've seen him sooner.
They were mumbling between themselves, but it didn't take much to figure out what they wanted to do. Mindlessly, Sai played with his options in his head while his hand finished his new drawing. Evidently, deductive skills were not something his new teammate could count on; perhaps his fighting style wasn't so lackluster?
"I'll cover you." The thin one spoke with confidence. "Go, Naruto!"
"Got it!"
Running slowly and in a straight line, right at him.
Definitely, clever strategies were not something the jinchuuriki was gifted with, and Sai couldn't help but wonder how the simpleton had managed to survive for so long. The files he'd been given mostly centered around his more talented friends, but surely the blond couldn't be so utterly useless. His look of surprise when the ink guardian lions jumped out of his canvas hinted the opposite.
"Naruto, get down!"
The jinchuuriki was quick to obey orders; that was something at least.
Shadows came out of the ground, taking physical form and piercing his ink creations, the Nara's unique jutsu. The young shinobi supposed the speed the blond used when he jumped up the roof, kunai in hand, could be worse, but it still wasn't fast enough to stop Sai from taking out his own weapon and stopping the lackluster flow.
"You're...fairly weak." If needed, he should be able to push him back. "So, what do you have between your legs."
"Who the hell are you?!"
Oh...right, introductions were customary upon first meetings. Then again, Sai was not supposed to have engaged quite so soon, but for him to be able to plan a workable strategy required him to have on hand more than second-hand accounts. Unsure of what sort of answer to give, the teen kept a smile on his face, not opening his mouth. That should be enough, right?
"I said, who are you?" Naruto pushed against him.
Well, the people around the jinchuuriki were more capable. As his dark eyes barely caught the unnatural shadow moving on the ground, just inches away from grabbing his own shadow. Could that have been how the blond survived this long? Simply hanging off of more talented individuals? Shaking his head, the young male discarded the thought; there was no point in wasting his thoughts on that. Getting captured here wouldn't do at all. With a burst of chakra, he was in the air, far from the shadows.
"We'll meet again, Naruto-kun."
A/N: And so we get a couple more character introductions, I can't tell you guys how much I wanted to return to writing in general and this story so I am so glad I finally have free time to work on Oversight and another couple projects I was working on before the unexpected hiatus that I will be uploading throughout the week, that I hope you guys can give a chance too.
As always, thank you guys so much for reading and any and all review/comment/criticism are greatly, greatly appreciated