Chapter 36: Trust Me
"That barrel is secured with barriers. I can't see through it." Neji continues. "I don't understand why they would do that to her, just kill her."
Shikamaru has to hold his words. He feels like his whole world stopped, he knows death is part of his life, but Yuri? She was stronger than anyone. He doesn't need to get emotional about it right now. They will get her back, no matter what.
Even if it means they are just bringing back…
No. Shikamaru would not think about it like that. They were bringing Yuri back and he was going to get scolded, but he would also need to scold her. Going in and trying to save someone alone. Not telling anyone else what she was doing? She would have to be told a thing or two. He is sure his own mother would talk to Yuri about what she did and why it was a danger.
But one gets up and throws a paper bomb at them. Causing Neji and Shikamaru to jump away. They had spotted them. And that isn't good for them. It means they now know about their rescue mission. They are thrown right in front of the four people.
It isn't good for Shikamaru. He doesn't know what to even expect. They were resting, and maybe… just maybe they could have taken a pause to gather information. But he was more worried about them moving and taking Yuri over the border.
"Well, I poked the bush for kicks and out comes not even a snake but just two bugs." White hair comments.
Shikamaru can only look up at them. He can only hope they aren't screwed. It still bothers him that they put her in there… and there isn't any reason for them to throw her in there. It is something that Shikamaru can't seem to understand. Why go to the trouble of kidnapping her to only put her in a container?
But Shikamaru needs to think fast to get them out of this situation.
"Hey wait a minute! Wait. We didn't come here to fight. We just came here to negotiate!" Shikamaru holds up his hands.
"Lets not forget your friends, shall we?" Six arms says.
He yanks his arms forward, and Shikamaru has to keep his face even. The others get pulled out and Kiba throws the smoke bomb. Shikamaru isn't hopeful. He pulled them out and he didn't even break a sweat. Something that is going to be a problem.
All of this is turning into a much bigger drag. Not only are their skills unknown, but their abilities could outmatch all of them. If Sasuke and Yuri together couldn't take them down, what hope did this team have?
"There's no point to that smoke bomb. You can't run away from me." Six arms says. "It's strings that's thinner and stronger than wire that you can hardly see. My string is placed all over this place."
As the smoke clears, all the others are on their butts. Shikamaru is seeing a problem now. They have no information on them and how they are in a fight. Shikamaru would want more information, but that isn't going to be possible.
Meaning they are at a disadvantage, and these people could tell they were coming. Shikamaru wasn't expecting that, and he should have. He has to keep his eyes from drifting to the coffin. He has to make sure everyone gets out of this alive. Even if it means he has to let Yuri go.
"Those two types of wires on the trap were on purpose. A triple trap. That was clever. Didn't think they had one with such ability in the group." Shikamaru smirks.
Ya… he had to think of something soon.
Kenji's POV:
He had been pulled from his hiding spot. And he couldn't see Yuri. Sitting on the ground, he wonders what Shikamaru has planned. Kenji was trying to understand what was going on… but he couldn't. Too many things were unknown about the situation. Too much could happen, and he didn't have the ability to think about it and see it through.
He thought they would at least see Yuri. It throws Kenji off, and he knows Asami sensi would kill him if Yuri doesn't come back. Hell… Sakura will as well. She and Yuri were slowly becoming friends. He can't even think about how Hinata wil feel.
"You will be!" Six arms exclaims. "What's going on? My body…"
Kenji lets out a sigh. Thankfully, Shikamaru was good at planning… he didn't know how it was going to pan out. But they needed to get Yuri as soon as possible. If they had them in a trap, it would be better for them to look around.
"Nice Kiba and Shikamaru!" Naruto exclaims.
"Using the Shadow possession when they were distracted." Isamu smirks.
Kenji looks at Isamu. He is worried that Isamu might not make it out of this. Out of all the guys, Isamu is the weakest, and he doesn't want Ismau to be injured. Yuri would kill him if that happened. Even Asami sensi would kill him if Isamu didn't come back but he brought Yuri back. He needed to remain close and keep Isamu safe.
Out of everyone, Kenji had to ensure Isamu made it out of here. He was training to be a medical ninja, something they needed. And he was the perfect third for Kenji and Yuri.
"But… there is one with an ability like this too." Shikamaru says. "Thanks for getting caught so nicely in my strategy."
"Darn… but…" The one with long white hair begins. "I have this kind of ability too."
Shirikun comes out from nowhere and breaks Shikamaru's focus. Causing Kenji to also look behind him. He needs to get an idea of what is going on around him. He needs to be able to think about their next move. Do they have a fifth person with them? That makes things a little harder.
"Where did it come from?" Shikamaru exclaims.
The Shadows retract. Which could spell trouble for them in every way. They were going to grab and go, but now they have to stand and fight these people.
Something Kenji doesn't want to do. While they had strong people with them, Kenji wonders if it would be enough.
"Earth Style Barrier!" The biggest one. "Earth dome Prison!"
He puts his hand on the ground and the ground begins to come up around them. Making a dome around the group. Kenji can only stare in awe with it. Isamu hadn't been able to pull this off yet… and when he looks at Isamu, he only shrugs his shoulders. Kenji isn't sure what they are going to do to get out of here.
Kenji doesn't know what they are going to do. They need to get out of here. But… Kenji doesn't know how they would be able to. It looks like a regular wall. And walls could fall at any moment.
They should be able to break out of here. With Kiba, it should be easy for them. But this means the others can get away with Yuri. That is the only thing that sucks in this situation. Isamu isn't good enough at earth style to get them out of here just yet. He could have some insight on the whole situation, but it would be up to all of them to get out.
"Terrific" Shikamaru mutters.
"What is this?" Neji questions.
"Inside of that big guy's barrier." Shikamaru comments.
Kenji looks at Shikamaru. He knows Shikamaru learned about barriers, something that most other people don't know about. Kenji trusted Shikamaru's knowledge, it was going to be something they needed to get out of this. All because he lost a bet with Yuri.
"But this isn't the normal barrier… right Shikamaru." Sasuke comments.
"Sadly no. I deal with paper barriers, not earth styles. I know there are a vast amount of them… but I haven't seen one." Shikamaru explains.
"Now what?" Kiba asks.
"We need to get out of here." Kenji comments.
He looks at Isamu who nods his head. And they both know it's going to be a problem. But they aren't the ones to go right away to break things open. They don't know what is going to happen, or who was even outside of this little bubble.
Ismau begins to walk around, looking at the wall. Everyone has remained in the same positions, but Isamu needs to always be moving around. Shikamaru needs to figure this out. Kenji knows that he can. It might take time. Time that they don't have.
"Let us out!" Naruto yells.
"Be quiet Naruto!" Kiba tells Naruto.
Kenji has to agree, the punk is loud and could get them in trouble. But it made him a target while everyone else was invisible. It was useful in a fight and in general, Iruka paid attention to Naruto. It was nice to get away with things or finish their homework they never thought of finishing.
Kenji knows Isamu used it in school, and while Yuri never admitted to it, she had a gleam in her eyes that she might have done it. Naruto took a lot of Iruka's attention in school, and now he took the attention of enemy's. Which was always helpful and Asami sensi always told them to use that to their advantage if they are ever in a team with Naruto. Him and Kiba are the loudest, and it helps everyone.
When they aren't, Yuri can be the loudest. Which she doesn't mind since she can defend herself. If Asami is with them, she does it.
"From the looks of it it just looks like a dirt wall…" Neji observes.
"It has to be a justu." Sasuke mumbles.
Honestly… Kenji forgot they had Yuri's boyfriend with them. It was better for him so he didn't punch Sasuke in the face. From what they were told, it seems like it was all Sasukes fault. If Yuri hadn't gone to look for him, if she hadn't gotten caught in the middle of this, they would be getting Sasuke back. Not Yuri. He was making things up by being here, but everything else bothered Kenji a lot. Isamu has to pinch Kenji to stop him from staring at Saksue.
Kenji can't afford to be distracted here. He needed to get Yuri back so she could deal with Sasuke herself. So that Kenji could go back to ignoring Sasuke like he had been for the last few weeks.
"There must be some kind of trap." Shikamaru shakes his head.
"My bugs can't get in here to tell me." Shino mutters.
"I don't know what it's made of but we're just going to have to tear this wall down!" Kiba yells out.
"Dummy." Isamu mumbles, getting a chuckle from Kenji.
Kiba was a dummy but he was the one person who had the best chance of getting them out of this was Kiba. Or figuring anything out about it, if they needed to do a stronger attack. Kenji had to just wait. He was a fighter, he wasn't support or anything. And he was better fighting hand to hand.
"Even though it's dangerous to be careless." Shikamaru crosses his arms.
"He's right." Sasuke begins. "We don't know what this is fully."
Kenji has to look away from Sasuke right away. But they need to get out. Kiba does tunnelling fangs. Seeing the dent, Kenji thinks they might just need a stronger attack. But the wall heals itself. The walls can heal themselves, so there is less chance for them to get out of here.
Sinking down to crouch, Kenji can't even think. The wall healed itself and he has no idea what to even do about it. It was something he wasn't ready for.
"Hey did you just…" Kiba points to the dent that had been there.
"Yes. We saw it." Neji says.
"A wall that can heal itself. Seems this is going to be more challenging than we thought." Shino cpmmets.
Kenji shakes his head. This is going to be a longer day than they planned. If they were only able to grab Yuri and run. They could be running back and maybe run into the other people who fought these guys before. It would increase their numbers and give them a better chance.
But here they are. Stuck here. Waiting while they figure out how to get out of here.
"Let us out!" Naruto yells.
"It's not just a dirt wall after all." Neji says.
Neji and Saksue both activate their eyes. Leaving the rest of them to stand there in silence for a moment, Kenji doesn't know how much time passed them… but he was getting annoyed with the whole ordeal.
Neji gasps. "The… the walls… This is bad. Our chakra's getting sucked up…"
Kenji's eyes widened. They can suck them dry. He and Shikamaru share a look, and they know this isn't like Yuri's abilities. Now they needed to find a way out of here fast… nothing should keep them from getting Yuri back.
They have varying levels of chakra pools. It could mean bad news for all of them.
"Great… I didn't expect that they would just keep us in the barrier but I didn't predict that they would suck our chakra either." Shikamaru complains.
"How dare they! Let us out of here already!" Naruto yells.
Ismau comes up next to Kenji. "If I don't have chakra…"
Kenji knows. Isamu won't be able to heal them, and they don't know where he could be in case his chakra is taken at a greater rate. If they lose Isamu but get Yuri back she would kill Kenji a million times over. Along with Ino.
This isn't looking good for them.
"That's what I'm worried about. Not everyone here has a large pool of chakra… if you or Shikamaru goes down… it could be game over." Kenji mumbles.
They slowly begin to collapse. Kenji feels so drained and he doesn't have the energy to even think of a way out of this.
Will they have to admit defeat? If they can't get out of here, its all over. Who knows how long they had been in here… how long had they been trapped? Maybe Asami would hear about Kenji and isamu going to get Yuri, and she could save the day.
"Something must be done Shikamaru… and quickly." Neji says once Shikamaru collapses.
"That does it! I'm going to make an air hole before all my chakra is gone!" Kiba yells.
He opens his hand and Akamaru goes and eats something. A food pill. As Akamaru turns red like he did in his fight against Naruto. And they go after the wall. Kenji covers himself while the two try to destroy the wall. But once they do stop, the walls begin to heal. Which is a sad sight to see.
Glancing over to Sasuke he sees him watching the walls, and he does the same thing. And he does notice something. It seems like the walls heal at different times. Narrowing his eyes, he sees that Naruto and Kiba aren't even noticing it. Their chakra is getting less and less by the second. Kenji had beem so lost in thought that he almost missed Shikamaru speaking.
"I want to talk to your leader! I've got a deal to propose. We won't go after that girl anymore, so let us out of here!" Kenji only stares at Shikamaru.
But he notices everyone is. He sees Kiba, Naruto and Sasuke all get pissed off. Kenji is also getting upset, how dare he! He knows how much Yuri trusts him, and she always said Shikamaru is her best friend and he would help her.
He would give up on Yuri just like that? He knew it's a challenge… but he always thought Shikamaru secretly liked the challenge. Kenji has to keep himself frozen in place.
"What are you saying?" Naruto and Sasuke ask.
"You're going to abandon 'that girl'?" Sasuke questions.
"No deal. You guys are my prey. I can't let you out." A voice says.
"Then… just let me out on my own. This battle… is such a pain." Shikamaru says.
"Do you know what you're saying?" Kiba yells.
"Coward!" Sasuke yells.
"Shut up Kiba. And be quiet, Sasuke." Shikamaru's voice is so cold.
There is laughter from the outside. "So much for teamwork. Seems like you're the leader but I didn't think you would be the only one begging for your life! You really see a human's true nature when one is pushed to the edge of death. But you're hardly a man at all. You're not qualified to be responsible for the lives of your platoon members."
Kenji is about to get up and punch Shikamaru but Isamu holds him back. "Think about his words."
Thinking back, Kenji blocks out the others' words, and he realizes something. Shikamaru cares more about Yuri than anyone else. Why would he betray her? Why would he abandon her? He is the leader for a reason, and Kenji knows he will come up with a plan.
Kenji just has to trust this will work out. Let the others yell about it.
"... I've lost confidence in you!" Naruto yells.
"Let the boneheads yell, keep the ruse up." Isamu whispers to Kenji.
With Kiba and Naruto fighting Choji speaks up. "Everyone be quiet for a second!"
It's in that moment that Shikamaru crouches down and puts his hands together. He had seen him do that… in the chunin exams. He was planning something, and Kenji looked at the other. He would wait for Shikamaru and see what he had in mind. And sure enough, he starts to give out orders.
Sasuke even asks why they should trust him. Naruto was told off by Neji and was the voice of reason. Kenji wishes they had Lee, he would be able to punch through here. Kiba dents the wall behind Choji and Neji marks the spot. Kenji gets Isamu up and holds him. He asks Choji if he is ready.
Of course Naruto and Kiba are in the dark. It explains why Shikamaru talked to the guy. Kenji is amazed by this. It was smart, and Kenji sees why Yuri trusts Shikamaru so much. Kenji knows it sounds strange, but Shikamaru was willing to do anything. He knows how to get out of situations. Choji sets up and bulldozes the back of the wall. Letting all of them out as they make their escape.
Ismau stands up and stretches. The dome crumbles and Shikamaru tells Choji he did a good job.
Notes: Sorry for the delay! The holidays have been crazy for me. I finally have a break in my schedule to post this one. Another chapter done! Please leave a comment and follow the story! It is only going to get more fun as we go through this arch and the following chapters!