Author's note: Thank you to everyone for the kinds words of support, and thank you for your patience with this story and it's many interruptions during this cruel year.
Chapter Forty-Three
The bright monitors of the ultrasound unit cast long shadows in the otherwise darkened hospital room. Shikamaru's heart throbbed in his throat as Akemi prepared his wife for her first ultrasound ever - last pregnancy ended before they'd even known they were pregnant. "Temari, we will do one through the abdomen, but we will have a clearer view if we also do a transvaginal view," Akemi spoke as she applied gel to Temari's still flat stomach.
"Works for me," Temari replied.
"Here we go," Akemi pressed in with the sound probe just below Temari's belly button. At first, the shapes were indistinct as swirls of black, white, and grey paint on abstract art.
As Akemi pressed a bit further, what looked like an open cavity of darkness was opening in the swirl of grey then he saw it: a small curl of a much lighter grey signal. "Akemi," he stood up from the chair beside the procedure table, gawking at the monitor, "…is that…"
"Yes, Shikamaru, it is your child," Akemi said with her usual sweet smile. She adjusted the probe slightly, "You see that small flittering, that is the child's heart forming."
The world stopped spinning for a moment, and everything froze. Cold sweat and goosebumps began forming on Shikamaru's arms, and he barely caught himself on the edge of the table as his knees gave out. "Shika, are you okay?" Temari eyed him skeptically.
"I'm…" tears began dripping down his eyes, "I'm… going to be a father!"
"Yes, crybaby," Temari laughed, taking his hand, "and I'm going to be a mother!"
A wave of chill passed over Shikamaru, and he began crying in earnest. Tears fell for the child he'd lost before he'd even known they were expecting. Tears fell for the child that was now waiting for them. "It's all right, Shikamaru," Akemi said as she removed the probe. She handed him a small printout of the image, "A souvenir for you!"
Shikamaru laughed through tears, as did Temari. He leaned in and kissed his wife.
"All right, I'm going to step out," Akemi said as she adjusted the table. "Temari, I'll need you to disrobe from the waist down," She handed Temari a gown, "I'll be back in just a minute." Akemi left the room.
"All right, behave yourself," Temari shucked down her shorts and underwear, handed them to Shikamaru, put the gown over herself, and laid back on the table again.
"They're really going to stick that up in you?" he asked.
"It's got to be done," Temari said.
"I shudder to think what it would be like for a guy…"
"I don't know," she grinned like a wicked witch, "it could be interesting…" she giggled.
"Are you ready?" Akemi spoke through the door.
"Ready," Temari answered.
Akemi entered the room, took out a different shaped soundhead, much longer and slender, and covered the tip in gel, "Do you want to do the honors, or would you prefer I did?" Akemi asked.
"You're more likely to get it where it needs to go with minimal fuss," Temari said, bracing her legs in the table's stirrups.
"Here we go," Akemi took position, "a little pressure, and good!" Shikamaru noted a mild wince as the rather large probe entered his wife.
The ultrasound screen came back to life, and soon, there was a slightly clearer image of their future child. "How's it looking, Akemi?" Shikamaru asked.
"As expected, you're about eight weeks, development is pretty normal thus far."
"How big is the child?"
"Currently, only about the size of a raspberry. All the same, remarkable that in 8 weeks it has grown from a single cell." Akemi paused her scan of Temari's insides and the baby to stare at Shikamaru, "Are you all right?"
Shikamaru only just realized thin streams of tears were tracing down his cheeks, "Fine," he lied, "I just… I never saw the last one. Akemi…" a question began twisting his guts.
"Yes Shikamaru?" she stared on with concern.
"The last one… did it know?"
"No," she shook her head, "It wasn't even remotely aware that it was dying; the nervous system doesn't develop to the level of understanding pain until near-term." Akemi's dark eyes stared on in pity, "Shikamaru, I promise, I'll do everything I can to keep Temari and the baby safe through delivery and aftercare. She's healthy, she's young, and currently, there are no great threats looming."
"Right," he said, unsure about the last words. Naruto had privately informed Shikamaru about finding what looked like Queen Serenity's wand after getting back from the honeymoon. Since that time, Naruto and Hinata had been low-key studying the various documents they had found with the wand. They also asked him to keep quiet about it for the moment – not even telling the Hokage.
He stared back at the screen showing his future child as Temari and Akemi talked amongst themselves. Akemi handing Temari a printed image of their baby – it looked like a Pokemon he'd seen from the popular kid's game. Naruto had shared another great concern, that the Ōtsutsuki might target Hinata or other prominent kunoichi as they became pregnant. As he stared at his unborn child, cold resolve filled Shikamaru. He'd lost one child to the machinations of the Ōtsutsuki and their meddling in the shinobi world. His best friend had been orphaned in another life because their minion had attacked when a young Kushina had been defenseless post-birth. It isn't going to happen. Never again.
The dusty tome before Naruto left his mouth hanging open as he tried to fathom just how much lost history was spread before him. "This is unreal," he said aloud.
Hinata's arms snaked around his own. "I'm having a hard time believing it, myself. Members of the Moon Kingdom had set up several settlements on earth, and this was once a well-known fact among the Uzumaki."
"Hinata…" he sighed, "How much do you think we've lost between countless episodes of bickering, war, and the Omnipotence?"
Hinata chewed her lip, "At least thousands of years of civilization, buried and lost for eternity – much of it never to be found again."
"All of this because of lust for power," he shook his head, "wanting more and more and taking what isn't yours along the way."
"I'll admit," Hinata delicately turned the ancient page with a cotton gloved hand, "the situation reminds me a bit too much of my grandfather – a philanderer, a murderer. He did it all because he couldn't let go…" Hinata's words trailed off.
"Dear?" Naruto asked, mild concern tinging his voice.
"Look at this," she pointed to a passage in the book, "Kaguya's journal, long thought destroyed, remains safely hidden at the Temple of the Three Rivers. The temple's defenses should long deter anyone from trying to steal it." Accompanying the passage was a hand-drawn diagram of three rivers converging around a temple.
I know this temple! "Wait a…" Naruto scrambled from Hinata's side to another bookshelf, "… where is it?" he frantically flipped pages until he found what he was looking for.
"What is it?" Hinata asked.
Naruto stopped when he found the map of the Land of the Rivers. "This," he pointed to a near-identical river junction, "Before the Shinobi Villages formed, the Land of Rivers was home to a civilization – an empire, really – that disappeared several hundred years ago."
"I remember, they left ruins of intricate craftsmanship that would be hard to replicate today," Hinata nodded. "Oh my god, the architecture…"
"Same as the Moon Kingdom, or at least, similar," Naruto completed her thought.
"But wouldn't they have existed after Kaguya was first sealed?"
"Ancient civilizations reused temples and shrines all the time. Maybe the descendants of the builders stuck around for some time," he looked up to her from the book, "After all, the Uzumaki are supposedly descendants of the Kingdom of the Moon."
"And they hid whatever this was somewhere and out of the way years later," she nodded. "We have to go after it."
"I'm going to ask Sasuke to go," Naruto said.
"Why not us?" she asked.
"I'm still assuming the Ōtsutsuki are watching us," Naruto replied, hoping he wasn't being paranoid. "I would be if I were them." He shook his head, "If they are planning something, we need to be cognizant of operational security.
"I suppose it is hard to keep a low profile anymore," Hinata leaned in against his arm. "I miss the days of cloak and dagger sometimes." While Hinata still maintained her status as a KIB/ANBU agent, she had once again been relegated to reserve status.
"I get the feeling," Naruto fumbled with his cellphone with his free arm, "we'll have those days back before we know it." He dialed Sasuke, "Sasuke, I need a favor, come to the Hyūga Compound, please."
"What's going on?" Sasuke replied through the phone.
"Something top secret. Come quick, please!"
"Be there in fifteen minutes," Sasuke replied then hung up.
"Naruto," Hinata spoke up, voice dropping.
"Yes, love?"
"Were we wrong to keep this a secret from Kakashi?" her voice cracked, "I know it was my idea and all."
The question hit hard, "I promise," he turned up his hands, "once Sasuke gets back with this, we'll tell him everything."
"Naruto… why aren't we telling him?" She shook her head.
Naruto had been trying to answer that question since the day before getting married. He had no legitimate reason to suspect Kakashi or anyone else. On the other hand, the Ōtsutsuki had been operating under everyone's nose via Kara for at least a good ten years. "Hinata, you know the legends in the Moon Princess Warrior. If we are to believe them, and we now have every reason to do so, the wand could be the key to wiping out the Ōtsutsuki altogether." He paused, staring into her beautiful amethyst eyes, "Could you imagine what lengths they might go to in order to get their hands on it, if they knew it existed."
Hinata chewed her lower lip and nodded, "Thanks, I really needed to hear that I wasn't being paranoid about letting the word get around."
"I'd say that's what friends are for," he took her in his arms, "but I'd say we're well past that point!" Naruto gave her a sweet kiss before they resumed studying until Sasuke arrived.
Konohamaru's lungs burned as he clambered up the path to the top of Hokage Rock. Naruto and Hinata followed in his wake; all three of them had arm and ankle weights strapped on. Push it! Push it! He huffed and heaved up the mountain trail, every inch of his body below his eyes ached from months of intensive punishment. His right hip was particularly annoying as the material of his field uniform chaffed over the burn of his ANBU brand.
He responded to the unpleasant sensation as he had throughout ANBU selection; he boxed the sensation up and put it in a far corner of his mind, detaching the aches and exhaustion from his being. He knew they were there, but he didn't let them affect his legs as he put one in front of the other.
"Running this trail sure brings back memories," Hinata huffed with a laugh as they neared trail's end.
"I'd say easy for you to say," Konohamaru called over his shoulder, "but Itachi told me he was exceptionally brutal with you and Naruto."
"Indeed," Naruto heaved in agreement. While big brother and big sister ran regularly, neither of them were used to wearing weighted clothing while exercising, normally. Nevertheless, the two had incredible stamina on top of their Tailed-Beast reserves of chakra. I can get why jinchuriki aren't allowed to compete. They're barely sweating, I'm near my limit!
They reached the plateau on top of the monument, greeted by the sight of Might Guy, Rock Lee, and Hanabi. Lee and Guy wore their traditional green outfits. Hanabi dressed in her black scrubs, her outfit of late. Before the events of two Decembers ago, Hanabi usually dressed in fine robes befitting a high-ranking clan noble. While he understood the change had come as part of some serious growing up, part of Konohamaru missed the carefree princess she used to be. Dark circles and lines of worry formed around her beautiful Byakugan eyes. While beautiful as always, Konohamaru had never seen her so tired since the event that cruel December.
Lee checked his stopwatch, "Ten seconds faster than last run, sensei!"
"Impressive!" Guy said, "It's amazing what a little motivation can do!" he laughed.
"You told me if we didn't shave off time, you'd make us run it again with a weighted vest, too!" Konohamaru protested with a laugh.
"It worked, didn't it?" Naruto chuckled.
Hanabi approached, holding out bottles of sports drinks for the three. "Hey, stranger," Konohamaru said as he broke the seal on his bottle.
"Hey back," she smiled.
"How's school?" he asked.
"Exhausting," Hanabi rubbed her eyes, "I'm getting ready for the clinic entrance exam this August."
"Brutal," he winced, "your sister was legitimately scared of that test."
"Speaking of things… can we talk…" she gestured with her eyes to away from the group.
"Okay," he nodded, stone sinking in his stomach. Hanabi and he hadn't really seen each other in about a week, and their visits were getting more and more infrequent. Most couples break up in times of significant stress and separation. You knew this was bond to happen.
Hanabi guided him to the edge of the monument, further from prying ears. "K-Konohamaru," she stammered.
"Talk to me," he nodded trying to encourage her to speak her mind while bracing for the inevitable.
"I don't suppose," she turned beet red, one eye shifting back to the rest of the group off in the distance. She drew in closer, cupped a hand to shield her mouth, and whispered, "I don't suppose I can stay with you the next few days here and there?"
"What brought this up?" he raised an eyebrow. Totally wasn't expecting that!
"Well, for one, I've been struggling to find a quiet place to study now that those two are in the archives so much," she shot an eye over to Naruto and Hinata.
"For two?"
"Well," she paused, cheeks remaining red, "I mean… I do need someone to be a mock patient for me now and again…"
"When you say stay, you mean spending the night?" Konohamaru's throat tightened.
"Well, yes…" she paused then nervously added, "Only for a few nights a week! I promise I won't get in the way!"
"I'm not worried about that," he protested, "but you do realize there is only one bed, right?"
"I won't say anything if you won't," she replied.
"Hanabi…" his words caught in his throat. Konohamaru knew Naruto and Hinata had essentially had the same arrangement since they had turned sixteen. "… alright, but I insist that we behave ourselves! I don't want to interfere with your studies, especially now!"
"And I agree," she gave a thin smile, "We should also keep this quiet."
"Are you sure your parents will not object?"
"I am an adult by Shinobi standards," she nodded, "I'm now largely responsible for myself." She again turned her eyes toward the others, "All the same, I don't want to give anyone a reason to scrutinize us, either."
Konohamaru turned his eye over his right shoulder, noticing Naruto eyeballing them both without staring straight on. He and Hinata both have fox ears; they probably heard everything. "All right," he nodded, "we keep it quiet, and we don't mess around." I wonder how long this will last.
Jungle air assaulted Sasuke as the boat skimmed along the river's surface. The remote southern end of the Land of the Rivers climate didn't suit him, used to temperate regions or even cold climates. Despite the discomfort of sweat staining his khaki shirt, he dared not to roll up his sleeves, knowing the mosquito population carried malaria, yellow fever, and more. The rest of his outfit – khaki pants, brown leather boots, and brimmed hat hardly befit him.
"So why you two out this way?" the boat's captain asked. He wore a light khaki long sleeve shirt and dark tan pants. He too, sported a brimmed hat. Sasuke eyed him, then eyed the new-fangled outboard motor he had propelling the boat. The engine was pricey, as was the gasoline needed to propel it. This river is run by pirates, and he clearly is as sleezy as he looks.
"Archeology, the ruins are of an unknown civilization I'm studying for my master's thesis," Sasuke lied.
"Archeology, eh?" the man again pressed, "what does an archeologist need someone like me to get them out here? Where is your help, Mr…"
"Idanian, Jenos Idanian," Sasuke tipped, his hat, "and Maru is all the help I can get. Do you have any idea how low-budget Konoha University's archeology program is?" His complaint was indeed, true. Most of the universities in the shinobi world were military oriented or technical schools – archeology programs were, at best, an afterthought. "I only have her because she's a volunteer."
"And why do you need a guy like me to get you out here?" He's asking an awful lot of questions.
"Let's just say getting a permit to visit these ruins is a bit tricky." Sasuke omitted the fact that they were essentially going to steal an artifact from a potential cultural site in another shinobi country. He had posed as Jenos Idanian, and Sakura was Maru Karasu-Mokuzai. He was her professor and she was his grad student and a volunteer. Sakura was dressed in dark, blood red trousers, black knee-high boots, and a white long-sleeve blouse that exposed both her shoulders. Naruto has been watching way too many movies.
"Ah, makes perfect sense," the man said with a nod and a smirk. The hairs raised on the back of Sasuke's neck. Being that this mission wasn't sanctioned by Konoha, it meant dealing with people who didn't mind breaking the law. People that might lure you out and leave your body in the river. He eyed the expanse of the river behind them. The trek up had been too quiet for an area overrun by pirates. Fair bet he's one of them and we have massive targets on our backs.
What assuaged his mind was the sight of a white cloth hanging from one of the trees overhanging the river. Sai and Ino at least made it to the rendezvous. Hopefully both are still alive. The two had been a few days ahead, having secured their own boat. Had they run into trouble, they would have tied a yellow cloth to a tree visible from the river.
The boat slowed as it passed the bend in the river and the show approached. At least its not a snowmelt river like last summer. Sasuke's heart twinged at the memory of last summer and all the heartache that came with it. Even almost a year later, the most simple trigger could send him spiraling into sadness. He knew the jump into the river then hadn't been the cause of the miscarriage, nor had them being chased. All the same, the pain of loss still twisted in his guts as he watched the river flow, carrying away what should have been his son.
The gentle grind of sandy bottom on the boat's wooden hull focused Sasuke back into reality. The shore was still several meters through the water, beyond was the jungle. "We walk from here," the shifty captain said. Sasuke shouldered his side pack, leapt into the shallow water, and slogged to shore, followed by Sakura, and then the captain.
For as bad as the boat was, the walk through the jungle was the closest thing Sasuke could imagine to living hell. The heat and humidity clung to him, soaking his body in a thick layer of sweat. Breathing in felt like snorting hot chocolate, and breathing out left a pool of heat just as unpleasant as swimming through piss. It was probably only fifteen minutes of hiking, but the sticky heat made it feel like fifteen hours.
Thankfully, they reached a clearing whose opposite side had high stone walls. Towering over the walls was a massive series of domed spires shooting up into the sky. Even the magnificence of Hokage Rock seemed diminutive in stature.
Sasuke eyed the central-most temple. According to the book Naruto had shown him and Sakura, the journal they were looking for was in the central temple's inner sanctum, guarded by boobytraps. Sasuke stepped off toward the temple, keeping his senses wide open. His paranoia rewarded him as he sensed danger from behind. In a fluid motion, he grabbed a kunai, turned, and flung the blade at the outstretched arm of their guide.
The weapon fell from the man's hand, and he clutched his wrist, now impaled by the kunai – cutting most of the nerve supply to the hand. As the man ran off, Sasuke inspected the weapon. As he feared, it was a flintlock pistol – a weapon thoroughly illegal in the shinobi world.
"Well, there goes one of our ways out," Sakura sighed.
"We have to hurry, Sakura, he's likely to be back with buddies," Sasuke turned and began speed-marching toward the temple. Thankfully, Sakura understood his desperation and kept pace. The sanctum had only one way in, and, presumably, one way out. He wouldn't put it past vengeful pirates to simply collapse the entrance with explosives and bury them alive.
They reached the steps up to the temple, climbing with measured care – thousands of years of erosion had worn once squared off steps into slipping hazards. Reaching the top of the steps, Sasuke stared into the maw that was the temple's entrance. For where the sunlight penetrated, he could see intricate stonework interlaced with plant growth that had made its way between cracks formed after thousands of years of rain and other water infiltration. "You ready?" He extracted a headlamp from his pack, and brought it around his head.
"No one has ever come out of here alive," Sakura said low and grim as she fastened her own headlamp. "Let's go!" They descended, and it was may ten meters before all around them watch pitch black except for where their headlamps illuminated. The air inside the tunnel was heavy, fetid with the permeating scent of mildew. They descended further, finding the passage flooded up to their ankles.
Sasuke's right hand began trembling, memories of being in the Akatsuki's hideout, being experimented on, returning like water being sopped up by his socks. "Sasuke," Sakura's voice thankfully rescued him, "why don't I take point for a bit?" He nodded, hoping they'd be in and out quickly.
Sakura trudged through the ankle-deep muck grateful that it wasn't climbing higher. How the hell far down does this go? The ground had been sloping downward for some time, with water gradually climbing up to mid shin. She was seriously tempted to turn around when she spotted something unusual in the distance – light, bright light. She rushed forward, extinguishing her headlamp as daylight brightened.
She could see what looked like the end of the tunnel, continuing to run toward it until she felt Sasuke's hand on her shoulder bringing her to a dead stop. "The passage may be booby-trapped," he cautioned. She continued forward, noting a hole in the ceiling of the passage that admitted light. Sakura walked toward the shaft of light, wondering if it had been meant for light or ventilation centuries earlier. Such amazing architecture. Before she walked into the pool of light, she heard Sasuke's hard voice: "Wait!" She turned to face him. He gestured to the side, "Stay out of the light."
Sakura eyed the beam of pure sunlight, formerly welcomed, now potentially hostile. She skittered around the round glow, careful to remain in shadow until she was on the other side. Sasuke did similar, reaching his hand into the light with measured caution. As he did so, a row of spikes shot from the wall, human remains still evidently impaled on them. She let out a brief scream at the sudden display.
"Interesting," Sasuke withdrew his hand, and the spikes retracted. He stared at Sakura, "We must be on our guard, especially where everything is made to look safe." He turned and resumed walking down the passage; Sakura followed several steps behind, trying to eye anything that looked like a potential trigger.
They emerged into what looked like a deep sinkhole, giving Sakura an appreciation for how far underground they had been. Across the sinkhole, she saw the continuation of the tunnel, thankfully not disturbed. However, the middle of the sinkhole had at least a two-meter gap they'd have to jump. As Sakura looked over the edge of the crevasse, she noted there were long columns of spikes at the bottom. She exchanged a look with Sasuke, and both nodded. Sasuke went first, getting a running start. He cleared the gap.
Sakura stepped back and sprinted forward. As she kicked off to jump she felt one of the stones on the edge of the gap break free. SHIT! Sakura sailed through the air approaching the opposite edge. In spite of the awkward launch, she did stick the landing. Momentary relief gave way, as did the ground beneath her feet, as she fell backwards into the gap. Her arms outstretched in futile attempt to catch her balance. OHMYGODOHMYGOD!
A firm pressure at her waist jerked her to a stop, and she saw Sasuke with an arm outstretched, grasping her by the belt and waistbands of her pants and panties. In other circumstances, she'd consider him a perv, but he displayed none of his devious tendencies as he dragged her back up. As she came back on solid ground, he removed his hand from the front of her pants, acting as if nothing had happened. "You, okay?" he asked nonchalant.
"Oh peachy!" she groaned, "I nearly ended up skewered!"
"But you didn't," he raised a finger, stoic as ever, "Now come on, we must hurry!"
Sakura followed him into the tunnel of the far end, maybe a hundred or more meters when light again showed at tunnel's end. This time, they were in a cavernous room with skylights carved into the ceiling. At the room's far end there was a raised dais and a pedestal holding what looked like a massive scroll. "Sasuke," she probed, "what is it, why aren't we moving?"
"I see nothing," he said in a low, gravelly tone as he eyed the room, "That's what scares me."
Sakura eyed every crevice she could see – stomach fluttering as she eyed for the faintest glimmer of a tripwire, the slightest unevenest of a hidden pressure plate under a stone tile. Eyed a symmetrical area of the floor covered in dirt and debris, first one, and then multiples. Nature hates symmetry, nature hates regular shapes. "Sasuke, the floor!"
"I see," He looked over to a nearby pile of rubble, picked up a sizable stone, and tossed it into one of the regular patterns. In an instance, there was a flicker of something slicing the air at chest height. Sakura turned to what looked like a crossbow bolt wedged into the wall. "So, basically step on the wrong spot and you get skewered."
"Any bets on if the bolts are dipped in poison?"
"I wouldn't bet against it," Sasuke nodded. Eying the path along to the scroll, "Wait here."
"Sasuke!" she called after him, but he'd already stepped on the ground and was walking in the spaces between pressure plates. Dammit, boy, now is not the time to show off! Despite some awkward motion, he did make it to the opposite end, eyeballing the scroll and the pedestal holding it. Sasuke extracted a small pouch from the larger satchel he wore. He seemed to examine the pedestal from every angle for what felt like an eternity. He took a deep breath, as did Sakura, in one fell motion substituted the pouch from the scroll.
Sasuke turned, slowly walking away from the pedestal towards her when her momentary relief evaporated – the top of the pedestal began to sink with the sickening noise of machinery activating. His eyes shot wide open, and he shouted, "Ah FUCK!" The temple began to shake, bits of stone began to crumble, and Sakura could see the unmistakable sign of water spilling down through crevices in the rock as well as the skylights.
"SASUKE!" she hollered as he ran, no longer watching his step as the dart launchers hidden in the carvings in the walls began to fire randomly. By some miracle, he managed to duck and juke his way around the flying bolts. Once he reached Sakura, they took off running down the tunnel they came through, water splashing, insidiously crawling up her ankles. They burst through daylight again. However, torrents of water were flowing down the sides of the sinkhole, fed by previously hidden sluice gates. This is no sinkhole! It's a clever trap!
Sakura sprinted like a gazelle and cleared the gap. He legs tried to keep her running, but the sound of rock crumbling and Sasuke's yelp brought her back to reality. In a repeat of her earlier, he'd stuck the landing only to have the ground give out beneath him, and now, he was clawing at the ground, trying not to fall down the pit with spikes. She reversed her motion, dove onto the ground in front of him, and lay flat as possible as she gripped his free hand with one hand and dug her fingers into the ground, looking for anything solid to latch onto with the other.
A hard plant root proved the needed anchor, and Sakura summoned all her strength, feeling as if her chest were going to rip in half and she wrenched Sasuke up and back over the edge.
He landed atop her, and didn't miss a beat getting to his feet, pulling her up and in the direction of the exit, only to find it was closing as a stone slab began to fall. They both ducked and dove under, and began running toward the light. "STAY OUT OF THE LIGHT!" she screamed, and they split, narrowly avoiding the light trigger.
Her feet ached from pounding the ground, but they soon saw daylight again, and there was a loud CLUNK from over and behind them. "KEEP RUNNING, DON'T LOOK BACK!" Sasuke yelled as they sprinted. Unfortunately, Sakura looked back and could see a massive round boulder chasing them toward the exit. You've got to be kidding me!
They sprinted, and daylight grew brighter and brighter. The drove of the rolling boulder grew louder and louder, and Sakura could swear she could hear it about to touch the back of her head when she was jerked forward and they spilled out into open air and tumbled down the stone steps at the front of the temple. The hard stone left bruises on her back, ribs, and arms, but at least she'd avoided hitting her head.
Coming to a stop, she breathed several sighs. There was a tug at her arm, and they were running again. Another glance over her shoulder, and Sakura saw men with swords and long poles. Not poles! Those are firearms! The crack of small explosions cut the air as Sasuke dragged her through the temple complex, vaulting over a stone wall, and spilling back into the jungle. They ran through a sea of green, hearing shouts from all directions as they continued onward. The trees eventually gave way to an open grassland, and Sakura could see the boat at their rendezvous point in the river. "SAI!" Sasuke shouted, "START THE ENGINE!"
For good measure, Sakura joined him in his next screech, "SAI, START THE ENGINE!"
The jungle held a unique beauty for Sai once he could look past the poisonous insects and deadly mosquitos. The jungle was lush, the wildlife was musical, and Ino looks amazing in that swimsuit! His lady wore a floral print bikini that barely concealed her womanhood as she lay flat in the bottom of the boat covered by a gauzy mosquito net.
"So," he spoke up, heart in his throat as he began slowly sketching her. His hand trembled as it hadn't since before becoming lovers.
"So?" she smirked, ever the tease.
"Ino… I've got something to say…" Dammit, now is not the time to get cold feet – in the middle of a steaming jungle!
"Oh" she removed her sunglasses, revealing her stunning aquamarine eyes. She tightened her lips into a smile, "Do tell." Sai recognized the look of Ino the interrogator, much like her father was when Sai asked permission to marry Ino before leaving on the mission.
"I, ummm… well you see… I…." he stammered, feeling lost as when Ino first came onto him while drunk and drugged.
"Yes…" she gave a coy smile, hinting she already knew his intentions and she was having the time of her life watching him squirm.
"INO WILL YOU MARRY ME!" he shouted past his reluctant vocal cords, and the jungle became still.
Ino shot bolt upright, pulling aside the thin netting, and rocking the boat back and forth. "YES!" She knelt forward and kissed him square on the lips.
Sai nearly fell backwards over the motor and out the back of the boat from the impact. He took a moment to steady himself and the boat, before pulling out the box from his pocket, "I think, I'm supposed to give this to you." He opened the box to reveal a ring carved from a solid piece of lavender colored jade, inscribed with the Yamanaka Clan Symbol.
"Oh my god, Sai!" she said breathless as he placed the ring on her right ring finger. "It's beautiful!"
The mood was shattered by a distant cry, "SAI!
They both turned to see Sasuke dressed up like a cartoon tomb raider and Sakura like a floozy, both running towards the boat. "START THE ENGINE!" The two now scream in unison, "SAI, START THE ENGINE!"
He exchanged a slight smirk with Ino, "Finish this later?"
"After dinner," she winked before running to the front of the boat to haul up the anchor.
Sai, meanwhile, primed the outboard motor several times and pulled the ignition line. The engine sputtered. He primed it again and pulled the line, again, the engine failed to come to life. He almost panicked as he heard what clearly sounded like gunfire coming from the crew chasing his errant friends. Realization hit him, and he slapped his forehead, "The choke!" he adjusted the lever and pulled the ignition line again. This time, the boat's outboard motor roared to life.
He jerked the lever from the neutral position and adjusted the throttle to low, turning the boat danger close to the shallows in the river as Sasuke and Sakura jumped into the water and began to swim for dear life. Sai pulled the boat alongside his friends and cut the engine to idle as Sasuke and Sakura shimmied over the gunnel and into the boat. "Go!" Ino commanded.
Sai cranked the throttle up and turned them away from shore as the explosion and crack of flintlock pistols forced everyone to duck their heads. Sai cranked the throttle to full and turned them going upstream against the current. The men on shore began to grow small in the distance.
The glint of metal in the distance caused Sai's heart to sink. Two boats came out of nowhere, picking up the party of brigands from the shore, and were now giving chase. By all accounts, the men were in boats dedicated for speed, and their boat was more a glorified canoe with an outboard motor.
The pirate boats grew closer and larger with every passing blink of an eye. Can't outrun them! Sai bit his lower lip; they'd be in range of weapons soon. He thought of every detail from the map of the river he'd been reviewing nonstop since leaving Konoha.
Remembering one simple detail, he jerked the control hard left and cut the engine to idle. As expected, the two other boats overshot suddenly, and he opened the throttle fully and turned them downstream. "Sai, what the hell are you doing!" Sasuke shouted from his place in the boat.
"We'll have the current work to our advantage!" he replied, eying a fork in the river approaching.
"Sai, are you crazy!" Ino's eyes popped open wide, knowing what he was about to do.
"We're about to find out!" he laughed like a pirate king, driving his ship into the oncoming jaws of hell. The water became turbulent and the boat began to buffet about; Sakura leaned over the side and hurled her guts up.
"I'd stay inside the boat at all times, Sakura," he called out, smirking at having timed this just right. The other two boats were along side them and weapons were now pointed their way. Sai jerked hard left and cut the throttle again to idle. Miraculously they didn't capsize, although some water did splash everyone.
Sai looked back, realizing how fast the current was pulling. He again opened the throttle to full, praying they weren't already past the point of no return. "Why aren't they turning around?" Sasuke asked.
"Because they can't," Ino explained. "That part of the river is called the Butter Churn because of its strong current and violent rapids.
They were still moving backward slowly. "Only problem is, we're still getting pulled in!" They were moving at a crawl but still floating backwards. Sai saw their potential out, and pulled them toward shore.
"Sai! We can't abandon the boat! We'll never get back to civilization!" Ino shouted.
"Wouldn't dream of it," he called out, sandy bottom scraping against the boat's bottom and arresting their motion. "Ino, go ahead and drop the anchor." She did so, and he cut the motor off. "Hate to say it, but everyone out!"
"You've got to be kidding me," Sakura sighed as she went overboard into the shin-deep water.
"It's not a heavy boat," Sai offered, "There is only a small neck of land between this side of the river and the opposite side – the current is much weaker on that end." Sai jumped overboard, and soon Ino and Sasuke did likewise. At first, they carried the boat out of the water with the whole crew grumbling as they carried it overland.
They had just reached the opposite bank when Sasuke yelped, dropping his corner of the boat.
"Son of a bitch!" Ino barely avoided the boat landing on her foot.
"There's a big snake in the boat, SAI!" Sasuke shouted, indignant.
"That's just my pet snake I befriended," Sai spoke, somewhat amused that the most stoic of Shinobi would be afraid of snakes.
"I hate snakes, SAI! I HATE THEM!"
"Oh come on," Sai smiled, "show a little backbone!"
Author's notes: Thank you all for reading. I hope you enjoyed, and I hope you are healthy wherever you are in the world. Thank you again for your patience with the ongoing interruptions that have plagued this story as of late. I do have a few important notes of context: 1) I will not be writing any other miscarriages in this story. That part of the story has been told and there is no need to add to it. 2) Yes, the temple scene and boat escape was a reference to Raiders of the Lost Ark. 3) Yes, Jenos Idanian is an anagram of Indiana Jones; it was an alias used by Han Solo and Corran Horn in the original Star Wars expanded universe.
Thank you all again. Next chapter will feature the Iron Shinobi Competition and the Chunin Exam. Something major is about to happen that affects all the major characters. See you all then.