Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Leaf in the Desert ❯ Chapter 15

Chapter 15

 

“All right, Gin. You ready?”

 

She took a deep breath and nodded. “Let's do this.”

 

Kin gave her twin a strange look but didn't comment. Shourai leaned in close to the kunoichi's ear. “Wake up, white-eyes. You need to be on alert for this.”

 

She stuck her tongue out at him. “I know my job, red-eyes. You just sit here and wait for us like a good little boy.”

 

“Just do your thing, woman.”

 

Kisho chuckled. “You two fight like an old married couple.”

 

The pair blushed furiously and averted their gaze from each other. “I need to go,” Kin mumbled as she grabbed her sister's hand and pulled her away from the trio of males.

 

Haru watched Gin leave, his heart beating hard with concern. In his mind's eye, he could still see her, as soft as moonlight on roses, underneath him, above him, infiltrating every part of his soul. Hands capable of killing a man had touched him with a gentleness that had nearly undone him.

 

“Oi, Kazekage,” Kisho called, nudging his cousin none-too-gently in the ribs. “You're spacing out.” He batted his eyes at Haru. “Is our widdle Haru in wuv?”

 

Haru turned his attention to the puppet-nin. “You know, I should send you in there to save my sister and Uzumaki by yourself. It would save me the trouble of killing you myself when we get home.”

 

“And wouldn't it just be your luck that I'd save `em without dying?” Kisho shook his head. “How terrible. Better not risk it.”

 

Shourai stared at the cousins with something akin to disgusted confusion. “Are you two crazy?”

 

“Possibly,” came the simultaneous reply.

 

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“There's the guards,” Kin whispered in Gin's ear. “You sure you're okay?”

 

Gin thought about the slight aching pain between her legs but knew her sister couldn't be talking about that. “I'm on it. Stay here until I give you the signal.”

 

“Got it.”

 

Slowly, she crept toward the entrance where the two guards stood at attention. She hid herself in the shadows, her eyes locked on the shinobi in front of her.

 

“Sairentosuto-n,” she whispered as she stepped out of the shadows so that the two Iwa guards could see her. Her hands flew gracefully and swiftly into the hand seals for the jutsu and before they could react, they grew rigid and unmoving.

 

Gin held the last hand seal formation in front of her chest and lifted one foot to point at her knee, like a ballet dancer.

 

Silent and stealthy as a shadow, Kin was beside her. “What did you do?”

 

“Silent Stone jutsu,” she replied. “They are as stones now, unable to see or hear or move. When the jutsu is released, they will think only that they have dozed off briefly.” Her eyes narrowed as she concentrated on holding the technique. “Now hurry!”

 

“Byakugan!”

 

-----------------------

 

Aikou strapped her sand gourd back onto her sash and set about putting her hair back up in its usual disheveled twist, secured by twin needles. Their hostage, one captain of the Iwa guard, sat silently in the corner of the room, bound, gagged, and blindfolded by a cocoon of sand.

 

Kohaku had already reattached his equipment bag and kunai holster and was currently standing by the doorway, keeping watch. “You almost ready, kanojo?”

 

“I would like to know how you expect us to just walk out of here,” Aikou muttered under her breath. “A person entrapped in sand escorted by two unknown shinobi is likely to gather a lot of attention.”

 

“So we just don't gather attention.” He lifted his hands in a familiar two finger cross seal. “Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!”

 

Immediately there were a handful of Kohaku shadow clones in the room with them. The clones turned, blew Aikou a kiss, and proceeded to henge into Iwa shinobi guards.

 

Aikou glared, but she was blushing. “Was the kiss necessary?”

 

“It's always necessary.” He henged himself into another Iwa guard. “Now, you transform yourself too, and see if you can make our sandy captive's cocoon look like a body bag.”

 

“WHAT?”

 

“She's coming with us.”

 

“In the name of all that is holy, why?”

 

Kohaku pointed to his eyes. “The Sharingan is an Uchiha bloodline trait. That means that somehow she's related to old man Sasuke and his teme son Shourai. I rather think they'd be interested in meeting her.”

 

“She is a captain of Iwa's guard,” Aikou pointed out as she henged. “Not to mention she could probably kill us all if she gets loose.”

 

“Then don't let her loose, princess.”

 

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“Someone coming!”

 

Gin grimaced as she tried to keep her control over her jutsu. “How many?”

 

A pause. “There's about four of them, with another in a bag.” Kin frowned. “But that's odd… the one in the bag is alive. Are they going to bury a prisoner alive?”

 

“I don't want to find out!” Gin retorted through clenched teeth. Sweat beaded her brow. “Hurry up and find Kohaku and Aikou!”

 

Kin hissed through her teeth. “I don't know Aikou's chakra, but I'm pretty sure I can find Kohaku's. How much longer can you hold it?”

 

“Dammit, goldy- will you hurry it up?!”

 

“You there- what are you doing?”

 

The twins froze at the deep, commanding voice coming from inside the compound. Neither moved a muscle.

 

“Myougi-taichou got a little carried away with questioning one of the prisoners,” came the respectful reply. “We've been assigned to dispose of the body.”

 

“Body?” Kin whispered in Gin's ear. “That person in the bag is alive. Could it be…?”

 

“Do you think it's Aikou?”

 

Kin peered closely at the person's chakra system. “It seems almost too tall to be Aikou. She is rather short, if you remember.”

 

“Curse it.” Gin grunted. “Get yourself hidden. I can't hold the technique any longer.”

 

“Heeeeey! Over there! You two girls- stop or you're dead!”

 

Gin turned wide, panicked eyes to her twin. “They've seen us! Kin, go!”

 

“No, I'm not leaving you!”

 

Gin released the technique, unable to hold it. The two guards relaxed slightly, blinking as they shook their heads as though awakening. She took a few steps back, fear and exhaustion suddenly sapping her ability to move quickly.

 

“Giiiiiin!”

 

A black blur grabbed Kin and absconded with her, heading for the stone tops and sparse tree branches. Kin beat on her captor with her fists. “Let me go, you Iwa dungchip!”

 

Shourai winced and fixed her with a glare. “I am neither, thank you. And you should show some more appreciation for your savior than beating on him.”

 

Kin's eyes flew wide with worry. “What about Gin?”

 

“Haru's handling it.”

 

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Gin fell backwards onto her rear, her face pale and her body trembling as a group of Iwa shinobi descended upon her. They had her surrounded- and she didn't have enough chakra left to attempt escape.

 

“You four- tie her up,” one of them said, pointing at the ones with the body bag. “The rest of you come with me. We must fetch Myougi-taichou. She will want to know of our new prisoner.”

 

“Hai!”

 

The four shinobi that held the body bag exchanged a glance. One let go of his end and took a few steps toward Gin.

 

“Kusapo: Baratate no Jutsu!”

 

A trembling of the earth in front of Gin's feet had everyone pausing. A great thorny bush erupted from the ground, twisting together and forming a protective shield around Gin.

 

“Haru?”

 

Gin looked up as one of the Iwa shinobi let go of the body bag and ran forward. “Haru!”

 

Haru stood up from where he had been crouching, growing his rosebushes from the elements in the rocky ground. “Aikou?”

 

The nin in front of the rosebush turned to Haru. “We need to go. Now.”

 

“Uzumaki?”

 

Three more Iwa guards came running out of the compound, a flurry of kunai and shuriken falling upon them. “Ruuuuuun!” A kunai caught one in the back and he disappeared in a poof of smoke.

 

“Shadow clones?” Haru turned to the four Iwa guards. “What is going on?”

 

“No time to explain,” Kohaku-in-henge replied, picking up the body bag and hefting it over his shoulder. “We need to get out of here.”

 

Haru picked up Gin, who was on the verge of passing out. “Right behind you.”

 

“Stop them!”

 

The rain of arrows, kunai, and shuriken increased, making escape into the rocky surrounds more difficult. They were in enemy territory and that was their disadvantage.

 

Two more shadow clones were hit and subsequently poofed away. Kohaku winced as a kunai sliced his right arm, but he thanked the stars he was only grazed.

 

“Kohaku!” He turned his head to see only Aikou behind him. “My brother- he has been hit!”

 

“Dammit!” He handed the sand cocoon over to his two remaining clones. “Keep following Shou. Whatever you do, DO NOT LOSE HIM. Take that woman to Shou and make sure he takes her back to Konoha.”

 

“Got it.”

 

He turned back toward Aikou, dodging weaponry and missiles as he ran back to her side. She had managed to pull her brother out of the line of fire, but she had a problem.

 

“They are both injured,” she whispered, her voice laced with underlying panic. “I cannot carry them both, and they are bleeding profusely.”

 

Kohaku assessed the wounds. Haru had three kunai lodged in his back, and Gin had a deep laceration on her right arm from a shuriken. Two more jutted out of her leg, just below the knee and her head dripped blood from a wound to her temple. Both were unconscious. He felt their vitals and was relieved that their hearts still beat- albeit weakly.

 

“We have to get them away from here, first and foremost,” Kohaku said. “We can't do anything while they're looking for us.”

 

“We should not move them with these injuries,” Aikou protested. “And those kunai in my brother's back… He could… he could…”

 

“Figures you couldn't escape without my help,” came a familiar voice. They looked up to see Shourai as he dropped down from the rock overhead. “I told your clones to follow Kin back to the cave where our camp was. Don't know why you wanted to bring your baggage along on this trip, dobe.”

 

“It's a souvenir for you, teme,” Kohaku replied. “And who asked you to come help me anyway?”

 

“This guy did,” Shourai said, pointing at Haru. “He's a better shinobi than you could ever hope to be.”

 

“Probably. But now we need to get him and Gin away from here so we can keep them alive.”

 

“Leave it to me. You and Aikou get them out of here.”

 

Kohaku produced another clone. “You take Gin,” he instructed himself. “I'll take Haru. “ He turned to Aikou as she helped put her brother on the Konoha nin's back. “And you are going to protect us with that sand of yours, kanojo.”

 

“Let us go then.”

 

Shourai grinned as he watched them race off, Aikou's sand shield held over them like an umbrella to protect them from the falling weapons. Kanojo, huh? And she didn't clobber him. Something must have happened while they were in that dungeon. He turned his attention back to the Iwa guards who were now running through the rocks toward him.

 

“All right, Iwa bastards. Have a taste of Uchiha fire.” He made a series of hand seals, then inhaled deeply. “Koton: Bakuendan!”

 

The air was rent with a high-pitched wail as thousands of fire bullets shot out of his mouth and into the pursuing shinobi. They went down in flames, blood and fire scattered across the rocky ground.

 

“That's unfair of you, Uchiha,” Kisho commented from his vantage point atop a nearby boulder. “Why do you get all the fun?”

 

“Because you are late.”

 

Kisho unrolled one of the scrolls on his back. “I prefer to think of it as a grand entrance.” He summoned one of his puppets from the scroll and took up the chakra strings. “Let's go, Shukaku!”

 

Shourai raised an eyebrow at the Sand-nin. “Isn't that a bit rude?”

 

“Hey- Uncle Gaara thought it was a great name for this beast.” The tanuki-looking creature rattled and creaked before heading down into the melee. “Watch what he does.”

 

The tanuki's stomach opened and a series of half a dozen metal barrels emerged. They fired at the remaining Iwa shinobi with the speed of a machine gun.

 

“Sand shots,” Kisho explained to Shourai's skeptical look. “Does just about as much damage as the Ichibi's sand shuriken, or so my father tells me.”

 

“Enough playing around,” Shourai retorted. “Finish up so we can get back to Konoha. If any of the elite forces come after us, we're toast.”

 

“I'm in total agreement with you there, Uchiha.”

 

.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.

 

A/N:

 

Sairentosuto-n- Silent Stone Genjutsu

 

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu- Shadow Clone Technique

 

Kusapo:Baratateno Jutsu- Grass-type: Rose Shield Technique

 

Koton: Bakuendan- Fire-type: Screaming Bullets of Fire (can't remember where I found the name, but I thought it fit Shourai very nicely)