Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Shinobi and The Miko ❯ Attack ( Chapter 28 )

A/N: I still own nothing. If I did, you can bet the plot of the manga would be VERY different…

 

By the time Kaguya reached the clearing, everyone who had occupied it was gone. Faint traces of their chakra still remained, though, and she knew that Sasuke had gone in a different direction from Sakura, Kakashi, Naruto, and Karin. The last seemed to still be alive, which was a small relief, but not one that could overcome her disappointment at being too late.

 

Too late, too weak, too foolish, too blind… nothing has changed at all. So what now? Kaguya frowned. Such thoughts were unlike her. Though she knew well her inexperience as a ninja, it had never bothered her this much before. Now it seemed that circumstances were conspiring to bring all the failures of her lifetime to the forefront of her mind once more.

 

She sank to the ground. Why? What use are these powers if I can't even use them to protect the people I care about? The temple, Sakura, Tsunade, Sasuke… I've failed them all! Her hands clenched in the grass beside her as she fervently fought down the tide of emotions that was overwhelming her. If she didn't control herself, she'd end up making things even worse, of that she was certain.

 

With increasing desperation, she threw herself across the division between herself and her surroundings, diffusing her emotions against the eternal calm of a forest at rest. Her puny human sadness could not stand up against the peace of thousands of aged trees, or the steadiness of the stone foundations upon which she sat. These things were as close to eternal and immutable as she could ever hope to encounter.

 

The grass immediately around her shuddered violently, her vented energies causing it to burst forth from the ground, overgrowing itself as she raged and despaired against that which knew neither sensation. Then, as the anger subsided, she straightened, and began the slow process of extricating herself from the forest. The grass ceased its unnatural growth, and aside from a swath of interrupted field about ten feet in any given direction, the forest remained unchanged.

 

Kaguya herself, now suffused with the comfortable calm of the area, was able to rationally contemplate her options. The way she saw it, she could do one of two things: return to the leaf village and confront her mistakes, passing the task of finding and recovering Sasuke to someone else, or she could seek out Sasuke himself, and convince him to abandon whatever twisted path Madara was leading him down, take him back to Konoha, and hope that judgment there was favorable for both of them.

 

She knew that he had probably returned to Madara's hideout to recover. The problem was, she was no longer certain of where exactly that might be. I suppose the best way to find out would be to track Madara or Sasuke, but… She knew she couldn't sense Madara unless he allowed her to, which would be a touch-and-go approach at best, and may lead her into a trap. Sasuke was easier; his chakra was very distinctive, and she could sense him from longer distances than most people since she had been near him for so long.

 

Well, let's see if I can't find him then.

 

***

 

Some days later, Anko Mitarashi couldn't believe what she was hearing. “Kabuto and Madara Uchiha? You've got to be kidding.”

 

“I'm afraid not, Mitarashi-taicho,” her subordinate replied steadily. “The byakugan does not tell lies.”

 

Anko swore softly. Kuso, this just gets better and better doesn't it?

 

“What should we do?” interrupted another ninja.

 

His captain blew an exasperated breath into her voluminous bangs, which flew out of her face in response, only to settle back again. Good question. Theoretically, they could confront the dubious pair, but such a rash action would only result in the death of every person there. No, what was needed was- and Anko could not believe she was thinking this- was a tactical retreat.

 

“We have to get this news back to the village.” And hope Tsunade's awake by now. “Let's go!”

 

“Hang on a second,” that was Hyuuga again. He was squinting, byakugan activated, to the northwest, in the direction intermediate from their location and where the two men had been heading. In other words, the way from which Kabuto and Madara had appeared.

 

“What is it?” she barked impatiently. It was important that this information get back to the other shinobi of Konoha as fast as possible. After that, she needed to find Kakashi and figure out what there next move would be, assuming Danzo was still in charge, which may not be the case, depending on what had happened at that meeting between the kages.

 

“There's something there,” the man replied, pointing in the direction he was facing. “A person, I think. But the chakras are weak…”

 

Anko didn't bother to listen for the end of his explanation. If it was a spy or some other threat, it needed to be dealt with. Moving swiftly but quietly, she crept through the forest, casting out her own relatively short-range chakra senses.

 

The moment her perception hit upon what Hyuuga had been talking about, she launched into a dead run. Shitshitshit, it can't be- She was going so fast that she nearly tripped over what she was looking for. No goddamn way.

 

But deny it as her mind tried, her eyes could not help but relay the truth. There on the forest floor, barely clinging to life, was a very familiar white-haired shinobi-in-training.

 

“All of you, get over here now!” she called, trying not to let her voice sound frantic. The reason the chakra Hyuuga had sensed was weak could not be any more obvious. The girl was covered in wounds, as though someone had spent a great deal of time slowly ripping her apart. Her breathing was shallow and ragged, clothes torn and bloodied. Clutched in one hand was an old, battered kunai that Anko instantly recognized as one of her own.

 

“Get her stable enough to move, then help me get her out of here,” she ordered her squad healer tersely. The man, whose name was Nobu, she remembered, nodded swiftly and immediately set about checking the girl's wounds to see which were the worst.

 

Anko loosed a growl of frustration. Those bastards! Whichever one of them did this… she satisfied herself with mental images of exactly what she would do to whichever of the two men- for surely it was one of them- had banged up her apprentice so badly.

 

Nobu let out an exhausted breath, and stood from beside his patient. “She's stable- for now. But she needs the attention of someone far more skilled than I.” He stumbled a bit as he started forward, but then righted himself with some assistance from Hyuuga. “It's strange…”

 

Anko's cinnamon-colored eyes narrowed suspiciously. “What's strange?”

 

The healer shook his head. “I don't know exactly. Something about the wounds… the were so… deliberate. Like whoever did this knew it wouldn't kill her for some time.”

 

The only sound that followed this statement was Kaguya's slightly steadier breathing and the grinding of Anko's teeth as she supplemented her mental images with a considerable amount more gore. “So they wanted her to suffer.”

 

“Perhaps,” Nobu hedged. “I can't say for sure.”

 

Anko knew she needed to push back her anger and do the rational thing right now, which unfortunately did not involve killing Kabuto and Madara in very creative ways. So instead of just running after them at reckless speed, she gently lifted the prone form of her student into her arms, and then, with her men's assistance onto her back.

 

“Are sure you don't want one of us to carry the girl, taicho?” Hyuuga asked carefully.

 

“Nah, I'll take care of it,” Anko flashed one of her trademark not-quite-sane smiles to reassure them that she was back to normal, even though she was far from it. They seemed to relax as much as they were able though, and she wondered when she'd gotten so good at playing politics. Damn Kakashi's rubbing off on me, she thought wryly.

 

Adjusting Kaguya's weight slightly, she started forward.

 

***

 

Tsunade continued to unceremoniously shove food into her mouth as she listened to Shizune update her on all that had happened since she had fallen unconscious, pausing occasionally between bites to interject a comment or a question.

 

“Sasuke and Kaguya left the village? Where are they now?” She tossed aside one bowl and grabbed the first new one she saw. Hm… tempura. I hate tempura. Oh well, food is food, I guess…

 

“Yes, Lady Tsunade. Certain people accused Kakashi and Anko of having something to do with it, but there was no evidence to support this fact. Current information places Sasuke with Madara Uchiha, but Kaguya-chan's location is unknown.” Shizune seemed to brace herself.

 

Sure enough, Tsunade nearly choked at this piece of news. “Madara Uchiha!?! Would you care to explain that?!”

 

Shizune backed up a couple of steps. “Lady Tsunade, you'll understand everything better if you just let me tell you in order…”

 

The Hokage sighed. “Fine! Explain then!”

 

Shizune rolled her eyes. “Anyway, after they left, Danzo was appointed Hokage…” She caught sight of the look in her boss's eye and hurriedly continued before the woman could interrupt again. “And a council of kages was called. The details are a little fuzzy, since there hasn't been time for proper reports from those involved, but it seems Madara and Sasuke showed up, and Madara announced that he was going to start another ninja war to remake reality or something.”

 

Tsunade processed this quickly, then waved her chopsticks to indicate that her assistant should continue while she tipped the remaining contents of her eighth bowl of food into her mouth.

 

“Anyway, we haven't received any reports since then, so we really don't know what happened after that. Kakashi and his team may well be on their way back by now, so there will probably be more information then.”

 

There was a grunt of acknowledgement, and then: “Where's Anko?”

 

If Shizune was a little surprised by the abrupt change in topic, she hid it well. “She was sent out some time ago to find information on Kabuto's location. Her group is also scheduled to return shortly.”

 

As if on cue, the sliding door to Tsunade's quarters was opened with an empathetic bang. “Lady Hokage! They told me you were awake, but-”

 

“Calm down Anko!” Tsunade ordered, setting down her bowl and wiping her mouth. Taking but a moment, the most skilled among medic-nin analyzed the unexpected situation. Clearing off the table with one sweep of her arm, she indicated the now-empty space. Tsunade was still depleted from her long time unconsciousness, and so she hadn't sensed them coming. Now that they were here, though, she could see that the reason for Anko's desperation was draped across her back. “Put her here.”

 

When the kunoichi complied, the Hokage set to work. “What happened?” She asked levelly, busying her hands checking under Kaguya's numerous bandages. That wound in the abdomen looks like it will need more than I can give at the moment…

 

Anko shook her head. “I don't know. We found evidence that Kabuto and Madara are working together. Just as we were about to leave to report it, we found her like this.” Anko seemed to be fighting hard to maintain her self-control. Not that Tsunade blamed her. Even the most stoic of ninja couldn't help it when their own students were in this kind of danger.

 

“Shizune. Take Anko and get her to bed. Then send up whoever's attending me. I'm going to need some help.”

 

Anko heard this, and her face hardened. “No way. I'm staying right here. You need some energy or whatever, you take mine. I'm plenty strong enough to handle it.”

 

One glance at the stubborn set of the younger woman's chin, and Tsunade knew it would cost her more than it was worth to enforce her will. “Fine. Shizune, I'll need you too.”

 

“Yes, ma'am!”

 

Tsunade sighed slightly, then settled into her task. You'll have a lot of explaining to do when you wake up, she berated the prone form on her table, I though you were smarter than this. But for now, she just hoped that the girl was still strong enough to fight for her life.

********

Kiku's Corner:

 

So… it's been a while, hasn't it? Sorry about that; between my other stories and my current issues with the manga (which are far too numerous, but mostly revolve around character derailment) and school I just don't have a lot of free time. Or motivation. Still, thanks to those of you who are sticking with me on this. I may just decide to go AU and end this thing soon. I'd give it a proper resolution and all, but it would not follow the manga plot anymore. Opinions?

 

Thanks to the people who keep on reviewin'; you guys know who you are by now. And to Beth as well, for entertaining notes and valuable suggestions as always.

 

~Kiku~