Mr. Sandman (Bring Me a Dream)…
Date: June 28th, 13 aNb
Days Until Exams Start: 3
Time: 11:45 PM
Kimiko Itou lay in her bed, the noise of Nakahito's snoring echoing through the cracked open door, as she stared at the darkened ceiling. Her mind was still going a kilometer per second as she attempted to wrap her head around everything this eventful birthday had revealed.
If her thoughts could be distilled into clear words, they would be: "Can't sleep... Future will eat me."
Dimly, the kunoichi thought she heard a gurgle/slosh of moving water, which was odd because Nakahito's snores were as continuous as they were loud; almost enough to make the chocolate haired girl regret asking him to stay the night. 'Weird… He's still asleep, so it's not like he got up to get himself some water…' She began to shift her weight to swing her legs over the edge of the bed. 'I should…'
Suddenly a lukewarm wetness briefly touched the back of Itou's right hand, causing her to reflexively pull it back.
'What was..?' A curtain of sleepiness abruptly descended over her mind; her fears and worries melting away like the morning mist on a summer day.
'Hmm… Whatever; I'll deal with it in the morning…' Kimiko yawned as a gentle gust of wind blew her curtains open, briefly filling the room with the gentle silver glow of the full moon. Her last barely conscious thought was that there seemed to be a snake made of water sticking its head over the edge of the bed by where her hand had been moments before, but the minor adrenaline surge that odd thought granted was insufficient to throw off the overwhelming impulse to sleep…
* * *
Date: January 3rd, 4 aNb
Days since the Itou Massacre: 0
Time: 11:45 PM
Kimiko found herself floating ghost-like through a darkened space following a shadowy figure. She looked back and forth. 'What the hell is with these weird dreams..?' Her sweeping gaze paused as she simultaneously heard and saw something. 'Is that a light? Are those voices?'
"It was a complete massacre, my love… We spent the entire day scouring the Itou Compound, but they're all dead…" A man's voice came from the light. "All but Konoka's youngest."
'Hiashi-ojisan..?' Itou asked herself, recognizing the voice, as both she and the figure moved towards the light, which turned out to be an opening: more specifically, an air vent. Adjusting her spectral form, she moved to look into the room the voices were coming from.
Below her was Hiashi Hyuuga's study, but not as it was at any time the kunoichi could recall seeing it. Instead of his usual desk and kotatsu meeting space was a pair of overstuffed chairs. The Hyuuga lord looked to be ten years younger and he was speaking to… Itou's hands clapped over her mouth. 'Oh my God, that's Hinata's mom! I forgot how gorgeous she was; she died before Hanabi-chan's first birthday…'
"We owe that little girl a tremendous debt." Hiashi breathed grimly. "Kumogakure killed the Itou Clan just for a chance to get away with Hinata! Once she's grown, I will offer her the right of vengeance: all our Clan's assets at her disposal to punish the Hidden Cloud however she sees fit… Regardless of what it costs us in terms of goodwill with the Village."
He paused, looking up at the ceiling before frowning. Had he seen the shadowy figure that, even with the light of the vent, Kimiko couldn't get a good look at? "My love, I seem to have exhausted my chakra reserves in the search for survivors… Who's watching Hinata and Kimiko?"
Hiashi's wife gave a fond smile as she giggled. "'Momma Miho' is taking care of them in Hinata's room. 'Hina thinks it's just another sleepover, like in the past, and we have six squads of the Branch Family running continuous sweeps of the mansion, inside and out..." Her voice became hard with fear-fueled rage as she rose from her chair. "There is no opening larger than a small rabbit that isn't watched by at least two people at any given moment. No one is getting into the manor unannounced ever again!"
Hiashi sighed. "Good… That's good."
The first lady of the Hyuuga rose to walk up to her husband. "I think we both need to unwind after the stress of the last few days…" Kimiko's jaw fell slightly open as the fabric of Hinata's mother's robe fell to the floor before she reached out her hand to her husband. "I've been keeping an eye on things and we're in the prime window, Hiashi; perhaps we'll end up with a younger brother for Hinata this time!"
The Hyuuga lord smiled, accepting his wife's hand and rising to follow her to their adjacent bedroom. "Our Hinata is perfect as she is, though I do hope she outgrows her timidity before she enters the Acad…" Hiashi's voice cut out as he slid the shoji door closed behind them.
Only then did the shadowy figure - and the surrounding dreamscape - resume moving. Kimiko, who was familiar with Hyuuga Manor, tried passing into the rooms that the ductwork cut through, but found she could only enter them if the figure paused to look out the vents. Clearly this figure was the one whose memories this dream was accessing, like the time Sho had done so…
At one point the lighting cast from the adjacent room was bright enough for her to finally make out that the shadowy figure was completely translucent; made of something more than water, but less than a gel.
"You're the one from that dream I had before I went to Mizumiyo; where you killed that mastermind behind the Massacre!" Kimiko cried in recognition as the figure slid smoothly, snake-like but without undulating, through the ductwork. "Who are you? WHAT are you? Where do you come from? How are you connected to my Clan?! Why do I keep having these dreams of you?!!" Her questions became more desperate sounding as she asked them.
The figure answered none of them. In fact, it didn't even act as if it had heard them! A frustrated sigh escaped Kimiko's lips.
Before too long, the figure found its way to Hinata's bedroom; almost as if it knew exactly where in the house it was. Recently turned 3 Hinata Hyuuga and the recently orphaned Kimiko Itou lay on the dark haired girl's semi-double sized bed. The Byakugan princess was big spooning the Massacre survivor, who had drying tears in her eyes that occasionally dripped down her cheeks as she gripped the kimono fragment in her hands like a safety blanket.
"FOrgIvE mE, BeLOveD…" The figure spoke, its voice barely audible, but the spectral Kimiko could hear it - like a babbling brook flowing into a small waterfall, as it approached the sleeping girls. It was completely unlike the anger-filled calm female voice she'd heard in the last dream before the journey to Mizumiyo. The figure's form was vaguely humanoid, but shapeless, like a sheet draped over a wire frame mannequin; lacking a proper definition. It began to reach out for the sleeping Kimiko's chocolate brown tresses…
Suddenly a bolt of electrically modified chakra lanced out of a dark corner of the room, shocking the intruder into a paralyzed state, eliciting an agonized scream from the figure. Kimiko turned to look, seeing the blurry image of a girl with pigtails and purple ribbons woven into her hair.
'Miho… sensei?' Itou wondered to herself as the image cleared up once the current faded.
The figure bore a striking resemblance to Hinata at the age she currently was in the waking world, save for the longer hair and ribbons… And the C cup breasts modestly covered in her purple outfit.
'Miho-sensei, you liar!' Kimiko mentally snorted, recalling her Jonin's words that she'd been an A cup until she turned 16; clearly a falsehood to make her feel better when she'd been overwhelmed with the impending mission to pretend to be Reiyuriko.
"You're lucky I used the forced sleep jutsu on those two… I wouldn't have gone so easy on you if you'd frightened them!" Young Miho growled like a protective momma bear - which is probably where the nickname Hinata's mother had used had come from. "I don't know how you got in here, but no one touches my charges while I'm around!" The veins around her eyes became more pronounced as she activated her Byakugan, only to pause. "What are you? You have a tenketsu network, but it's all jumbled up!"
The water-like figure didn't answer the Genin, instead it dove for the nearby window; its form less cohesive than before… Miho's attack had clearly damaged the figure. Kimiko's future Jonin fired salvo after salvo of lightning at the retreating figure, but the figure reshaped itself to avoid another hit...
* * *
"What the hell were you THINKING?!" Hiashi Hyuuga demanded of the watery figure.
Kimiko's spectral form blinked. 'What the hell?' She looked around the chamber she now found herself in. There was a large hydroponics pool surrounded by Water Tiger Blossoms along with a number of pipes feeding into and out of it. The Hyuuga Lord was wearing a different outfit than he had in the first part of the dream. 'Did we skip ahead in time?'
The figure's shape began to shift into something resembling a half-shaped human face, with lips and a mouth fashioned out of its watery form. The figure clearly was trying to talk, but Hiashi didn't seem to hear it. His hand came up. "I don't know what you're going to try to say, but I don't want to hear it! Hinata was nearly kidnapped four days ago and you sneaking into our home is not making matters any easier!" Hiashi's eyes turned on a bitter cold. "Don't come near my family ever again or I'll stop keeping your secret! Do you hear me?"
The figure nodded silently.
Hyuuga reached into his top and pulled out a photo of Kimiko and Hinata, both girls in regal-looking yukata - Kimiko's, however, was cinched shut with a familiar scrap of pink fabric. "Your deception won't work if you don't stay away." He set the photo down by the pool's edge. "I'll bring you a new photo every few months so you can keep an eye on her growth without causing problems. Okay?"
The figure paused, but nodded - albeit reluctantly - in agreement.
Hiashi sighed. "Look, I'm sorry I was so harsh; until it's your own child in jeopardy, you have no idea how protective you'll be… What you'll be willing to do for them... I've already given orders to the Clan that in any missions where they encounter a Hozuki clanmember, they are to take them alive and bring them back for analysis if possible." He looked soulfully at the water figure. "It might take some time; they aren't a large Clan, after all. We owe the Itou; Kimiko WILL be safe until she's old enough to understand. On my word and honor as a Hyuuga."
The figure reached out to lift up the photo as best it could, briefly holding it to its chest before it fell through its body to float on the pond's surface. The figure seemed to sigh before it collapsed formlessly into the pond. Hiashi reached into the lake to fish out the photo and set it back on the bank to keep it from getting damaged.
* * *
Date: June 29th, 13 aNb
Days Until Exams Start: 2
Time: 6:55 AM
"Kimi? Are you up?" Nakahito's voice, combined with a knock on the bedroom door, snapped Itou out of her dream.
Kimiko sat up in her bed, remembering the image of a watery snake beside her bed before sleep had claimed her, but there was no sign of it. "Yeah, I am, 'Hito…" She called back, shaking her head, as she threw on a bathrobe to cover herself before opening the door. "Just some weird dreams again."
Haruno tried to hide a shudder, remembering a time not too long ago when he'd caught her in the buff. "Um… How about I go grab us something for breakfast while you…" He gestured to her outfit.
Kimiko blushed slightly, but nodded. "How about some tomago kake gohan with nori and miso from that diner Momo's mom works at? I should be done by the time you get back."
Nakahito gave his friend a thumbs up. "I'll swing by home and get a fresh change of clothes first." He paused. "Did you have any plans for today?"
Itou shook her head. "Nothing major; we won't have a mission until next week at the earliest. I've got to talk to Miho-sensei about my dream; it involved her and I just want to make sure it's just my overactive imagination. Maybe try to catch up on everything that happened in the Village while we were gone." She sighed. "And that means I need to talk to the biggest gossip in town."
The fire jutsu specialist grimaced. "Ino?"
"Pig girl herself." Kimiko agreed before reaching out to pat his arm. "Don't worry, I won't ask you to stick around for that."
Nakahito relaxed. "Thank you. While you chat with the queen bitch, I'll track down Hiro-kun; he's usually good for a few interesting nuggets."
Her friend only ever talked with Jeitsy if he wanted to place a bet about something. "When you put your bet down on Sakura, do me a favor and find out the odds on Naruto-kun and Hinata-chan making the Finals." Itou asked knowingly before she giggled at the flummoxed look on her best friend's face.
~●~
I Can't Decide (Whether You Should Live or Die)…
Date: June 29th, 13 aNb
Days Until Exams Start: 2
Time: 1:15 PM
The bell over the door of Flowers Yamanaka jingled as it swung open. "Welco… Oh, Hyuuga-sensei!" Ino Yamanaka called from the counter where she and Kimiko Itou had a pair of drinks from the nearby beverage cart in front of them. "You must be here to be the excuse to let Itou run away from me screaming." She chuckled with a smirk.
"There will be no screaming involved." Kimiko scoffed, taking a sip of her drink. "I just knew that if I gave you half a chance, you'd spend my entire day talking about Uchiha."
"Fair." The blonde kunoichi agreed, rolling her wrist with one finger extended. "I totally would do that… But I also know how you feel about him, so I kept it brief."
"And you have no idea how thankful I am for that, Ino. Hearing that he won yet another fight with Raiden and who knows how many others after him was more than enough…" Itou smiled as she walked over to her Jonin. "But thanks for catching me up on everything that happened around the Village while I was gone!"
Yamanaka smiled. "As long as you're buying, I'm talking! Catch you later!"
"Hey there recent birthday girl! Couldn't get enough of me socially last night?" Miho Hyuuga asked playfully with a grin on her wine-colored lips as the two of them began to wander aimlessly southwest from the central market where the flower shop stood.
Itou returned a smirk. "Well, with you and Iruka-sensei practically pawing at each other at my party last night, can you blame a girl?"
"Was it that obvious?" The Jonin asked, at least having the decency to look chagrined as they approached the waterfront park zone between the Aburame Clan zone and the central market.
Kimiko wavered her hand. "Eh; 'Hito clearly didn't catch onto it and I didn't really notice until after Naruto, Hinata and Hashimoto were gone. It's not like you were on the verge of riding him like that Satou chick was with Sho before Motoko-chan cut her down to size." Hyuuga's fair features flushed. "Oh… my… Goddess!" Kimiko gasped, having picked up that tendency to swear in the name of Undine Kawa during their extended River Country excursion.
"Well, we didn't ride as much as…" Miho began, feeling comfortable enough around her kunoichi student to cross those lines after having shared a room with her for the better part of two months.
"Lalalalalala!" Kimiko replied, putting her hands in her ears. "I can't hear you talking about you and the man who's practically my older brother even though I'm happy for you both!"
The Jonin laughed, bumping her Genin's hip, the smile on her face making it clear that she wasn't going to continue that line of conversation. Itou cautiously took her fingers out of her ears… Just in case the Hyuuga Jonin pulled an Inugami and resumed with a TMI bomb. "Sorry; I just haven't had a chance to talk to anyone about it… It wasn't even planned; I mean, sure, we were together out of the Academy through my Chuunin days, sure, but then I got the ANBU nod and we broke up because I was constantly on long-distance, long-term assignments. I mean, I was looking forward to seeing him now that I'm back on a permanent basis, maybe see if we could try it again… But then Oki-kun proposed to his girlfriend yesterday…"
"Way to bury the lede, Miho-sensei!" Kimiko giggled excitedly - that particular point of news hadn't been in Ino's info dump; a rare commodity in the Konoha gossip circles. "So Tanaka-sensei and… Mao-sensei wasn't it?" The Jonin nodded. "Well good for them!" Itou froze. "What's that noise?"
Hyuuga perked up as she caught the sound. It was a young woman's voice crying in fear, in pain. It was a familiar voice, one that caused her heart to sink to the ground as she recognized it. "THAT'S HINATA-CHAN!" Miho cried as her Byakugan activated and her body began to glow with electrical energy as she utilized her Raiken Muscle Stimulation technique to magnify her speed by a factor of five. The Jonin oriented instantly on her cousin's location; rushing towards her and the three figures surrounding her.
Kimiko reached down to her thigh and pulled out the Tessen and Gunsen pair that Hata and Inugami had delivered on behalf of the Sandaime, which she'd swapped for her kunai set. "Wait for me, sensei!" She called, following as best she could; her Jonin was so fast when she pulled out the stops like this!
The Jonin's rush across the open water of the slow-moving Nara River created dual tidal waves behind her. There, on the other side, Hinata Hyuuga was backed against a tree, her white eyes wide and moving rapidly; Miho could see her cousin's chakra network was flowing rapidly… A sure sign of Genjutsu at work, which was odd since between the Byakugan and her Jyuuken training, Hinata should have been immune to such influencing!
And then Miho saw them. Three Amegakure ninja wearing off-cream colored wetsuits that looked almost like pajamas at first glance and four black "X" drawstrings that held them closed. They also wore tip-less black gloves and had oversized black plastic masks with a single angled connector. All 3 had an eye mask covering the upper half of their faces: one had holes for both his eyes, another for just one, while the third had an uncut mask.
The students of Akira Muto.
While they'd managed to slip out of Mizumiyo after the Phantasm of Rain had triggered the protective seal on Mizuzaki the 27th, dying before he had a chance to even realize he was in danger, Hyuuga had made a point to use the security cameras in the ballroom to memorize each and every one of the Amegakure trio that had messed with her friend and Kimiko's cousin, Reiyuriko. Each of the young men had Tanigakure bounties on them, but they were currently under the protections of the Chuunin Exams.
Through her Byakugan - now that she was close enough to them to see details that were invisible at a distance - she could see strands of a chakra web connecting the three Genin to each other and the Byakugan Princess. 'That explains how Hinata got caught; she was against three minds working as one rather than three separate attackers!' She realized.
"It's her!" The one eyed Genin - Mubi - announced as he saw the Jonin approaching at a run. "Get ready, Kagari!" The blind Genin nodded.
"Lucky!" Oboro, the ninja with both eyes, breathed; his voice oozing satisfaction. "We will avenge Muto-sensei and teach his… Oh, shit!" The Genin cried as he had to dive into the ground - clearly having learned the Hiding In Rock technique along with the Hydrofication art that had allowed them to escape Mizumiyo Palace when their Jonin died - to dodge a heavy bolt of lightning fired by Miho Hyuuga. The lightning blew a hole in the ground and a few seconds later Oboro appeared wincing. "Unlucky… Scatter! We mustn't squander our chance for revenge; we'll have other opportunities before the Exams end!"
The three melted away from view as Kimiko finally caught up with her Jonin. "Fucking cowards!" She shouted, her combat fans opened and ready for action.
"Most bullies are, Kimiko…" Miho Hyuuga pointed out, raiken chakra still arcing between her fingertips, as she scowled in the direction of the three fleeing Amegakure Genin as Itou used the Illusion Break technique on the younger kunoichi. "Are you okay, Hinata?"
The Byakugan Princess nodded, rubbing her head as her lips quivered slightly. "Yeah, Miho-nee... They..." A shudder of fear rocked the gentle natured young woman's shoulders. "They caught me by surprise and I couldn't break out of their illusion completely." She looked up at her maternal cousin worriedly. "I honestly don't think they knew who I was beyond being a Hyuuga... They were trying to learn where you and your team were; something about their Jonin being dead because of you, I think?" She shook her head before rubbing it. "It's kind of muddled because I while broke out of their intended hallucination, but got stuck on a level where I could sort of hear them talking telepathically to each other in the mental space."
"Shit!" Miho's scowl deepened as she conjured a pair of Lightning Clones who ran off in the directions of Haruno's and Inugami's homes. "I knew I should have argued more with Mizuzaki and Fukamichu about releasing our information in that announcement..."
Kimiko frowned. "Announcement? I don't remember anything like that..."
"Nor should you. It was sent out to the various regional Daimyo in River Country updating them on everything that happened during the Convocation and afterwards." The Jonin's voice was a gravelly rumble of annoyance. She noticed her cousin was still shaking like a leaf. "Are you SURE you're okay, Hinata-hime?"
Hinata's lip quivered. "Their illusion - before I broke out - had Na..." Her cheeks turned red. "A boy I like being cruel to me so I would run off to look for you for protection or comfort."
"Unlucky for them they didn't know we were close enough to hear your cries." Itou said grimly, knowing that Uzumaki's name was the one censored from the youngest kunoichi's lips, wishing for the umpteenth time that they could do more than just file a protest to the embassy of the offending ninjas' nation. Naruto-kun's team had run afoul of some Sand ninja who'd been in an altercation with Konohamaru Sarutobi the day the Suna contingent had arrived. "Fortunately Momma Miho struck again..." Both Hyuuga women froze, looking at Kimiko in shock, confusing the chocolate haired girl. "What?"
"Where did you hear that nickname for me, Kimi?!" Her Jonin demanded, clearly flabbergasted.
"That dream I had last night - the one I called you about earlier..." Kimiko replied. "That water monster/thing heard it when Hinata-chan's father asked who was watching Hinata and I. Why?"
Hinata sniffled, a slightly sad memory coming to mind. "Only Kaasan called Miho-nee that; no one else. Ever."
"She said that when I would babysit Neji-kun and Hinata-chan I guarded them as fiercely as if I was their mother even though I'm only their cousin by marriage..." Miho-sensei confirmed with a bittersweet smile at the memory. "No one's called me that since Obasan died shortly after Hanabi-chan's birth."
Itou was now equally flabbergasted. "Wait... You're saying that dream was REAL? You blasted a watery figure with a lightning bolt in Hinata's bedroom while she and I slept in her bed after the Massacre?!"
Miho Hyuuga sucked in a sharp breath. "How could you possibly know that?! I…"
"...Used the Forced Sleep jutsu on us?" Kimiko finished. "And told the intruder they were lucky you had before chasing them off with additional shots?!"
The Jonin's unease was suddenly palpable as she looked between the two young women she'd regularly babysat. "How is this even possible? No one was in that room other than the three of us…"
"That's not quite right, Miho-nee." Hinata pointed out softly, fretfully, causing the other two kunoichi to look at her, perplexed. "We-well, you're forgetting the INTRUDER was there, too…"
"Oh Undine Kawa…" Itou gasped, her throat suddenly dry. "For just a second as I fell asleep before having that dream, I could have SWORN I saw a snake-like limb made entirely of water by my bed!!"
"Okay, that's it…" Miho Hyuuga growled determinedly. "We're stopping by your place and you're grabbing your go bag, Kimi; you and Nakahito are staying at the Manor with me and Hinata until those Amegakure pricks are done with the Exams where I can keep you both safe when we aren't on a mission."
"What about Sho?" Kimiko asked, weirded out by the fact that she'd had an intruder in her own bedroom and hadn't even sensed it. "You didn't mention him."
Her Jonin sighed, shaking her head. "We both know that if he's worried that someone's targeting him, his first concern will be for Motoko-chan's and his sisters' safety before his own. An order to go into hiding will be ignored, so why bother?"
"True." Kimiko and Hinata agreed in unison.
Hinata had felt a little jealous of the third member of their trio getting the boy she'd always dreamed of landing when she, Motoko, and Kimiko would talk boys while Hyuuga still had trouble keeping herself together in close proximity to Uzumaki.
Inugami did not do anything in half measures and Itou was still burning with curiosity as to what it was that Motoko-chan had said or done during their time in the Palace to make the third member of her team do such a thorough 180° on the position he'd expressed during the Hide and Seek mission…
"My clone will make sure his head is on a swivel so they don't catch him flat-footed. Plus, given Kurenai's problems keeping him under the Genjutsu for the Yondaime's Gambit, I'm not as worried about them getting the drop on him as much as I am them catching the rest of you…"
"I almost pity what would happen to those three if Momo is close enough to Sho when they try to attack him…" Kimiko joked, getting a grim chuckle from both Hyuuga women.
"Gallows humor aside, the SECOND those three flunk out of the Exams, I will HAPPILY eject them from the Village myself. Our barrier system is far more sensitive than the one at Mizumiyo; they won't be getting back in once they're out." Miho finished grimly. "Once we're safely in the Manor, I want to hear about this dream; every bit of it." Kimiko nodded, but then froze as she remembered the ending. "What is it?"
Itou's throat bobbed roughly. "If the dream isn't a dream and actually a memory…" Her brown eyes looked between the two with sadness. "Hiashi-ojisan… Hiashi-ojisan KNOWS who the Intruder was… I mean is… I mean…" She brought her hands to her face, sick to her stomach with uncertainty as she fought back tears. "By the Goddess, I don't know what I mean anymore!"
Hinata suddenly grabbed Kimiko in a hug before taking her hands in her own. "But that's a good thing, Kimiko-chan!" Itou looked at her friend in confusion. "If Otousan knows who it is and didn't destroy them utterly, then - whoever they are - he doesn't view them as a danger to either of us!"
The Jonin nodded. "I'm forced to agree with that assessment; Hiashi-dono was very paranoid for months after the kidnapping attempt. Badly enough that when Hizashi-ojisan had a moment of irritation he used THAT jutsu on his own twin!" Hinata grimaced at the memory, the shouting and the fact that her relationship with Cousin Neji had been going downhill ever since…
Kimiko Itou had no clue what jutsu Miho-sensei was referring to, but she was used to the secrets where the Hyuuga were concerned.
Miho continued. "If you saw him talking to the Intruder instead of killing them, he must have his reasons… Hinata-chan, do you happen to know when your father has an opening in his calendar where I could talk to him?"
The junior Hyuuga grimaced. "Not until after the Final Exams last I saw… In fact…" Hinata checked her watch. "Yeah, Father and Hanabi-chan left for the Capital Palace for a series of negotiations and won't be back until late next week."
"Just in time for you to surprise him with the news you made the Finals, right, Hinata?" Kimiko grinned, confident in her friend's chances.
"I hope so!" The youngest kunoichi agreed with a modicum of self-esteem.
A bolt of lightning flashed from the sky as one of Miho's clones returned from their mission to inform the boys. "Hito confirms. Heading to Itou's." The figure said before breaking down into purplish energy and crackling out of existence.
"All right; I'm guessing Sho must be somewhere my clone couldn't access - probably the Hospital or the JRD - before it ran out of chakra. Let's get to the Manor; we'll try to track him down from there." The Jonin ordered, the two Genin turning to the northeast and starting the long run to the opposite side of the city without any further discussion.