"Halt!"
Was the loud yell that brought the entire column of Shinobi to a dead halt with a single resounding 'brum' of thousands of footfalls before they all stopped.
At the head of the column Kakashi stood, Sakon, Kidomaru and Tayuya at his side as they surveyed a rather disturbing scene in the rocky beach ahead.
Spread cross the expanse of land were several large craters and jagged trenches, small trees torn down, their branches broken or cut.
But what truly caught their attention was the two bodies, already sickly pale, flies gathering over their decomposing bodies. Normally this scene would have caught their attention for just a brief moment and the column would have moved on, the armor on one of them and the unique blades that rested next to them were more than enough for Kakashi to call the entire column to a halt.
This alone would have been enough even if he couldnt recognize the two faces, frozen and slightly deformed in death as they were.
The Copy ninja made his way closer, uncovering his Sharingan to regard this entire scene to memory the other three following closely behind. As he reached an area between the two bodies he glanced at one:
"Ginchiko."
Then to the other.
"Mika."
The names were spoken in a contemplative manner as Kakashi continued to survey the scene.
Finally after a few minutes Kidomaru spoke. "Orders boss?"
Kakashi hmmed for a moment. "Order the Collumn to camp here for tonight, get the best trackers in the unit, along with those familiar with investigations. Bring them here. Then, get Ginchiko's armor, her sword and Mika's weapons. We'll bring them to Konoha for a proper burial. After that...burn the bodies, we cant risk any diseases spreading to the troops because of decomp.
"Yes sir." The three chorused before going off to do their duties.
Kakashi once again allowed his eyes to trail across the scene of this apparent battle. Something was wrong here...this felt entirely too...off for his comfort.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Akina slowly made her way down and across the roads of wave country, using a minor Genjutsu to change her facial appearance, it was more advanced than the Henge, considering that it was more subtle, harder to detect. She kept her eyes peeled for any ninja house or small base, she found their checkpoints rather easily, mainly focused around the bridge and docks.
The docks wouldn't be her problem no, her problem was the bridge, that was the kicker to get out of here. Though the bridge had less security than the docks they still had security, security that she wasn't sure she could bypass completely undetected considering how many experienced ninja they could have hidden in the fodder of chuunin that manned the security.
She would have to ask Tsunami's son...what did she say his name was? Inari? She'd have to ask how he got her through the dock checkpoint without the leaf ninja knowing, or why he would do it. Still the latter was more moot than anything. She could use the answers to the first question in order to get herself past the bridge guard, maybe anyway.
Of course she had to be careful, they may not know she was a ninja from a neighboring village and simply helped her thinking she was a civilian that had been shipwrecked, she'd have to find a way to break the question without seeming too suspicious.
If not, she'd just have to come up with a plan of her own.
Speaking of Tsunami, the woman stated that she could return to the home if she wished, that there would be a place waiting for her. Akina hated to take advantage of this obvious show of generosity but she found herself currently with no money, no food, no equipment to get food and with the need to keep a profile so low it should be considered subterranean so she'd have to swallow her reservations about taking their charity with a promise to pay them back some day.
Of course some part of her had to question just why they were doing this for her, and if their intentions were truly as innocent as they seemed but that part she smothered down with the logic that if they really wanted her dead, they would have sold her out long ago.
She diverted her eyes away from the cloaked sentries of Konoha as she began to make her way back to the house, arriving without incident only a few minutes later.
Parting the open front door she allowed herself into the house, hesitant steps taking her further inward, glancing around the decently furnished living room towards the empty kitchen, where she could smell the food already over the stove Akina listened for sound of movement, finding it several seconds before the woman, Tsunami, entered through a door at the foot of the stairs. "Oh, Akina-san you've come back." She said with a surprised but none the less pleasant smile. "If you would wait but a few minutes the food will be ready."
"Uhh sure thanks..." The Suna Kunoichi stated somewhat awkwardly, watching the woman walking towards the kitchen. "Uhh you need help or something?" She added as the woman disappeared behind the kitchen wall.
"Oh no no, thank you, take a seat, relax for a bit I'll be done in just a few moments." the older woman called from the kitchen.
Akina sighed, shifting from foot to foot in unease, this thing of being a guest, and thus, not having to do anything, would be driving her up the wall soon enough. She'd normally have the right to go out and train to stave off her boredom, but here, where the enemy was quite literally, just out the door, that would not be a good idea. No she'd have to lay very very low, so whatever entertainment she got would have to be here, at least until she figured out a way to get out.
The Jinchurriki moved to the side of the room, sitting down on the couch, allowing a startled yelp to escape her lips as she sunk into the cushions, damn this was low. Shifting her position after a second or so, she managed to get herself into a more comfortable position.
The clatter of dishes and running water was the only sound that reached her ears for several minutes, which she took to appreciate the decor of the living room, painted a light beige, highlighted with dark oranges and darker shades of brown it gave the room a very...autumn look. Pictures hung on the wall like a collage, depicting the woman Tsunami, with several other people, a young boy, an old man, a few with the young boy as an older young man, most likely that was her son, well at least she knew who to look for.
There were a few more pictures but she'd leave those alone for now.
As she was about to stand up however the sound of a great bell rang through the air in great, loud clangs, the vibrations shaking the inside of her body and chest.
Now standing, she walked to the window, looking towards the docks in the distance she saw it was its bell that was ringing, the look out frantically beating its bronze center weight against the metal that cocooned it.
The front door to the house suddenly opened and Akina spun around, hands reflexively reaching for weapons that were not there, only to find the dark haired young man from the pictures standing at the doorway, though admittedly in the pictures she had seen he was a bit younger, now sporting a bit more scruff around the beard. If she had to guess he was about...17 18 years old few years younger than her, or at most her age but not much older.
"Oh-hey." The dark haired man greeted as he took off his jacket, being mindful of the five or so fish he had strung up and held firmly in his left hand. His breathing was heavy as if he'd just run a mile or so at full speed. When he placed his jacket on a nearby hanger Tsunami walked out of the kitchen. "Son why are they ringing the lookout bell?"
When he spoke his voice held something akin to anxiousness. "Its announcing the fleets return, the ninja that had left for that battle are approaching the docks.
A muttered curse to his left brought his attention back to the blond woman he and his crew had rescued the other day while on their fishing expedition. "Oh..." He breathed "Sorry, I don't think we've been formally introduced. I'm Inari."
"Akina." She answered though the smile failed to reach her eyes at the news he had brought with him, eyes looking out towards the docks where that fleet would soon be arriving a slow feeling of dread clawing at her stomach.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
These creatures surrounded him, they clawed, moaned, bit and scratched, grabbing fistfuls of his cloak, they reached out for him. He threw them off himself, hands burning a fiery red before seeking out his blades, igniting the edged weapons in his grasp the creatures fell at his feet.
The darkness that surrounded them was thick, and he could not see beyond his own hands even with the flames that danced over his blades, only barely making out the faint outline of the things that attacked him. They were humans, but slower, some even deformed, missing limbs or having them bent at awkward angles.
He forced his eyes to pierce the veil of shadows the eerie red glowing beneath his hood as more of the creatures approached him from all sides. He slashed, kicked and punched, but he could find no escape from them, where were they all coming from?
He leapt upwards, wondering vaguely if he would hit a ceiling above, his eyes glowed beneath his hood as he focussed them fully on trying to find some kind of escape from this place.
What he found, were the outlines of these creatures, more...many more. Thousands. Hundreds of thousands.
When he descended, his feet hit solid ground before he felt the sensation of one of these creatures jump on him, gripping his back, arms wrapped around his neck.
His cloak obscured his vision but not his hearing,
'Why' it moaned in his ear before he threw him over his shoulder, allowing its body to hit the ground with a fleshy thud.
They approached now, coming closer, he backed away feeling his back press against a wall.
The fire on his blades grew, giving way to only a glimmer more of light, allowing him to see these things faces and forms.
They were human, cut, bleeding, burnt, the injuries were many, but all decidedly fatal.
'Why?' One of the creatures moaned before its counterparts chorused the statement. 'Why did you kill me?' The voices came again, unorganized, at different volumes, some yelling, some groaning.
He stood with his back to the wall, fire still dancing over his blades, he felt no fear from these creatures, no pity, no anger or horror. They were nothing but ghosts, ghosts who harbored neither memory or name for him, faces that melded together, meaningless to him.
Light suddenly pierced the darkness, blinding him with its brilliance, the moaning of these creatures stopped, fading into nothing. He tried to open his eyes, to keep his guard up in order to see if one of these monsters approached to attack, but it was too bright, it actually physically hurt to keep his eyes open against the harsh glare.
It died away with the same ease as which it appeared revealing only one person standing there, the person he knew and remembered all too well
"Yoshino." He said, voice a slightly deeper octave as he lowered his arms, letting them fall to his side.
She walked forward, marching up to him at a slow languorous pace, her footsteps calm and steady as she stood only a few inches infront of him.
He looked down on her, looking into her deep blue eyes as he'd done many times before her death.
His hand moved of its own volition and soon the all to familiar sound of blade slicing through flesh reached his ears, the echoing splatter of blood falling onto the floor resonating around him in this darkness, red eyes staring eerily into those of his unflinching victim.
A blade of her own, was held against his chest, the tip, pressing firmly upon the center, she could have struck, but she did not, and he could see now, crimson blood cascading down her clothing, staining it, as its essence eventually reached the ground he saw more of her blood falling from the corner of her closed mouth.
'Tell me why.' His voice echoed around them, hollow and distant.
She didn't respond as she continued to meet his gaze before slowly bringing her head down to rest against his chest, her warm blood still trailing down his hand, which still gripped the hilt of the weapon that had pierced her.
She sighed, her free hand raising itself towards his face, her fingers a hairs breath away, as if to give a gentle caress only for her to vanish from sight, her body dissolving into nothing in a sudden breeze leaving him alone, alone in this darkness with nothing but his blade and bloodstained hands.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Naruto's eyes snapped open, his body giving a slight jump at the sudden arrival into the conscious world. The sound of a heavy downpour immediately assaulted his ears, the constant hiss of thousands of raindrops echoing almost deafeningly loud within the cave.
He stood slowly, armor left behind before he made his way to the caves entrance.
He parted the barricade of twigs, dry tinder and grass he had made to keep the chill of the night out, finding himself immediately assaulted by water that seemed to be pouring down in sheets, the heavy impact of thick droplets as hard as stones against his skin.
He paid it no never mind stepping out into the cold night air, quickly resealing the entrance of the cave, his gaze traveling skyward before his feet carried him forward.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
When Temari opened her eyes, it was to the howling of the wind, the hiss of the rain and the crackle of the fire. She sat up, a curious wakefulness reaching her as she glanced around the cold cave, pushing away the red cloak that partially shielded her and Hinata from the biting chill before she stood, eyes adjusting to the cave, blinking owlishly before she found that Naruto was nowhere to be found. Curiously, she found his mask and gauntlets still resting at their place next to his sleeping niche.
The suna woman glanced around, curious as to where he could have gone. As far as she knew he hadnt left the cave at all during the night. She'd wondered if it was because he was worried about Hinata's condition, and her exposure to the cold of the night.
Regardless his absence was something that she found odd. She placed her head back down, attempting to find sleep once again, only for the wayward state of unconsciousness to prove itself quite elusive.
And so it was that after god knows how long that the Suna ninja sat up fully, getting to her feet she began to make her way towards the cave entrance.
She wasn't sure why she did it, god knows she wasn't gonna walk out in that rain by the sounds of it, but something was drawing her there.
And as she made her way forward, parting the entrance barricade her eyes found the man who was her enemy and her guard.
Only it wasnt him.
He stood alone, in the rain, clothes clinging tightly to his body, his hair, normally untamed and spiked was now thoroughly soaked, falling limply downward.
He was looking upwards, towards the black sky that poured rain over him. His back was to her, hands at his side.
What the hell was he doing? Had he seen a ship? Thats the only reason she could imagine anyone, even someone as nuts as him standing in the rain for no reason whatsoever.
He raised his right hand, bending his arm at the elbow so his forearm was parallel with the ground, right hand slightly to his side.
Water trailed down his face and neck in several small streams, dripping to the cold floor or down to his chest.
He looked down towards his hand, the angle allowing her to catch a glimpse of his face as he stood in the rain.
She had to stifle a small gasp that rose in her throat at the sight.
His sky blues, a normally sharp, razor edged blue that could pierce the most tempered of people with their ferocity, and make the strongest of ninja turn away with a shudder seemed...vulnerable...open.
Temari snapped the barrier to the entrance of the cave with a shudder, her breathing quickening in something akin to some kind of fear, a feeling, not entirely unlike guilt worming its way through her stomach, she felt as though she'd been intruding on something private, it probably was very private to him, she realized. He...he probably wasn't someone to show his vulnerabilities to anyone...ever.
She slipped back into the cave, the image of those eyes, his but...yet not...burned into her mind for the rest of the night even after she fell into a fitful sleep.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Outside, Naruto's eyes remained fixed on his open palm,never noticing his hesitant watcher over the roar of the downpour, watching as the raindrops pelted against it with harsh little pitter pats that shook the flesh with the force with which they fell.
Clear crystal water fell on his hands, the same water that trailed down his face, but to him, it was blood...her blood. It stained his hand. Stained him. Scarred him.
He cared for none of the others, none of their fates, their faces their memory, their names, they were nothing and they meant nothing. But no not her. She stood out against the others, she meant something, her face, her memory her name...she meant something...and it was not even his hand that had felled her.
Raising his eyes back towards the heavens he took a breath. 'Tell me why...Yoshino.'