The sounds of metal clashing against each other were heard. Carefully they advanced, passing corpses of the Sound Nins.
‘Who ever that is attacking should be very dangerous. Too kill so many and yet not to have a single of their companions killed,’ Kiba thought.
Naruto had already drawn his kunai as they drew closer to the battle scene. Beads of perspiration gather at his forehead and trickled down his tanned face. He stared horrified at the branch of a tree they passed that had been snapped far from its trunk by some brutal force. Suddenly four shurikens flew towards them. In the clearing that they reached stood two ninja wearing the Tsuchi(1) headband. Surrounding them was at least ten corpses. Kurenai squatted down to inspect the corpse, she realized that the corpse like the others that surrounded him had deep claw marks all over. “Jiraiya-sama, these corpses- they died from blood loss,” Kurenai said. Naruto felt as though his stomach had turned into jelly and was swimming around. The stench of dead bodies and blood was just too overwhelming. Kiba retched opposite him near a tree with Akamaru whimpering softly.
“Leaf village? Hn! How pathetic. Never seen so many dead bodies I bet,” the one with flaming red hair teased. The one with light brown hair tossed the Sound Nin in his hand as though he weighed nothing more than a kilogram.
“What’s you relationship with Sound?” Jiraiya asked threateningly taking one step closer towards them.
“You seem the most experienced among them. Still I have no obligations to tell you,” the red-haired replied.
“It’s interesting to see one in spite of having fought at least twenty Sound Nins to have so such abundant energy,” Jiraiya remarked.
“Bet you small fries here are as fragile as these Sound Nins,” the red head taunted jerking her face towards a nearby corpse. Growling, Naruto angrily gripped his kunai and was about to rush forward when Kurenai grabbed his vest and pulled him back. She slowly shook her head in disapproval.
“Stop it Akara. We’re not here to pick unnecessary fights,” he scolded her. Turning to them, he said quietly, “We’re on the mission to retrieve my brother. It seems that he was locked away and unable to break free.”
“What are yours?” Akara challenged. Naruto glared furiously at her.
“To retrieve someone too,” came Jiraiya’s short reply. The brown haired looked mildly surprised.
“I wonder how many people they’ve captured. Makes me wonder why they’ve been unsuccessful in breaking out. We should join forces,” she paused with a faint mocking smile on her lips and glanced at the brown haired ninja. “But of course,” she continued. “Tsukishi here wouldn’t allow that.”
“That’s enough Akara,” Tsukishi curtly commanded. “Leaf Village stands on the verge of war like all others. However do note, Stone Village will not take part.” He said ‘not’ with such a vengeance that it seemed that he was directing it to Akara who stood looking extremely amused. She causally pulled her dark green shirt which seemed black in comparison to her flaming red hair. “Now let’s go,” he instructed pulling his fur-lined hood over his head and leaped off in the direction of the Sound Village.
“I have the strangest feeling that we’ll definitely meet- again,” she said, bowing with a peculiar smile on her thin lips. She pulled her black hood over her head and followed Tsukishi’s lead.
Naruto frowned and swore silently to beat the daylights out of that Akara guy the next time he saw them. “Let’s not waste anymore time,” Naruto said, his voice had a shade of anger that could not be disguised. Jiraiya nodded and they departed hurriedly without a backward glance.
—-
With the sun beating mercilessly on them, the constant murmur of Konohamaru’s endless grumbles became as familiar though not necessarily as welcomed as the wind that gently danced through the field they were weeding. “OH be quiet Konohamaru,” Ameki muttered yawning as her slender foot dangled over the bank and trailed through the clear waters. She tied a string to her kunai and started to throw it at trees before pulling it back. Kakashi idly glanced up from his ‘Come Come Paradise’ up in the cool shade of the leafy trees. “You’ve a long- way to go,” she commented as she swung her head back to watch him.
Many hours later, the long awaited dismissal from Kakashi finally came. “Will we get finally get any training tomorrow?” Konohamaru groaned as he stretched his cramped limbs from the hours of picking litter in the river.
“I’ll think about it,” Kakashi said before disappearing in a lightning-fast leap and bound. Konohamaru slumped against the fence looking beat when Udoso suggested Ramen. “Ameki- joining us?” Udoso asked in a slightly hopeful tone. Konohamaru’s sudden perked face winced at Udoso’s words. She glanced at Konohamaru’s expression and shook her head slightly.
“My brother’s expecting me back early,” she said in her soft voice.
“Konohamaru-kun, invite her,” Udoso said turning to Konohamaru. Konohamaru frowned looking unpleasantly at Ameki. “After all she did help u with your weeding,” Udoso stated.
“Udoso-san, it’s ok. I got to go,” Ameki said firmly and jumped onto the roof to make her way back. In less than few minutes, she jumped noiselessly onto a quiet alley that led to the road to apartment. A little movement behind her caused her to spin around, drawing a kunai. She gasped as her arm was wrenched behind her to an almost breaking point. Reflexively she swung her body to allow her left foot to hit her attacker’s head. However her attacker grasped her ankle and twisted it to a breaking point too. She viciously bit her lip to stop herself from screaming in pain as her arm broke in her attempt.
“Be silent and I’ll spare your life,” he snarled. She glared angrily at him. His silver hair almost had her mistake him for Kakashi but as her eyes traveled downwards, she noticed his sound headband.
“You-! Sound!” she hissed nastily barely concealing the pain in her voice. “You won’t kill me, or you’ll have already done it. Now let go of my limbs or I’ll yell for my brother.”
“I’m not that silly,” he said calmly. A clone of his stepped forth from the shadow with a cloth. She silently swore under her breath. “Now, I can’t have you bringing attention to my presence can I?” he said in some what mocking sweetness. His clone covered her nostrils with the cloth to make her pass out. Slinging her across his shoulder, he headed towards the border. Her flute was left unnoticed in the shadows.
>>>>>>
Kotetsu glanced out of the window, the sky seemed as though it as been painted from shades of blue to pink, purple and then to grey. “Worrying about her?” Izumo asked. “We both know she can take care of herself perfectly well. Besides, she probably somewhere out there training, knowing how much she likes training.”
“She promised to be back early, she never breaks promises-”
“Fine, fine. I’ll check with the academy and you check her training grounds,” Izumo suggested. Kotetsu mutely nodded unable to shake the foreboding feeling.
>>>>>>
Kakashi yawned as he passed the report to Iruka. “How are they?” Iruka inquired with a slight smile on his face. He carefully stacked the reports to bring up to the hokage’s office. Before Kakashi could reply Izumo appeared in a cloud of smoke.
“Ah, Kakashi. Your team just finished?” Izumo asked cheerfully.
“Not for a few hours ago,” Kakashi said lazily. “What’s wrong?”
“I expect she was so engrossed in training that she forgot,” Izumo laughed. Suddenly Kotetsu appeared the same way Izumo had holding a flute and a piece of cloth. His eyebrows were knitted so tightly together that Izumo knew that he had didn’t find her either.
“Her flute,” Kotetsu said. “She never goes without her flute. It’s definitely hers.”
“Maybe she dropped it or perhaps she went out with her teammates?” Izumo suggested. Kotetsu shook his head ruefully and passed the cloth for Izumo to smell. “This is-”
“Chloroform,” Kotetsu finished his sentence for him. “Why would anyone carry chloroform for?”
“So- she’s- kidnapped?” Iruka asked. “Why?”
“That doesn’t matter. We have to search for her now,” said Kotetsu angrily.
Kakashi looked at them. “Our last mission ended a few hours ago. Assuming she left immediately and then was kidnapped, they could be very far away and almost anywhere by now,” Kakashi analysed.
“But-!” Kotetsu yelled gripping the flute tightly.
“What’s going on here?” Tsunade interrupted glancing at their faces.
(1) Tsuchi means Earth, Like Konoha means Leaf
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