Chapter 39
The air was so thick with tension that it made Shi's stomach hurt, just a little. She was used to the waiting before a battle, but this-an entire village, and then some, to fight a single man-was something else. The rest of her squad was made up of Tenten, Sai, and Ikari, the four of them gathered around one post of the gate. Even the sight of Neji, part of another team entirely, perched on top of the wall to keep watch, was not helping.
Not far away, Subayai from the support team ran around, relaying orders and making sure the teams were coordinated. Shi shifted on her feet. Part of her wanted to hold onto a kunai, or anything, really, to calm her nerves. But Tenten would be handling the weapons. All Shi needed was her own chakra...
“So,” Tenten said nervously. “How's this for a name? Team Death of a Thousand Cuts?”
“And Burns” Ikari said, raising his eyebrows at her. “Don't forget my role, girl.”
“Tenten,” she corrected, sounding slightly annoyed, as if this were not the first time such a thing had happened. “I do have a name.”
“Ain't worth remembering.”
“You remembered her name,” Tenten said accusingly, nodding to Shi.
“'Cause I was hearing it a thousand times a day from my stupid teammate. Kind of hard to forget it under the circumstances. And now I hear 'Iruka, Iruka, Iruka' all day, so I know his name, too. Ain't even met the guy,” Ikari said, rolling his eyes.
Shi felt some of the tension break under the sound of bickering. She smiled slightly.
“Quit fighting and pay attention,” Sai said flatly. “You're forgettable, you have a tiny dick, and so on. Now let's all get along and do our job.”
Shi tried to stifle her laughter as Tenten and Ikari both glared at Sai. Eventually, they settled back into waiting.
“He's two hundred yards out,” Neji said, several minutes later, from his perch up above.
Shi tensed again, and peered around the edge of the gate. The man's form was just barely visible, a shadow in the distance.
“Offense team, get into position,” said Yamato.
Sai nodded to them, and they followed after. They took up position at the center of the gate's opening, flanked on either side by support staff waiting for orders. Shi stood slightly behind Tenten, ready to move forward when it was her turn.
Within a few minutes, the man was close enough for Shi to see the color of his mask, a spot of orange, dulled by distance, the only bit of color that wasn't a part of the forest. She swallowed, waiting for the order. It seemed to take forever.
“Offense team, start,” Yamato said from the side.
Tenten pulled the scroll from her back and sat it on the ground with a loud, heavy thump. She unfurled it and pulled weapons from its painted surface, throwing them in the same motion. Over and over, for such a long time. Only a few of the weapons actually hit, between the distance and the man dodging around them. He was too far away to see if he was bleeding, so they watched for if he jerked from the impact, or slowed down.
Satisfied she had scratched him up a bit, Tenten jumped out of the way. Shi came forward. Her hands blurred, moving in a series of quick hand seals. She concentrated, staring out at the man. He stopped with a jerk, apparently startled, and she grinned. It was working, and he'd had no idea they could do this. By now, he would be bleeding freely, far more than he should be from a few grazing cuts.
Shi stepped back, still holding the jutsu. Sai moved into where she had been, a scroll of his own in hand. Instead of pulling weapons from it, however, inky images floated up off its page, growing and becoming more solid by the moment, forming into gigantic monsters. They rushed forward at the man in the mask, all claws and teeth.
Several exploded back into clouds of ink as soon as the man touched them. However, there were so many that a few managed to get in a good hit, judging from the way the man was moving. Sai stepped back, and Shi put a new wave of effort into her jutsu.
They repeated the cycle for several minutes as the man advanced towards them. He was slow, hindered by the terrain and by their attacks, but he was still moving. Once he had gotten past a certain point, Shi released her jutsu and moved back, Ikari taking her place. A member of the support staff brought her some food, and she wolfed it down thankfully. The jutsu had used a lot of her chakra. She was tiring fast. Hopefully some food would help.
Ikari knelt down on the ground, putting the palm of his hand flat to it. He concentrated for a moment, making some one-handed seals. He let out a deep breath. A second later, flame blossomed up from under the man. There was a scream, more of surprise than pain, as the man struggled out of the column of fire and patted himself out.
Ikari repeated his jutsu a few more times. By the third time, however, the man was beginning to dodge out of the way, only being lightly scorched. Ikari jerked his head, and Shi swallowed down the last of her meal. She took his place and summoned up as much energy as she could, once more making the hand seals and starting up her jutsu. It was difficult to tell at such a distance, but the man in the mask seemed annoyed, this time, when he began to bleed. He began to walk faster, and she strengthened her effort.
--- Sumire spun around, slamming a kunai into the faceless, scar-like part of the thing's head. It paused, rather than rushing up her arm. She pulled back and waited for the poison, coated onto half of her weapons that morning, to take effect. It sizzled very slightly where it was in contact with the white flesh. The sizzle faded, and the half face smiled evilly. In a moment, the creature sloshed towards her once more.
Swearing under her breath, she leaped up onto a fruit cart, and from there onto the top of a building. She slipped for a moment, then gained purchase among the tiles, and was silently grateful it had not rained that day.
“Mayo-tan! Buyo! Keep them from following me!” she shouted down into the street.
Trusting her, Mayonaka nodded. She ducked into an alley, and Buyo stepped into her place, a scroll in her arms. She flipped it open, and the inky lines on its surface floated off the page, taking on solid form in the air. They changed into a series of smiling mushrooms, in various sizes, that rolled around, squishing the things underneath. Buyo stepped back, away from the fight, and rolled the scroll to a blank section. She began to draw furiously.
“Hey! What's keeping you?” Mayonaka's voice shouted up from the alley, immediately followed by an inhuman sort of growl.
“Keep your pants on! It turns out poison doesn't work on evil sentient pudding, so I've got to change tactics!” Sumire shot back.
Without another word, Mayonaka emerged from the alley, her face changed, feral, her teeth bared, the canines longer than before. Her fingernails had lengthened into claws. She let out a low growl and leaped into the air, landing on top of one of the creatures with both feet. It collapsed into a puddle under her. She moved on to the next one, tearing at the white flesh.
After she passed, however, the things began to take shape once more, bearing no sign that she had ever touched them. They followed behind her. She spun around as soon as they were close, her claws raking through their faces. They ignored this attack completely, and kept coming.
As they moved to cover her, something hit one of the creatures in the back. It did not even pause to see what it was. And then it exploded, scattering charred pieces over the street. Before the others could even react, a kunai slammed into another one's head. A second later, it, too, exploded.
Mayonaka took advantage of their distraction. She ran around them, pushing them into a tighter space, then leaped back. A volley of kunai hit them, and a huge explosion. Burning pieces littered the ground.
Buyo glanced over at the explosions. She released her next drawing, and a huge shape loomed over her. It was a giant bipedal rabbit. It stomped among the creatures, crushing some flat and herding others towards where the explosions had been. Those that had been flattened re-formed in its wake and surged towards the building where Sumire was.
Mayonaka circled around on them. She put herself between them and the building, lashing out, driving them back by inches. A kunai with an attached explosive tag hit the cobbles just behind them, punctuated by a curse from the rooftop. It burst, tearing into them but not destroying them completely.
The giant rabbit scooped them up in its arms and dumped them unceremoniously with the others. Moments later, another volley of kunai hit the mass of creatures and exploded. Buyo looked around quickly.
She didn't see any stragglers, and nodded to Mayonaka. Mayonaka released her jutsu and stumbled slightly. She let out a breath.
“That was pushing it. I'm going to have one hell of a headache later,” she said, tired, then shouted over her shoulder. “Oi! Sumire! Do you see any more?”
Sumire jumped down from her perch, landing without injury. She shook her head.
“We've got a clear patch. Get something to eat and rest a bit. I need to make more tags.”
Buyo nodded. “I'll take first watch, I'm not as tired.”
Without waiting for confirmation, Buyo took over Sumire's perch on the top of the building. Mayonaka hurried over to the nearest support tent, leaving Sumire to sit down and make tags.
--- Shida finished wrapping the bandage and secured the end. His patient, a shinobi only slightly older than him with a minor burn on his arm from a prematurely exploded tag, nodded his thanks and left the tent.
Shida crept over and peeked out the tent flap. He frowned. So far, there had been only two injuries from the gate area, both from accidents. The man in the mask was still ten minutes out, by the latest estimate. He hoped he would not be needed much when contact was finally made.
After all they had thrown at the man, it was simply frightening that he was still standing at all. Any shinobi that Shida knew would likely be dead already under the circumstances. He sat back on the stool they had provided him, and for what felt like the thousandth time, looked over his supplies.
Suisho, a fellow member of the support team, stepped into the tent.
“Hey, cutie,” she said absentmindedly-he realized such an address was normal for her, but he was still not used to it. “You need anything in here? We've only got a little while 'til contact. Now's the time to ask.”
He shook his head. “No, thank you. I just had a break a little while ago. Supplies are good. Why isn't Subayai-san asking me?”
“Hm? She's running messages again. Everyone's really tense. Anyway, if you're good, I have to get back to my post.”
Shida nodded, and Suisho ducked back out of the tent. She walked back over to the last member of their little squad, standing near the gate. Kurenai nodded to her.
“Status?” Kurenai asked.
“All good. He's ready. You?” Suisho asked, more casually.
“We're still covered by genjutsu. If he really wanted to, he could find us, but I doubt the medic tent will be his top priority,” Kurenai said dryly.
Subayai came running back over to them. She was not winded, or even very disheveled, in spite of the fact that she had been sprinting back and force across the village with messages. She looked at her fellow squad members.
“Status?” she asked.
Suisho just gave her a thumbs-up.
“Nice work out there,” Subayai said, nodding to the path outside the gate.
Suisho's earth jutsus had been a large part of the destruction. It was only due to the watchful eye of Kurenai that she had not added Mr. Toothy's face to some of the planes of stone now blocking the way to the village gate.
“Thanks,” she said with a smile.
Subayai had been chosen as the runner because the only people in the village at that time who were faster than her were Gai and his team, and also because her punch could stun the creatures long enough for her to escape. Every time before entering the camp, she took a moment to check herself over for traces of the white creatures. Whenever she found a bit of the hated white substance stuck to her, she pulled it off and burned it with a small lighter.
Nearby, someone whistled. She looked over. Yamato was waving at her. She rushed over, leaving her squad behind.
--- The actual hospital was quite busy. Sakura, Ino, and two dozen other medic nin hurried around, tending to the victims of the amorphous horde outside. Sakura absentmindedly wiped the sweat from her forehead and went back to treating her patient. She concentrated her chakra into her hands and worked on closing the gaping puncture wound caused when this particular shinobi was mobbed by the creatures and had his arm, kunai and all, trapped against him.
Ino was similarly tired, but she pressed on regardless. Most of the people who had come in were suffering from losing so much chakra. For the most part, they would be fine without treatment, as long as they got off the street. A handful of candystripers were dealing with them in a back room, mostly by feeding them. A few, however, had lost enough chakra that they had almost died. Those ones were hooked up to IVs on another floor.
As Ino moved on to another patient, she glanced over at the shinobi assigned to protect this particular room of the hospital. Ishitaro sat nearby, making adjustments to a device. It was a makeshift blowtorch, cobbled together from a burner from one of the labs, and several other pieces of equipment rendered unrecognizable by their transformation.
He seemed to realize she was looking at him, and turned around, his face red and full of what Ino now recognized as hope, as opposed to her original assumption of surprise. She looked away, and started treating her next patient, who had burned herself while dealing with her attackers.
Another one of the creatures began to ooze out of the scorched floor. Ishitaro turned on it, fiddling awkwardly with his makeshift device. After a moment, the flames burst out, and the attacker caught fire very quickly. He waited until it burned down, then hastily stomped out the flames that had spread to the wooden floor. Quietly, he wished they had decorated the cafeteria with tile instead.
Another medic took over for Ino, and she walked out of the treatment area. She poured herself a cup of tea and sipped it, grabbing a cookie on her way to find a bit of wall to lean against. The medics were taking breaks more often than probably any of the other staff. It was, after all, quite exhausting.
She looked over at where Ishitaro was making further adjustments to his blowtorch. She had been surprised to see him make such a thing. She guessed it was clever, but nevertheless unexpected. Th fact that most of what she had seen of him so far had been physical strength and his awkward attempts to court her had distracted her from any possibility of cleverness. But there it was...
She finished her cookie and gulped down the last of her tea, unladylike but not caring about it, and went back to the patients.
--- Back at the gate, Temari planted herself at the center of the opening. She checked her footing. Satisfied, she swung her fan. A gust, far stronger than it should be from her strength alone, went out. It blew the masked man back a few feet. He struggled against it, but could not find purchase until it had subsided.
She walked back to the edge of the gate for a rest. She had done this every few minutes since the offense team had finished their job. It was exhausting. She got a sandwich from one of the support tents and tried to eat it as quickly as possible, before she had to go out again.
“How's it going?” she yelled up to Neji between bites.
“He's almost here,” he called down, uncertainty in his voice.
She sighed, finished her tea, and slapped the side of the wall, since Neji's back was too high up to reach.
“Stop worrying and just keep looking out,” she said, willing herself to the calm that her voice already had.
Yamato was pacing nearby. She did not know the man well, but the worried expression on his face seemed to be getting worse every moment. As he was the head of the whole gate operation, she declined to slap him on the back.
“Where is Naruto?” he muttered to himself, looking back at the larger part of the village.
Temari looked away from him. Amidst the chaos of the camp, one person seemed calm, walking towards them. She squinted at the man making his way through the teeming masses, not quite sure she could believe what she was seeing. As he reached them, however, she was sure.
It was Danzou.