Chapter 41
Chouji glanced sidelong at the woman who had ended up being his patrol partner. All he knew about her was her name, Izumi. He only knew that because he had seen Choujuro speaking to her the other day. She had not said a single word that he knew of, and the mask she wore hid her entire face. Even her eyes were concealed behind two panels of smoked glass, set into the mask. Their shape made him think of a giant insect.
Her entire body was covered, with the exception of her arms, part of her neck, and her ears. Every bit of bare skin he could see was criss-crossed with faint pink scars, her ears included. She moved so silently that he found himself looking over every few minutes to make sure she was still there.
Izumi turned towards him. Chouji instantly felt guilty for staring. She did not seem bothered, however, and gave a little wave of the hand, jerking her head in the same direction. He peered around her. A narrow alley opened up just to their right. In the dim light, a few white shapes of the village's attackers were roaming.
Wordlessly, he nodded. She stepped away from the alley mouth. He made a few hand seals, then launched himself. Chouji grew in size until he was as wide as they alley, and curled up into a ball. Hair stood out like spikes and wrapped around him as he hit the ground rolling. The creatures were crushed and shredded beneath him. The alley ended, and he stopped rolling. Shrinking back down to his normal size, he stood up and waited for the world to stop spinning.
Silhouetted in the light from the other end of the alley, he watched unsteadily as Izumi dispatched the rest of the creatures. The first time they had encountered the things and found that stabbing them was not particularly effective, she had been quick to figure out what to do.
Izumi had run to the nearest shop, leaving Chouji on his own while she rummaged through the shop's inventory. She had emerged with a can of paint thinner and poured some down the length of her sword. Chouji fought off the creatures while she pulled a book of matches out of her pouch and set the blade on fire.
After that, it had been easy. She worked with that same silent grace, an efficiency of movement that made quick work of the creatures. After she had killed the first group and extinguished her sword, she had looked to him, weirdly intense for a mask. It had made him nervous, and he'd had no idea what she wanted.
She closed the can of paint thinner and pointed to a sticker on the bottom. He moved closer, squinting down at the tiny piece of paper. It was a price tag. After a moment of surprise, he rummaged through his pockets and put some money on the shop counter.
Along with dispatching the stragglers, they had been tasked with finding survivors. Most of the shinobi who were patrolling were able to get to the hospital under their own power, but a few had lost consciousness. Chouji and Izumi had already made two trips there, after finding a few injured people.
As they turned another corner now, Chouji saw a familiar form and a shock of fear ran through him. He moved to run forward, but Izumi held out a hand, stopping him. She went ahead and looked around a few corners, then motioned him to go on. He ran.
Sasaeko lay on the cobbles, large patches of which were scorched to black. Chouji knelt down beside her, carefully turning her over. He blanched to see the mess that had been made of her face, a colorful array of bruises blooming on her face. Holding his breath, he felt for a pulse.
He let out a sigh of relief. Nearby, he could hear a series of tapping sounds, of metal on metal. It was a strange pattern. He gathered Sasaeko into his arms and walked toward the tapping sound. Izumi was knocking the corner of the paint thinner can against the blunt of her sword. When she saw him, she stopped. He looked past her.
Lee was slumped up against the side of a building. His leg was broken badly enough to be apparent even from a distance. Chouji knelt down again, careful not to hit Sasaeko's unconscious form against anything. He felt for a pulse, and found one. Lee stirred slightly.
Chouji looked from Lee to Sasaeko, and then back at Izumi. She would need her hands free, for her sword. With a sigh, Chouji set Sasaeko down, and put Lee over his shoulder, careful not to jostle his leg any more than necessary. Lee didn't wake, but he did groan and shift as he was settled. Taking care not to drop Lee, he picked Sasaeko up in his arms and stood.
“Let's get back to the hospital,” he said, feeling weird about speaking after such a long silence.
--- “Ooh, over there!”
Mori pointed down a side street, empty save for a few prowling creatures. Eri made a sort of pirouette, spinning and stepping past him to freeze the offending things in a block of ice before he had even finished speaking.
Once the ice had covered even the creatures' heads, Kakashi and Mori hurried forward. For once, Kakashi was carefully rationing his chakra; rather than doing anything flashy, like chidori, or flailing around, he studied the block of ice for a moment. He concentrated his chakra into his fist, as a certain one of his students was wont to do, and punched the ice. It shattered, and some of the pieces were quite tiny.
There were, however, a few larger chunks remaining. Mori broke those down further, opting for the direct approach: he slammed his bandaged, club-like right forearm down from above, and the ice broke into smaller pieces still.
The three of them had not even broken a sweat, although Mori suspected he might soon. It was a warm day, and his arm was beginning to ache. Though, such a thing was not at all unusual. He glanced down at the aching limb, then to the chunks of ice littering the ground.
No. That ice was full of the weird, pale, soft flesh. It was gross ice, and he would not use it. He turned away and tried not to think of how the creatures looked like ambulatory tapioca pudding. He liked tapioca pudding, and hoped he would still be able to eat it after today.
Hoping to take his mind off that decidedly unsavory train of thought, he looked back over to his team and grinned slightly. Eri, always rather shy and timid, was performing splendidly today. When normal methods had proved ineffective and her ice had done better, she had found herself in her element. In those times when she felt confident, Mori noted to himself, she was graceful and efficient.
Kakashi, meanwhile, seemed slightly pensive. Of course, given that their village was under attack by an army of evil sludge clones and their ridiculously overpowered and cryptic overlord, that was probably normal. Mori and Kakashi both kept glancing over at the gate where most of the action was taking place, whenever they had a second of peace.
Mori's students were all stationed either at or near the gate. He had an excuse. But Sakura was working at the hospital, and Naruto could be anywhere right now. Who was he thinking about? Mori shook his head of the thought and tried not to laugh. His students were rubbing off on him, perhaps.
They went on down the street they had just cleared. There was still work to be done; the parade of the strange creatures seemed to be endless. Mori imagined that even after the battle, there would be patrols for weeks, looking for any stragglers. He had a mental image of them becoming a commonplace pest, like the raccoons that kept knocking over his bins. Once more, he shook his head, trying to dislodge the odd thought.
--- Danyo shifted uncomfortably and waited. His temporary partners were flirting again. Or at least he assumed so; it was kind of hard to tell with Anko. On the formation of their little squad, one thing had led to another, and she had licked Uwaki. His face paint had made her think twice about doing the same to Danyo, a fact for which he was immensely grateful.
Uwaki, however, seemed to enjoy it. He trailed after Anko like a lost puppy until the second kill or so, at which point he seemed to get bored with the lack of fluid exchange. Danyo tried to stay behind and out of sight as much as possible, only coming forward when it was time to cut up the frozen chunks of their enemies.
“What are you doing tonight?” Uwaki asked, up ahead.
Anko shrugged. “Who knows. With all this mess, we'll probably be on patrol duty until midnight at least. I know I'll end up getting picked for it, too,” she muttered darkly. “The Hokage is pissed at me.”
At that, at least, Danyo could sympathize. He had accidentally knocked over the vase Usagi-san had bought for the 'embassy,' the tiny office that Danyo highly suspected had been a supply closet at one point. Ever since, she had been handing the bulk of the paperwork to him to finish. He felt it was rather unfair; she had bought said vase at a cheap shop for next to nothing.
“That's too bad,” Uwaki said, winking. “Perhaps I'll have to volunteer this evening.”
Anko laughed loudly and slapped the younger man on the back.
“You're a dumbass. But at least you're a charming dumbass,” she said.
Danyo cringed slightly. The noise was bound to attract more of those awful creatures. Now that they had a plan, a routine, they were not difficult to handle, but still... They creeped him out. Not that he'd ever admit such a thing to anyone but his real teammates, of course.
He allowed himself a small sigh and glanced towards the gate, and then to the Hokage's tower, and wondered how they were faring.