His legs (and other parts) having recovered, Naruto started to hop with excitement at the prospect of telling someone new about himself and his amazing mission, but it was Hinata who actually spoke first. "We are shinobi of the Leaf, from Fire Country on the planet," she explained. "We were sent to get mochi for the Spring Festival from the Rabbit, due to an emergency shortage." Naruto stopped bouncing with an embarrassed laugh as the dark haired girl latched onto his arm and snuggled up again.
"Mochi, nya?" Shuko repeated, thinking a moment before she continued, "The Rabbit's in a castle on the outer face, but it's sealed against entering from there, nya. You can get in through the caves to turn the barrier off temporarily, though. They're too tight for your scooter, but you can park it here a small fee, or for free if you're getting work done, nya."
"Oh, that's right," Sakura exclaimed, remembering her instructions, "Mom said to get it tuned up while we were here, and gave me this thing." She held out her left arm to show the shackle-like bracelet.
"That'll make things easier all right, nya!" The cat girl pulled a clipboard from one of the larger pockets in her coverall and attached a cord to the chain link on Sakura's metal cuff, then pricked her finger with a claw and smeared some blood across a seal near the top of the first blank page. It glowed for a moment and started spreading out, filling the paper with the scooter's service history as well as the elder Haruno's information from LunaBank to cover the bill.
The Vespa beeped forlornly at them from its parking spot, but they left it behind to travel on. Shuko brought them to a large, heavy door at the back of the building, opening the multiple bars and locks as she warned, "You'll have to be careful, nya. A commando of drop bears has moved into the caverns recently, and they're vicious! I can't get mochi for my guests lately, either, nya. If you get rid of them for me, I'll take a load of mochi in my heavy transport for you, since there's not much cargo space on a scooter, nya?"
The Leaf-nin stopped in their tracks, sweat-drops forming on the backs of their heads.
"Nyahaha, I can't believe it! You didn't think of that, did you, nya?"
The genin hurried on, leaving the still giggly nekomimi to close the door behind them. Crystal formations sparkled everywhere, and tiny, glowing mushrooms sprouted out of every corner and crack casting a dim blue light over everything. The path led upward at a fairly steep angle but wound back and forth around crystal outcrops. The passage out of the cavern was narrow and uneven, the dark grey moon rock criss-crossed with tool marks.
In the third large cavern they met their first drop bear, taken by surprise because it had been clinging to the wall above the tunnel exit, and even the Byakugan couldn't see far through solid rock. The only warning they had was a short, high pitched growl, then a ball of biting, clawing fury fell onto Naruto's back. He yelled in shock and pain, rolling with the impact and batting ineffectively at the beast once he'd regained his feet.
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata shouted as she sprang forward, into range for her jyuuken. "Hold still, I'll get it!" The keeper of her heart stopped flailing about, but whether that was because he heard her or shock as the little monster took a bite out of his shoulder was somewhat questionable. Either way it was enough, two precise hits just behind its ears cooked the awful thing's brain, dropping the bear instantly.
"EEEEYOOW OW OW OWWIE!" the blond complained, clutching his sides where the beast's claws had scored him, leaning against the Hyuuga girl. Sakura was already forming the seals to start up her medical jutsu, green chakra glowing around her hands as she ran them over the gashes to stop the bleeding. "D-don't worry about- the small stuff- Sakura-chan," he panted, "Just- fix my- shoulder, ne?" Seeing the faint curls of pinkish smoke she remembered from other times Naruto had healed himself starting to stream from the claw marks, she complied, concentrating on rebuilding the torn away muscle from the last, deepest bite.
"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, I got it as quickly as I could," Hinata apologized. "I'd never want you to be hurt." Looking up at the other kunoichi, she continued, "Thank you for healing Naruto-kun, Sakura-chan." Then she blinked, thought about what she'd said, and got a bit red across the cheeks.
Sitting up and waving his uninjured arm, Naruto laughed it off. "Hah, this? It's just a few scratches! Not even scratches, scrapes! I couldn't reach that thing at all and you got it right away, Hinata-chan!"
"It's what I'm training for, Hinata-chan, the pink-haired medic-nin replied distractedly. "To protect my precious people and help them when they're injured. Anyway, there we go!" Major repairs done, Sakura released her jutsu and let the finishing work happen its own, sternly commanding, "Sit still until you're fully healed, Naruto. It should only take a few minutes at the rate you're going." Keeping half an eye on the boy to make sure he obeyed, she examined the animal that had attacked him. It was about the size of a small child, with short, soft grey fur, a short fluffy tail and big, even fluffier ears. Its nose was large and rounded, the eyes a bit small but human-like. "So this is a drop bear," she mused. "It would almost be cute if it wasn't for the razor-sharp fangs and claws, and being covered in Naruto's blood."
Hinata frowned, using an adaptation of the water-droplet Jyuuken training exercise to get the blood out of Naruto's clothes before it stained, glaring at the dead bear as she dryly remarked, "That does sort of take the charm out of it, it's true."
Noticing something shiny in the long fur behind one ear, Sakura cut the tangle apart with a kunai. "Ew, dead finger bones... kind of an interesting ring, though." It was all metal, with a bluish sheen of steel rather than the usual silver or gold, and supported a low relief carving of a sandal clad foot with a pair of spread, feathery wings. Seeing little reason to leave it to gather dust in a cave, she used a quick disinfecting ninjutsu and slipped it on for safekeeping, since the band was her size.
As they got going again, Naruto realized he was really getting sick of Hinata clinging to his arm that way - not that he wanted her to let go of him, that was definitely nice, but that she had to hang on like a fangirl to Sasuke-teme as if he was going to escape. For that matter, it had to be uncomfortable the way she was hunched over sideways to lean against his shoulder like that... maybe if he put the arm across her back instead of down by his side?
Hinata stifled a gasp of dismay as her hold was shaken loose, then happily snuggled closer and wrapped her arm around her Naruto-kun's waist as he did the same. This... was a VERY good mission, she decided.
Sakura moved to the point position, feeling a little left out and unsure how she should feel about feeling left out. She picked up some fist-sized stones from the cavern floor, chucking one hard at the ceiling whenever they came to an overhang where more ambushers could be waiting. None appeared until they reached a deep gorge, only a narrow stone bridge connecting the ledge on their side to the tunnel beyond. The bottom stretched away out of sight in the gloom, and the ceiling was arched and high. The sound of moving water echoed and filled the massive space, giving away the cause of the chasm, and stalagmites hung from the ceiling, dripping in the damper air.
"Sakura-chan, wait," Hinata warned, shifting her Byakugan from 360 degree mode to concentrate on the roof of the chamber. Finishing her examination, the Hyuuga heiress declared, "There are two more drop bears waiting at this end of the bridge, and another near the far side. There's no way to go around though, and the stalagmites are protecting them from an attack before we pass."
"Ne, which is which," Naruto asked. "I can never remember if stalagmites come from the ceiling or the floor."
"If it might fall, it's a stalagmite, but stalactites cling tight to the floor, Naruto-kun," Hinata replied.
Sakura giggled at the silly mnemonic and poked the Hyuuga heiress's forehead playfully. "And to think, they call me a study-bug," she teased. Hinata just grinned back at her, while Naruto looked confused.
He guessed Sakura-chan and Hinata-chan must have become friends while he was away, and shook it off in favor of thinking about the waiting ambush. "Ne, let's go back into the tunnel a little bit, where it's drier."
A few minutes later, the three genin charged back out and onto the bridge, having decided that without any way to avoid or preempt the ambush, the best option was to bulldoze ahead and attack as the drop bears revealed themselves. As far as it went, the plan seemed to be succeeding, the ravenous beasts dropping from their perches almost in unison as the trio reached the center of the bridge, but they hadn't been prepared for how mobile the little brutes were - one, larger than the first, sprang across the ten feet from its landing spot to sink its hind claws into Hinata's chest, front legs and vicious fangs shredding her face as she shrieked in agony.
Then the kage bunshin popped in a cloud of chakra smoke, leaving behind a confused and irritated drop bear. With the ruse already exposed, the Sakura-clone released its henge, reverting to a second Naruto as they each formed a rasengan, the swirling masses of chakra blowing the two smaller animals off the sides of the bridge to be broken by the rocky river far below. The real Leaf-nin followed up posthaste, Sakura still in the lead and disposing of the remaining bear with a single, terrifyingly powerful uppercut. It went flying the width of the chasm and slammed into the other wall with a crunch, already dead as it peeled away to fall into the darkness. The three formed up back to back for a few seconds, Hinata repeating her careful scan of the ceiling in case more of the beasts had come while they prepared, then relaxed and shook the tension out of their muscles.
The tunnel became steeper on the far side, forcing them to mold a bit of chakra to keep their footing as the stone had become damp and slippery without a layer of gravel to line the path. The wetter air made the phosphorescent mushrooms more prolific, however, so at least it was a bit brighter than before. Approaching the next cavern it became brighter still, but the tunnel seemed to have come out a bit too low in this one, angling up sharply into the roof.
The rotted remains of a set of wooden steps lay at the base of the wall, and scratches in the stone showed where the drop bears - or possibly Shuko, for that matter - had used their claws to make the most of negligible toeholds. That hardly mattered to them, of course, when the ability to jump into, between, and out of trees was something every Leaf-nin did as a matter of convenience.
With that in mind, Sakura took a few running steps before leaping up the short dead end. She was therefore rather surprised when the jump didn't flatten out and drop her neatly at the top of the wall - in fact, before she'd even gotten half that high she was floating free, shooting into the large cavern with undiminished speed. Straightening out the tumble her first jerk of shock had started, she channeled some chakra into one hand, hoping to stick it to a jutting rock formation and catch herself before slamming into the far wall, and got another surprise - the ring she'd found earlier sucked the energy up greedily, releasing a pair of faint, glowing streamers that snaked their way around her body and then a leg apiece, finally looping at her ankles, the loose ends fluttering in the wind of her passage. Without the chakra charge her fingertips just brushed by the rock and she braced for impact, only to swoop away at the last instant as she reflexively flinched.
Now thoroughly befuddled, Sakura was entirely unprepared for the half-dozen drop bears that sprang at her from all sides, but was almost half-expecting it when she swerved again in mid-air to slip through the gap in their attack. Deprived of their target the animals collided, most of their momentum canceling out to leave a rapidly spinning, slowly drifting ball of snarling grey fur and claws. Before the beasts could get themselves sorted out, Hinata leapt out of the tunnel to attack, blasting them out of their huddle.
"KAITEN!" Well, it wasn't really a Kaiten, despite what she'd called out, since it was done in mid-air and elongated along the path she was traveling due to having more of the chakra aimed behind her to control her course. At the same time, it wasn't a piercing attack like a simple copy of the Gatsuuga used by the girl's usual team mate Inuzuka Kiba. Whatever it was, it was effective, two of the hardest hit drop bears bouncing hard off of walls to float twitching and broken while bloody froth drowned them in the weightless chamber, the others skimming in at less acute angles until they fetched up against some protrusion, stunned.
Sakura drew a handful of kunai as she looped again, finishing those motionless animals with well aimed throws even as she saw more climbing out of their bowers along the walls. Grimly, she reached for more.
Naruto had been as shocked as Sakura when she'd flown away out of control, and would have followed her just as helplessly if Hinata hadn't run up the wall and caught him, pulling the boy back down to where he could stick with the tree-climbing technique. Then, seeing Sakura's predicament, she put her hopes on a wild guess about what the sudden lack of gravity would mean for the technique and blasted off with a cry of "KAITEN!" leaving Naruto to complain about being left behind while he figured out how to maneuver himself.
Seeing the giant spinning ball of chakra blast apart the pile of drop bears, he quickly came up with an idea of his own. It would be tough to fight if he had to do it with his hands, but a single direction spin should be good enough...
More drop bears were emerging already and besides, the way the girls were swooping around looked like fun! Naruto pushed off from the "floor" gently, then concentrated while he wrestled his always-unruly chakra into the pattern he wanted. A small whirlwind formed beneath each of his heels, spinning in opposing directions, then abruptly flared out into a funnel cloud as he directed the winds away from his feet, rocketing into the center of the room just in time to catch the first of the next wave of attacks with an interposed kunai. It stuck in the beast's ribs, so he shoved it away and grabbed more blades, throwing them in a rain of cruel steel on the bears still getting ready to spring.
(Posted Thu, 27 Aug 2009 21:35)
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