I catch upon a branch, and despite my slowed momentum it still bends and groans and almost breaks beneath me. It holds, though, and I let myself hang on it with one hand while I regain my bearings.
A dull thud prompts me to look down, and I see the genin that had tackled me crumpled on the forest floor. The forest floor which really isn't that far down from here.
...
"Cut it a little closer, why don't you," I grunt, heaving myself up onto the branch. I look up, listening for the sounds of fighting through the pounding of my heart, and am treated to the screech of metal on metal and someone shouting the name of a jutsu. "Alright, let's try this again. The smart way this time."
Luckily for me the trees are packed tight together in this area of the forest, so it's easy to cut off my chakra and ascend civilian style. I make sure to stick to the thick patches of leaves as I go, which saves me twice when stragglers from the group pass me by, no doubt looking for me and their teammate. I'm around halfway back up when the sounds of conflict cease altogether. I come very, very close to just putting on the wind and saying to hell with stealth, but manage to keep myself in check. I don't have to worry about them killing Samui. I can take this slow.
I make it back to the top, hidden amidst the leaves, and realize that I shouldn't have taken this slow at all.
A good fifty yards away from me Samui kneels on one of the larger branches, surrounded by a dozen genin. Their backs are turned to me for the most part, as all their attention is on my partner. Despite the fact that I can't see their headbands, though, it's easy to tell which ones are Kumo nin and which ones aren't. It looks like there are at least three Iwa nin tagging along with this group. Awesome.
A Kumo nin stands in front of Samui, partially obscuring her from view, who I recognize as the prick that was taunting us back at the spire. He doesn't look smug right now, though. He looks furious.
"-the hell are you doing, Samui!?" He shouts. "Did you forget what we're supposed to be doing here? Or are you just insane?" Samui doesn't say a word, head bowed, and one of the Iwa nin makes a sharp motion from the branch she's standing on.
"Kill her," she says coldly. I tense up and start another loop, even though I have no idea how I'm going to get it off without hitting my partner in the process. But the Kumo nin, Isamu, raises a hand up at her and I let it subside.
"This isn't like her," he says. "I don't know what's up with her right now, but she isn't in her right mind."
"She killed two of my comrades," The Iwa kunoichi hisses.
"She attacked us, too."
"Not to kill."
"Look," Isamu says in irritation. "We're not fucking killing her. Her sensei would pop my head like a grape and the Raikage would make it look like an accident." The other Kumo genin nod along. "So drop it. She's not going anywhere with that leg- we'll keep her with us until she either comes to her senses or we finish this stupid task. Got it?"
The two foreign nin glare at each other, both unwilling to concede. Then another two Kumo nin appear from below and breaks the standoff.
"The kid from Konoha killed Goro," One says, and genin from Iwa curse.
"Did you take care of him?" Isamu asks, and the other one shakes her head.
"We couldn't find him."
"Slippery motherfucker," he growls. He turns on my partner. "Hear that, Samui? That little prick you were fighting for ran away. Is he still worth attacking your own comrades for?" Samui finally looks up at that, doubt warring with the mask of neutrality she's wearing. Her eyes flicker up at Isamu, the shinobi around her, and the forest beyond.
Then they freeze, locked on me. I raise a finger to my lips, and she closes her eyes, letting her head bow again.
Isamu snorts in disgust. "Whatever. Maybe your teammates will know what to do with you." With that said he reaches down and hauls her up and over his shoulder, causing her to gasp in pain and revealing the spear run clean through her right leg. "Let's go. We can take care of Konoha in the next task."
The Iwa kunoichi looks like she's about to object, but one of the other Iwa nin places a hand on her shoulder and shakes his head. She scowls, shakes it off, but falls in line with the rest of the group nonetheless.
The group takes off, and I follow just close enough to keep them in my sight, wondering
just what in the world I'm going to do.
...
The moon hangs high in the sky, sending dim rays of light spiraling through the gaps in the canopy of leaves. A chill that not even this sheltered corner of the Land of Iron can escape has settled in the air, and every shallow breath sends a small cloud of mist shooting from my mouth. The forest is dark and still. And quiet.
Or it would be, if it weren't for the waterfall.
I glare up at the construct of nature that somehow exists in this frozen nation, towering above me taller than even the Hokage Mountain back in Konoha. Its roar is steady and echoing, deafening even on the other side of the clearing that separates it from me. It's surrounded by a quarter mile of flat, barren land on all sides, ending at the bottom of the cliff face it's set in.
The cliff itself stretches out in a crescent shape with the waterfall at its center, and is littered with outcroppings and indents. The top of it is especially riddled with ledges.
And camped out on one of these ledges is Samui and her captor.
They stopped here a little less than an hour ago after the sun fell out of the sky and the scarce light of the moon made it too risky to continue. I had watched from afar, sheltered by a fallen tree, as they leapt straight up onto the steep wall of dirt and rock besides the waterfall and ran up its length. And then to my dismay they stopped right at the top and began setting up camp for the night, leaving me separated from them by a long stretch of no cover and a cliff.
The group of Kumo and Iwa shinobi are spread out along the top of the cliff, some set up on similar outcroppings, while others sit spread out at the very top of the cliff and keep watch. Samui and Isamu sit at a ledge on the right side of the crescent formation nearly level with the top.
I look upon all of this, my mind racing. Ideas are formed and discarded in my head at the same speed, and with each one my hopes fall a little lower. I can't retreat and loop around to flank them because they have guards posted on the farthest edges of the cliff that would smoke me out before I could say 'Fuck Kumo'. I can't charge up the cliff and fight them head on because that would be stupid. There's only one of me, and over a dozen of them.
I can't wait for them to move again because the lack of sleep will tire me out too quickly and make a rescue attempt even less viable. I can't go to sleep because I'm not a light enough sleeper to hear them pack up camp over a waterfall. I can't this because that, I won't these because those. Round and round it goes since they stopped at this stupid god damn waterfall. The frustration is stifling.
So what's the plan, Uzumaki? I clench my fists, raging in silence at myself. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do, and Samui is going to fail because she helped me bail my teammates out at her own expense and I couldn't do the same for her.
...
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