79 Naruto : Uchiha : Chapter 79
Orochimaru did let his eyes go wide when his ears picked up on a slight sizzling noise.
And sure enough - the kunai he had just deflected to the ground beneath the carriage, had a small slip of paper attached to it's ringed end.
And it was lit alight …
...
Thus, was the source of that sizzling noise…
"TSUNADE GET OUT OF THERE - NOW!" Orochimaru's shout elevated Hiruzen's worse fears for his kunoichi's life even more so than before.
But his heart calmed itself down when he saw a blonde and blue blur jump out of the other end of the carriage not even a second before it was blown to smithereens and the man breathed a sigh of relief.
That had been a bit too close for comfort…
Tsunade slid down the sightly grassy slop on the other side of the road, gracefully holding the pregnant woman in her arms to show off her physical prowess before hopping up gracefully on her feet at the down-slope of said hilly slide.
"Jiraiya, Orochimaru - " both boys gathered around behind their sensei in a moment hearing his voice turn strict. All the goofiness upon Jiraiya's face washed away as soon as the situation became intense.
"With me, let's go!" he barked out and launched himself into the trees from where those weapons had come from.
"HAI!" his genin chorused behind him, before darting into the trees peering over the other side of the road right behind their master.
"Hey what's wrong?" Tsunade's worried voice asked aloud when she felt the woman squirming around in her arms. Though her eyes widened when her left arm felt the fabric over her arm get a little…
Wet...
"I think my…AHH!" the Senju heiress almost dropped the woman when she suddenly screamed - but realization dawned on her when she remembered what it meant.
"Her water broke!" she almost screamed inwardly and ran as gently as she could to the nearby tree. She placed her underneath it as softly as gravity would allow her to do so.
"Hey don't you fall asleep on me!" Tsunade yelped softly, seeing her eyes rolling back slightly. And she shook her awake with a few soft taps to her cheek almost instantly - thankfully, it worked.
The one thing her grandmother had taught her in the medical field - her first lesson for that matter, was to never let a patient fall asleep before they had been treated completely.
They might never wake up after that…
Wait just a minute? Not fall asleep? Treatment? Patient?
Tsunade's eyes turned saucer wide - to the point her face started looking comical. But she took a hold of the woman's hand in her own upon seeing her try to squeeze her aching belly as tightly as she could.
Only one thought - a thought that made her almost quiver in fright - was on her mind right now…
I'll have to deliver the baby…
...
The Hayakawa village
..
..
"Hello!" Naruto's lone voice rang in the barren streets, his hands cupped over his mouth to echo his voice even further. There was nothing here as far as he could tell - and he had been scouting for almost an hour now.
"Anybody here?!" so finally, seeing all his normal methods of scouting failing, he decided to go back to the basics and start shouting to see if anyone really was here or not.
But the situation was rather…odd.
According to Sakumo, there was a huge stench of blood in the air. He had caught onto it too as soon as he had stepped foot here, so that assessment was in fact true.
Then where the hell was everybody?
There should be something or someone right?
Attackers, survivors…
Hell some dead bodies for crying out loud!
But there was absolutely nothing here. All the streets he had scouted in the dark had been barren, all houses he had peered in were empty. There was nothing here to show any signs of violence or break ins in the numerous shops he had scouted out.
So after all that, he had stopped hiding to see if maybe the invaders might be hiding and waiting for him to drop his guard.
But that had been half an hour ago.
So now here he was, in the middle of a village that looked more like it was abandoned rather than one that had been invaded…
"Help…"
Now that made him stop.
It was a soft whisper, and would have been ignored by him had it been any other day. And if he didn't have his ears as peeled as he had today.
The tomoes in his eyes spun slowly, taking in each and every inch of this damned village to see where it had come from.
To see, where had the sound come from to confirm that this had indeed been inhabited by humans before tonight.
"Ff ... Please .. Someone ... Anyone"
That soft sniffle, almost as loud as being inaudible - made his neck snap back with a crack. His eyes glanced up to read the board of 'Central Park' inscribed over the place from where it had originated from.
So, he made his way inside.
And smiled.
There was someone who needed his help just like he had expected.
And Sakumo's fears were completely unfounded. There were no enemies here as far as he could see. Plus, there was a survivor who needed him right now.
The sound of soft sniffles started getting louder and louder - turning into thick sobs as he made his way even deeper into the park.
The lights were even lesser in here than they were outside, some even flickering in and out of it. But as long as there was even a slight hint of it for his eyes to pick it up, he was fine.
Slickly, almost as smooth as an assassin his hands pulled out his sword strapped diagonally down his back. That horrid, godforsaken stench of human blood was increasing with each step he took near the incoming and helpless sounds.
The aura surrounding this place wasn't doing anything to lift his fears anytime soon…
But he made his way near to it. Completely on guard. And finally, he stopped when he saw what he had been looking for this whole time.
A person, most probably a girl, judging from her long hair - no scratch that, the slight bumps visible on her chest confirmed his deductions - was curled up into a tiny ball by the bark of a tree.
Her knees hugged to her chest in a tight squeeze, he could see her body clearly quivering even in the death of the night - which, from what he could guess - was due to crying.
"Hey…" he whispered out loud, clenching the hilt of his sword tightly when he saw her quivering halt all of a sudden while her eyes peeked out from her knees.
He couldn't tell what color her eyes or hair were, he would need more light to gauge that. But she had long hair, probably as long as his Baa-chan's which was a length near her hips.
Her eyes were wide, almost innocently in fact.
And he did relax his guard a bit seeing her wide eyes shimmering and streaming with tears that gleamed in the little moonlight they were privy to. They were looking so innocent that he just couldn't gauge her as he would have done for some stranger - any other day.
His Sharingan though - snapped to life. Blazing almost angrily when she got on her feet and rushed closer to him. His sword raised itself in the air, intent on slashing her neck as precisely as he could to cleave her head off - when his eyes caught sight of her arms opening in front of her.
But there was no weapon in her hands, and for some reason he could feel she was harmless. Maybe due to the way she looked - she had the same eyes as Tsunade had a couple of days back - that he let her come closer and closer to him. Before the girl, no more than sixteen or seventeen crashed into him and…
Hugged him for dear life.
He hesitantly let his arms wrap themselves around her, not quite understanding what had caused such a frightened girl to find such comfort in a complete stranger when she had just seen so much blood.
Speaking of blood though…
The source of the stench was now clear. It was her. The girl was dripping wet in it, from head to toe and he couldn't imagine what had caused her to get drenched, this deep in the elixir of life.
"You're from the Leaf…" her whisper ceased all his doubts in an instant as to why she had trusted him so much.
So that was why she trusted him.
He was an ally.
Her way of running had told him that she was no kunoichi. No shinobi - experienced or otherwise, would stumble upon a rock and almost fall down like she had done. Even in as dire lighting conditions as they were in, they just wouldn't - it wasn't right.
And one couldn't fake crying as much as they tried it - not from his eyes they could not.
So he softly wrapped the girl in a warm embrace.
"It's alright."
His soft whisper caused her crying to go absolutely berserk. She started crying hysterically, as if she had almost gone insane. But anyone would in his opinion, if they were shown what she must have seen to get drenched in a bucket load of blood.
His hands caressed her long and soft hair, letting her bury her face in his neck - he smiled sadly. Why did it always have to happen to all of the most innocent one like his adorable Tsuna…
But when her arms gave his torso a gentle squeeze…
Every sense - every damn instinct built into his body screamed one thing.
Danger.
CLACK…
Numerous shards of wood snaked around the air, bringing the serene and ominous silence in the clearing to an abrupt halt.
A shattered log fell down from the girl's arms - the girl, who was crying a minute ago flipped her waist length hair back with an expert whip of her head.
"My my, aren't we the feisty ones…" her whisper rang out loud, no sniffles or sobs coupling her voice as they had done a second ago. She looked anything but the girl he had seen from a minute ago.
"Who the hell are you!" Naruto asked, his voice as icy as the coldest of glaciers. Perching upon a tree like a hawk looking to scout out it's prey, his deadly eyes glared down into her very soul.
Her voice too wasn't helpless, it was almost ... happy?!
...
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