Cherry Blossoms and Chakra Strings: Snipped Threads

Tsu hummed a tune to herself as she sat on a log, rooting through a backpack that one of the mercenaries had been carrying. Several more like it were turned over on their sides beside her, their contents emptied over the ground as Tsu searched for anything of worth.

She hadn't found much yet. The Inuzuka pulled out a piece of jerky, staring at the leather surface for a moment before shrugging and tossing it away. Tadao snapped it up before it hit the ground, chewing the tough meat with his powerful jaws, wagging his tail all the while.

As her companion chowed down, Tsu pulled out the last item in the bag, a sheathed knife that didn't seem to be falling apart like everything else. 

“I could probably get some money off of this.” She mused to herself as she examined the blade, finding it to be surprisingly intact. It was the first thing she'd found that was worth anything. Everything else these guys had was just junk.

“Mercenary life not panning out for you guys?” Tsu asked the pile of dirt where the mercenaries were buried, running a finger along the blade to test its sharpness, “If you gotta rob people just to make ends meet, only to end up like this, then you probably should have taken up fishing or something.”

As predicted, nobody responded to her ribbing. Tsu sighed as she sheathed the blade, reaching down to rub Tadao's head as she stared off into space. When was Sakura gonna finish up with that kid? There was no way she was that messed up just by killing one bandit. 

Sighing, Tsu shifted on the log. Reaching into her tool pouch, she pulled out her own jerky and started munching on it. It was much fresher than the piece she gave Tadao but still tough enough that she had to gnaw on it for a good while to bite a chunk off.

Tadao curled up beside her as she chewed, just staring at the scenery around them. This far away from town, the Land of Waves was kind of pretty. The way the light sparkled off the mist was something you'd never see in Konoha. At least not in the village.

Tsu had only a moment to take in the serene scene, before the peace was broken as a powerful explosion suddenly ripped through her small section of the forest. The shockwave blew leaves off of trees and shook the dirt that she had just recently packed. Tsu jumped from her sweet, eyes widening and heart quickening as she witnessed a plume of smoke rising high into the air just a small distance away.

“Sakura!” Tsu grabbed Tadao and stuffed him into her jacket before taking to the trees, racing through the forest at a breakneck pace to save her teammate from whatever was going on.

The air, once calm and fresh, was alive with the smell of smoke and burned chakra. Tsu narrowed her eyes as she blasted through the forest, leaving craters in her wake as she substituted finesse with speed, moving faster and faster as she came up on the source of the explosion.

Her sword exited its sheath with a rasp as she landed on the side of one tree, shaking it with the force of her landing. She looked around, eyes and ears searching keenly for her teammate and whoever she was fighting.

Devastation greeted her. Bark had been blasted off the nearby trees and the trees themselves were smoldering, only kept from burning thanks to the moisture in the air around them. A large crater sat in the epicenter, surrounded by charred grass and loose dirt and shuriken and senbon were scattered around the area, lodged in the ground or the smoldering trees. Ami was propped up against one of these trees, slumped over like a dead body and Tsu prayed that she was alright as she went to check on the girl, before stopping in her tracks as she caught sight of something terribly wrong. 

Lying in the dirt, riddled with senbon and cloak torn asunder, was Sakura’s puppet. It looked like a corpse underneath the morning light, unable to move without the command of its master, and Tsu stared at it with dawning horror, knowing that Sakura would never, never leave it behind.

While Tsu wanted to panic, her mind filled with horrible scenarios of what could have happened to her wayward teammate, she knew that this wasn't the time. Shaking her head to clear her mind, she burst into action.

“Tadao!” Her ninkin barked, “Search the area for anything suspicious! Scents, tracks, Sakura! If it's there, find it!”

Tadao barked an affirmative, bounding off into the brush like a furry missile. Having faith in her partner to perform his task, Tsu turned her mind away from the search and onto the genin that was still here. Stalking over to Ami, she crouched down before the girl, checking up on her.

“Shit.” She muttered. It didn't look good. The girl wasn't injured apart from the senbon lodged in her neck, but Tsu knew from experience that those things could do horrific amounts of damage if they hit the right spots. 

Ami looked dead. There was no other way to put it. There was a thin trickle of blood coming from the nearly foot long piece of metal sticking out of the side of her neck and she didn't look like she was breathing. Heart sinking, the Inuzuka reached up and gently put her hand on the girl's neck, searching for a pulse.

Nothing. Ami's skin was warm but clammy with sweat, which Tsu knew weren't exactly indicators of life, at least not this soon after death. If Ami died even an hour ago, there'd still be some heat left in her body.

Her heart heavy, Tsu reached up and gently pulled the senbon out of the girl's neck, only to literally leap backwards as her body suddenly surged with renewed life. She watched in shock as Ami took a deep, shuddering breath that caught in her throat, causing her to begin hacking her lungs up on the forest floor.

Ami's eyes were bloodshot as she turned to look at Tsu, a harrowed expression on her face, “What!? What happened!? Where's-where am I?”

In a surprising display, Tsu managed to shove her shock to the side and take control of the situation. She stepped forward, grabbing Ami's shoulder as the girl stood on shaky feet, “Hey, are you alright? What the hell happened here?”

Ami's eyes were unfocused as she stared at Tsu, jaw slightly slack like she didn't understand what was happening, “Huh? W-What are you talking about?”

Tsu slapped her firmly on the cheek, just hard enough to sting and bring her into the moment, “Focus, Ami. What happened? Where's Sakura?”

“Sakura?” Ami's eyes seemed to refocus. She winced, rubbing her neck where the needle had been, “I… we were talking. She was helping me through my first kill and then everything went black. She's gone? What happened?”

Tsu clicked her tongue as she realized that Ami had no clue what was going on. She watched as the girl swayed in her feet, blinking sweat out of her eyes as she looked around at the destroyed clearing, when a bark caught her attention.

Tadao had returned and he was clutching a scrap of cloth between his jaws. As he ran up to Tsu, the Inuzuka leaned down and snatched it, trusting her partner that it was important enough to examine.

Holding the scrap of cloth up to her nose, Tsu's nostrils were assaulted with the smell of fresh flowers and burning chemicals. Medicine or poison, she couldn't tell. All she knew was that this wasn't the usual smell of wood and ink that she associated with Sakura. And it was fresh.

“Good job, Tadao.” Tsu praised, her mind whirling with possibilities about who this scent could belong to, “Did you find anything else?”

Tadao's low whine made her curse, but it also gave her hope. If Sakura had been killed, there would definitely be traces of her body, even if it had been burned or buried. No… There was no way to clean up that quickly unless you had a seal, and if that were the case, her mysterious assailant wouldn't have left Sakura's puppet behind as evidence. After all, at that point, there'd be no reason to hide the body to begin with.

Which meant that Sakura had more than likely been kidnapped by whoever had attacked her. And while the motive was still up in the air, Tsu would say that was definitely preferable to her teammate being outright dead.

Taking another whiff of the cloth, Tsu nodded. The scent was strong. Definitely trackable if they left any sort of trail behind. She turned to Tadao once again, ready to tell him to take her back to the source so that they could go get their friend back, when a low groan made her pause.

Ami swayed on her feet, holding a hand to her head. She glanced at Tsu, eyes dizzy and unfocused once again, “I don't feel right…”

The moment the last syllable left her lips, the girl's eyes suddenly rolled into the back of her head and her legs gave out beneath her. She would have hit her head on a nearby root had Tsu not reacted quickly enough and gotten underneath her.

Left with an unconscious genin and a missing teammate, the Inuzuka was faced with a dilemma. She bit her lip, glancing at Tadao and then to the girl on her back as she warred with herself. 

A sigh split her lips, “Dammit…” and she shoved the piece of cloth into her pocket. Hefting Ami onto her shoulders, Tsu stalked over to Sakura’s puppet and sealed it into one of her spare scrolls. She gave the battlefield a once over, looking for anything she missed, before shaking her head.

She'd come back with backup. Sensei would be helpful scoping the area anyway.

“Come on, Tadao. We'll come back after we get her looked at.”

“Arf!”

Ami's added weight meant the trek back took a bit longer than Tsu would have liked. Despite her appearance the girl was not light. Not in the slightest.

Tsunami was standing outside when she arrived, and the woman raised her head to greet Tsu, only for her face to shift in horror as she took in the girl on her back.

“Oh my lord!” She gasped, rushing over to the pair, big eyes wide with worry, “Is that Ami? Is she okay?”

Her scream was loud enough to be heard all the way inside, and it wasn't long before Kakashi came hobbling out with an easy-going expression on his face. An expression that changed drastically the moment he saw his precious student unconscious on Tsu's back.

Tsu didn't think anybody could move that fast with crutches, but Kakashi showed exactly why he was one of the most famous jonin in Konoha as he cleared twenty yards in less than five seconds. He examined his charge critically, and his expression tightened as he noticed the wound on her neck.

Though they were in the same team, Tsu couldn't help but tense as he looked at her. Even with that goofy hairstyle and most of his face covered, Kakashi looked downright intimidating as he gazed down at her, “What happened?”

Faced with the jonin’s anger, Tsu licked her suddenly dry lips and said the only thing that came to mind.

“They took Sakura.”

~~~

Sakura’s skull throbbed in time with her heartbeat as she woke up, sending waves of pulsing pain all throughout her body. She slowly rose, holding one hand to her aching head, and looked around.

Grey stone walls surrounded her in three directions, barring entry or even viewing into whatever was on the other side, while a wall of iron bars trapped her within these confines. The room was completely bare; she was the only thing within, and her clothes had been changed while she slept, leaving her in patched rags instead of her ninja uniform. It left a disquieting feeling in the pit of her stomach, and not only because all of her scrolls, including Teashi, were gone.

Memories flashed through her aching skull, reminding her exactly how she got here. Flashes of a white masked ninja that was impossible to hit, and senbon that seemed to seek her out no matter how she tried to counter them. 

And the ice… Sakura had never seen ninjutsu like that before. Even with Teashi, she wasn't able to keep up or even contend with them. Especially with her hand..

Pain pulsed from her injured limb, as if brought into existence by the mere thought. She looked down and swallowed at the sight of the limb. The home in her wrist had widened, becoming red and swollen. Her fingers were pale from the lack of blood-flow, just barely hanging on with what little they were managing to get.

She didn't even try to see if she could move them. She knew that nothing would happen at best, she would feel excruciating pain at worst. She instead cradled the limb, ensuring that it wouldn't shift around too much as turned to look at the entrance to her cell. Someone was coming.

Someone turned out to be a short man in a suit with probably the worst hairstyle Sakura had ever seen. It looked like a dirty blond bush was growing out of his head. He leered at her through the bars, flanked by two burly men with weapons strapped to their hips.

“Well well well. Looks like the Konoha dog is awake. I was just coming down to toss your body out back, but I guess you ninja are more resilient than I thought.” He smirked, “Too bad you don't know how to stay out of people's business. I have a fine thing going here and I don't want you people messing it all up.”

“Gato.” Sakura realized, staring at the man she and her team had been brought here to assassinate. Gato chuckled at her quiet exclamation, looking back at his men.

“Would you look at that, boys? She recognizes me.” He laughed, pointing at her with his cane before setting it back on the ground. His smile faded into something more sinister, and he stared at her from underneath his glasses as his men’s laughter slowly died off into nothing.

“You know kid, I've known about your mission to mess with my little business for a while now. I never thought that bridge building would have the balls to go behind my back and order a team of brats like you to try and wreck my operations but here we are.”

Sakura didn't speak, and Gato smirked, “It's his fault you're here, you know? If he just lied down and died when he was supposed to, you all woulda never come here in the first place. You shoulda just stayed away and let me take care of business, and this whole nasty situation coulda been avoided.”

“Someone would have stopped you eventually.” Sakura glared at him, “You're stepping on a lot of toes, Gato. You might think you have some power, out here in the middle of nowhere, but all you are is a warlord playing emperor to defenceless innocents. Once the villages find out what you're planning, you're done.”

Gato didn't seem perturbed by her threats. He laughed, spreading his arms out in a wide gesture, “That's why I got help. You already met one of ‘em! I'd say they're doing a fine job of keeping you leaf ninja in line. And once I take care of that lousy bridge builder, I'll have enough money to hire a hundred just like them. I'll be a village all on my own, ha!”

His cane clicked as he tapped it on the floor, leering at her, “I'll make sure to save you for last. Just so you can see what real power looks like.”

“Go ahead.” Sakura’s eyes glittered with defiance, “My team won't lose to a two-bit merchant lord like you. Your little shipping empire will be done before it even hits the ocean.”

“I guess we'll just have to wait and see. But between you and me, I think I like my chances.” Gato turned and walked away from Sakura’s cell, followed by his men, “When everything's said and done with, I'll be sure to put their corpses in the cell right across from yours. That way you'll have some company as you starve to death down here.”

Gato’s cruel laughter followed him out, followed by the slamming of a heavy door somewhere far down the hall. 

Once she was sure the man was gone  Sakura slowly stood and gazed around the room, examining her confines with much more deliberate scrutiny. The walls were completely bare and there was no window or anything similar. It was entirely possible that this cell was in the basement of whatever compound or mansion that Gato called home. She was in the belly of the beast. Escape would be unlikely, if not outright dangerous.

But Sakura wasn't one to just sit around and wait to be rescued. She took a deep breath, reaching down to roll up the bottom of her shirt and stuff it into her mouth. Biting down on the makeshift gag, she reached down towards her mangled hand and  taking a deep breath to prepare herself and gritting her teeth at the damage she knew she was about to inflict, began to manually manipulate her fingers into hand-seals.

The pain was excruciating and Sakura screamed into her gag as white-hot pain flared through her entire arm. Tears flooded her vision in a second and her heartbeat throbbed behind her eyes  but she didn't stop, forcibly making her hand form one seal after another.

Bird… Monkey… Ram…

By the final seal, both of Sakura’s hands were shaking and her forehead was soaked in sweat. She reached down, swiping her finger along the reopened wound to gather blood, before gently placing her good hand on the floor and flaring her chakra.

Thick black seals spread outwards from her palm, erupting outwards in a puff of smoke. When it cleared, a large, hand-sized spider was skittering around on the floor. 

“Kii, I need your help.” Sakura panted, letting her shirt fall out of her mouth. She tasted blood on her tongue and a cursory inspection revealed she but straight through the shirt and into her inner lip.

The spider tilted his chitinous head as he took her in with his many eyes, “I can see that. You are in a sorry state, yet it took you so long to call on me. Why?”

“I didn't have a chance to. I've been captured by the enemy and I need to find a way out.” Sakura slid down the wall, resting on her bottom as Kii skittered up to her, climbing up her shirt and onto her shoulder. Being a spider, he couldn't express emotions through his facial features, but Sakura liked to think she saw a bit of concern in his eyes.

“Our contract states that I must help you to the best of my abilities. What do you need?”

Sakura took several deep breaths. Now that she was no longer focused on summoning, she was just starting to realize the toll the effort took on her body. Though her chakra reserves were full, she felt oddly weak, as if she was half asleep and running on fumes.

‘That ninja's senbon must've been laced with something.’ She decided. It must've been strong too, to get past all of her resistances.

Shaking off her fatigue, she turned to Kii, “I need you to scout out the area and report it to me. I need to know how many people are here, as well as where I am relative to the rest of the building. Can you do that without being seen?”

Kii seemed almost offended by her question, “My brood have been stalking the darkness since before your kind learned how to push it away. I will return.”

Kii jumped off of her shoulder and skittered through the bars in the cell, fading into the darkness and disappearing from sight. Sakura momentarily worried that someone might step on him, but she knew her fears were unfounded and she put it out of her mind. She has some work of her own to do 

Shakily, Sakura brought her good hand up to her shattered wrist, gathering crimson blood in her place fingertips. Forcing her hand to make seals had made the wound wider and probably messed her nerves up even more, but in this specific instance, it might work to her advantage.

Sakura’s blood stained the floor as she dragged her fingers along its rough surface, spreading her life across the grey stone. Her chakra sang; the blood was saturated with it, and Sakura’s eyes narrowed in grim determination as she brought her hand around to redip.

As she pressed her digits against the wall again, Sakura could practically hear her sensei's lessons ring in her ears. 

Even on the brink of death or defeat, a puppet master always has one more trick up their sleeve.