Hanako made it to the rendezvous, and just as she had expected, it was empty. She walked around, paying close attention to her surroundings, as she concentrated her chakra trying to find her teammates. She found them half a mile away from where she stood and hurried towards them. Hanako ran until something got in her way; a giant bear stood right in front of her with its sharp claws and powerful jaws. Hanako got into a fighting stance just before she noticed small drops of water, floating over the ground around the creature's paws. The drops joined together to form a water whip that tied all the four paws together, making the bear fall hard to the ground.
"Suiton: Suiben." Hanako recognized Kazuki's chakra and smiled upon his appearance along Takeshi. She put away her kunai.
"I see...Water whips?" she said. "Any other trick you would like to share, Kazuki?" Hanako observed the black haired boy as he rested over a tree branch. He chuckled.
"You're late, Hanako," said Takeshi. "Thirty minutes late." He mimicked a guy with a watch, taking the time. "What were you doing that took you so long?"
"I had some business to take care of. I couldn't come until it wasn't solved." Takeshi raised an eyebrow at her answer.
"Business? What kind of business could you possibly have in the Forest of Death?" Hanako smirked.
"Getting a scroll, perhaps? They're not easy to find, you know..." She pulled out the Heaven scroll from her pouch. "Although, this one was quite easy." The two boys eyed cautiously the white scroll.
"You did it?" Kazuki jumped down from the tree, landing right beside the Uchiha. Hanako nodded. Kazuki was about to say something when he was interrupted by a loud, strenuous sound.
"That was...?" Hanako narrowed her eyes.
"An explosion?" Kazuki turned to the direction the sound seemed to come from. "Should we check it out?"
"No!" Takeshi shook his head. "We already have both scrolls. What we should do is go straight to the tower and get out of here before we get into trouble," he suggested.
"You worry too much, Takeshi," Hanako said to him, focusing on sensing any chakra near where the explosion took place. She widened her eyes when she recognized three signatures. "It's...Hyori's team..." She turned to look at her teammates. "They're fighting two teams!" Kazuki looked back at her with surprise.
"Two teams?! We should back them up!" Takeshi flinched at the thought.
"What are you guys thinking?" Takeshi covered his face with both his hands. "You don't care what I have to say? Let's go to the tower before we get into serious tapioca! But noooo.... You guys want to go deep." Hanako looked at him with serious eyes.
"No, we're not going to the tower," she said. "If it were us in that situation, would you run away?" She raised her eyebrows questioningly. "Would you leave us behind?"
Takeshi looked down and shook his head.
"Exactly. We're not leaving them either," she added. "They saved us once, now it's our turn to return the favor."
* * *
After saving the Uchiha's team, Hyori and the others went looking for their own Heaven scroll. A couple hours went by until they finally stopped to rest. They drank water and made sure no enemies were nearby as they relaxed near the roots of a tree. When they had regained their energy and were ready to continue, a group of ninjas appeared. They were the same ones that had tried to ambush them before, although this time, they didn't come alone.
"Well, well, so here you are...brats." The first ninja spoke.
"Don't get so excited, Daichi." Another one appeared, standing right next to him. "We told you we would come back, and this time we're definitely getting that scroll."
