Team 8

Chapter 21: A Pyrrhic Victory

Hinata's fingers ached and it took her a moment to realize that her hands were tightly clenched as she stared down at her teammate's face. Naruto-kun was still unconscious from Itachi's attack, though he was resting peacefully now. But periodically his face would twist into an agonized expression like he was having a nightmare he couldn't wake from.

At first, she and Shino had tried to wake him when this happened, thinking he was throwing off the effects. However, he could not be roused, even when Jiraiya-sama touched a forefinger glowing with chakra to Naruto's forehead.

At that point, he frowned and Hinata felt her stomach drop. Their mission leader was wearing his 'all-business' expression, when the playful façade he wore dropped away and she could see the Sannin behind it.

"I think he's suffered some sort of mental trauma," he said thoughtfully, "and that's why he can't wake up. Fixing that sort of thing is beyond my skills."

Hinata did not allow herself to gasp. She would not be weak now, not after Itachi used harming her as a threat to manipulate Naruto, along with the news of what he had done to Sensei. Just thinking about that for an instant made her gorge rise, so she ruthlessly suppressed it. Not on a mission. Not when she needed to be strong. Not when people depended on her.

"Who can repair such damage?" Shino asked quietly, returning from where he'd laid out the unconscious Uchiha. Using the genin and some shadow clones, Jiraiya had moved them to another inn, undamaged and more secure, faster than Hinata would have believed possible.

"Coincidentally, our objective is one of, if not the, most highly skilled medic-nin on the continent," Jiraiya replied. "It's not directly in her specialty, but I'm pretty sure she could help. We just need to find her before she leaves town."

Hinata spoke up. "Then we must find her, and quickly. Jiraiya-sama, do we really have to stay with the stealthy approach now?"

Jiraiya shook his head. "No, not after all the chakra released earlier. She'd have to be blind drunk not to notice it. She's either decided it doesn't involve her or she's halfway to Wave Country by now."

Hinata had to steel herself not to flinch at the older man's words. They could not fail, not now, not after everything.

Jiraiya was all business now. He assigned Shino to guard the new room he'd rented, while Naruto rested fitfully and Sasuke slept off the beating he'd received. He also left behind a couple of shadow clones and seeded the area with summoned toads of various sizes to keep watch.

For some reason he didn't leave any in the room with Shino. Just the two clones – one that monitored Sasuke's vital signs and another that kept watch out the window and periodically jotted down notes in a thick scroll opened on the table beside it. Hinata thought it was just her imagination, but Shino seemed oddly relieved for some reason.

Within minutes, Hinata and Jiraiya had taken to the air, leaping from rooftop to rooftop as they crisscrossed Otafuku City. Hinata kept her Byakugan active the whole time, ignoring the slow burning sensation that built up in her eye sockets as she compared every face she saw to the faded photograph Jiraiya had shown her. She refused to be weak, not after everything that happened, but her chakra reserves were running low when she got a glimpse of a blond-haired woman's face at the very edge of her range. She stopped dead on her next landing, cutting back over ninety degrees to pursue the trace she'd seen. She almost thought she'd imagined it, when she found the woman again kneeling down to throw dice inside a gambling hall.

Hinata's relief was palpable, but she was shamed at the way her knees buckled a little as she landed in front of the hall. She was mortified when Jiraiya had to steady her shoulder even as he asked what she'd seen. She merely nodded, unable to speak through her suddenly closed throat, and pointed toward the open doors of the gambling hall.