Finding Myself [Rewrite]

Ch. 21: Land of Waves pt. 2

From the very beginning of the journey, something was amiss. Two of the ninja were very wary, while the others remained blissfully unaware of how strange things were.

Being sensitive to their surroundings, Kakashi and his first student gave each other knowing looks as they passed by a puddle of water on the road. The others were chatting as normal, alarming them would do no good and besides, even if there was a threat to their safety, Kakashi could handle the situation on his own.

Mina stuck close to her best friend, which of course was normal for her, but she held his arm, keeping him on the opposite side of the line of potential attack.

"Naru, remember that flower I gave you." She asked just to keep the boy talking.

Naruto could realistically go on for hours about nothing, and Mina found that very interesting.

Sometimes, he couldn't even remember the things he told her and while that's not exactly a bad thing, it left Mina quite baffled at times.

Naruto went rambling about the various plants his friend had given him, trying to remember what he did with them all, at the very least, they were still alive, not that it mattered to her what he chose to do with them.

It was too quiet for a while, Naruto's voice bing the only thing she heard until there was a certain rustling in the wind... And then the familiar, repulsive, metallic scent filled her nostrils.

Two ninja, assassins to be exact, expelled from the earth and tool the Jonin captive, much to the team's surprise.

The pair wasted no time in executing the head of the team before going after the children he was looking after.

Naruto watched in shock and horror at the sight of their teacher's dismembered body falling to pieces, but that wasn't the time to be frozen in fear.

The assassins attempted to go after the startled blonde next, throwing the same chain they had used to eliminate their teacher at him.

Mina pushed her friend back and threw a hidden dagger at the blade covered chain to knock it off course, while Sasuke pinned the weapon to a tree using a kunai knife.

The two glanced at each other before rushing towards the assailants. Sasuke tried to knock them off balance, however they managed to break free from their main weapon and rushed towards their target, which was obviously the person the ninja were supposed to be protecting.

Sakura stood firm in guarding the bridge builder, but that was about all she could manage as her entire body was shaking, and between her and the assassins were her two black haired teammates.

Minaki threw a handful of seeds on the ground behind herself, then fully through herself at the attackers, landing a non-lethal kick to one of their faces. It did little bust stagger them, but they didn't seem to care.

If they had to, they would've cut the girl down, but they simply rushed past her, their weapons grazed her skin as she tried to restrain one of them. She didn't actually want to restrain them, just figure out who exactly they were after, and restain them after- which is what she did.

"Vine Snare."

The moment the two of them rushed over the seeds, they cracked open a rabidly spilled vines that easily encased them in just under a second. They struggled as they were completely stopped in their tracks.

"Huh, I didn't have to lift a finger." Kakashi's voice rang out as he appeared right beside the assassins.

Mina walked over to her friend who'd remained stuck to the ground. He was still in shock, but for a different reason, one they had no time to explore as there were people to be questioned.

"Good job, Sasuke, and you too, Sakura." Kakashi commented, while the two stared at him. Sasuke was bewildered by the man's showmanship, and Sakura was just glad he was alive.

"Naru, are you hurt." Mina asked her friend as she helped him up, brushing the dirt off his clothes.

"No, I'm fine, just.... What just happened?" He asked, but only got a slight shake of the head as a response from her.

Sasuke, on the other hand, spoke in a snarky tone, "What do you think happened? While you were being a scaredy cat, we handled the situation."

Naruto didn't have much to say in response. Sasuke was right and he knew it, he completely froze when he was supposed to act. He had to be saved by his best friend and his rival. It was their first real battle, and those two saved him like it was nothing, like they had no fear.

"Minaki, these guys have poison on their claws, we need to extract it." Kakashi called out, giving the blonde a new cause for worry.

It all turned out all right.

Kakashi questioned the assassins, though he knew everything he needed to know already. He was going to leave the ninja alive, but Minaki had other plans.

Since they dared attempt to harm her friend, there was only one thing lingering in the back of her mind.

Maybe Silver had corrupted her, but she genuinely wanted the men to suffer for what they tried to do. It was one thing to attack her, but a completely different thing to harm her best friend. Something about that made every cell of her body burn, but she couldn't possibly let anyone know that.

The moment they were far enough away, the vines slowly filled the mouths of the assassins, and spread inside their bodies. They didn't have a moment to scream, or squirm, or think about how horrible it felt for their bodies to be invaded.

They could feel every sickening movement as the vines tore through their muscles and tissue, piercing their organs and rapidly tearing them apart from within. It was far worse than any poison they could have used...

The mission continued as normal. The team had to take a ferry boat to get to their destination, and while it moved slowly across the water, Kakashi questioned Tazuna about the reason behind the assassins' attack.

While that information was crucial to the decision to continue the mission, someone was just not interested.

Minaki stared into the mist as her heart raced in her chest. It was squeezing so tightly she could hardly breathe. She was beginning to second guess herself, because the smell of blood just wouldn't go away.

It made her sick, but she was starting to think it was fitting for someone like her...

"...What have I done..." She whispered to herself as the memory of moving the vines plagued her. It was as if she had a minor lapse in judgement, she didn't even know she was doing it until it was too late.

If any of her team found out, what would they think? How would they feel?

Why did she do that? Was it really necessary to harm them any further?

She was scared, terrified even. Her mind took her back to a moment from three years ago, when she woke up in the middle of the night soaked in a putrid red...

"....I'm... A monster..." She muttered, hanging her head as the butterflies she held so dear crawled from her hair to her shoulders, as if trying to comfort her.

She was truly grateful for the mist, otherwise she'd have to explain why she suddenly looked so guilty.

That strong sense of dread was only growing stronger.