Naruto AU: The Untold Story

Chapter 23: Taking Shape

The night seemed to drag on without any real incident. Neji and Hisako spent most of the night patrolling the borders of the small town. It was late in the night, and they had yet to see any sort of disturbance or mischief in the town.

"This is becoming rather tedious," Hisako grumbled to Neji.

After another round of patrolling the borders, they got together to come up with a new plan to try and liven up the night. Hisako's Sharingan scanned the nearby town in boredom as Neji and she sat in a tree overlooking the town.

Finally, after what felt like forever, Hisako saw something shift in the dark night. She perked up, her red eyes snapping to attention as Neji did the same. He saw it too. Her Sharingan saw the chakra of a small animal scurrying through the town, knocking over stands, banging on windows, and running into barrels. Then, another creature a few meters from that one caused the same sort of mischief.

"Looks like we found the culprit," Neji whispered beside Hisako.

"Let's go check it out," Hisako replied jumping down from the tree to run into the town.

Over her headset that was linked to Guy Sensei, she spoke, "We've spotted movement in the village, Guy Sensei! There's another creature that's ten meters from your's and Lee's location. Neji and I are in pursuit of a creature now. Confirm?"

"Confirmed, Hisako. Lee and I will converge on the second target. Over," Guy Sensei's voice came over the headset.

Once Neji and Hisako got to the location where they saw the creature, the creature was gone.

"Dangit, where did it go?" Hisako asked, turning in the street to try and locate the creature.

"There!" Neji exclaimed, pointing to where Hisako saw the creature disappearing into an alleyway.

"Got it!"

They both jumped onto the rooftops, a shingle falling from the roof of one house and Hisako couldn't help but feel a little guilty given how poorly made the houses were in the first place.

They followed the creature into the forest, and it didn't take long to meet up with Guy Sensei and Lee. Guy Sensei and Lee were a few dozen meters in front of them when the creatures disappeared through a row of bushes and undergrowth. Just beyond that, lay a steep hill with jagged rocks and moist, loose dirt. Lee, without thinking of the consequences, went to follow the creatures through the bushes.

"Lee! Don't!" Hisako shouted out in warning, but it was too late.

Lee had already burst through the bushes, and the moment his foot didn't meet the ground she saw him falling. Hisako concentrated some extra chakra into her feet to propel herself forward so she could grab Lee's wrist. She got to him just in time and grabbed his wrist to keep him from falling further, grabbing onto a nearby tree so she didn't fall herself.

"Thanks for the save, Hisako!" Lee said, turning to give Hisako a large smile as Hisako pulled Lee up from the hill.

"Just, be more careful next time, Lee," Hisako scolded as she pushed Lee through the bushes and away from the hill.

"The creatures went down that hill?" Guy Sensei asked, peeking through the bushes to see the steep hill.

"Yes, they disappeared that way," Neji confirmed.

"We could follow them," Hisako offered, "at the very least, Neji and I can go down there and check it out,"

"Hm," Guy Sensei muttered, putting a hand on his chin in thought, "What did you two see of the creatures so far?"