The Way Into Mist Village (Naruto)

22: Mystery of the Mist

[OP: "Notos"--The Oh Hellos]

Up above, Ino and Sai had seen the thick clouds get blasted away. Thankfully, they had been several meters away from it.

But they knew Bakugo must be there.

Moving closer, they slanted down and saw the others, though the fog was starting to creep back to obscure their vision.

They saw some shadowy figures moving towards the group, but farther away than the two already at the raft.

Neji was warding one off, for now.

"I guess it's his Byakugan," Ino said. "We've got to do something to get those two attackers off them. Can you keep this thing steady?" She held up her hands. "Mind Destruction Jutsu!"

The male attacker going after Neji suddenly stopped and grabbed his head, falling onto the water.

The female one paused to look at him strangely.

"Ah, this won't work without more time..." Ino realized. "I'll have to go in... Sai, can you send word back to the house--fast, I mean? Tell them to get the others out of here. I'll stall."

"Stall?" Sai said.

"They haven't seen us yet, right? They won't expect me to do anything," Ino said. "But don't let me fall off this bird, all right? I really don't want to die."

"I'm confused, what are you doing?" Sai asked.

Ino had forgotten that Sai wasn't very familiar with her other jutsu of choice; she was so used to Shikamaru and Choji knowing it.  She held up her hands. "Mind Transfer Jutsu!"

Her body went limp, and Sai wasn't expecting that.

Fortunately, he was able to keep her from falling, but it took him a second to remember what she was doing. Then he looked down.

Ino had just transferred into the guy she'd knocked over, figuring that would be less noticeable.

"What's with you?" the female one was asking. "What did they do?" She wasn't attacking again. Maybe she thought Neji had done something.

"I'll blast them to h---." Bakugo began to sit up.

"Stop it." Kankuro yanked him back down. "We have no idea what's waiting for us out there. You'll just give us away. This feels like a trap."

"I think one of them just fell over," Tenten said. "Was that Neji?"

"I don't think it was me..." Neji looked up but couldn't see Sai through the fog.

Suddenly the male stood up, a little wobbly. "I'm all right," he said, sounding different somehow. 

His companion didn't seem to notice. "All right then, get them before they get away." She made some hand signs, and the raft suddenly seemed to stop moving. 

Tenten glanced over the edge. Was the mist holding it in place? It looked like long fingers almost... Suddenly she felt pretty creeped out. She took out a kunai to slice through the clammy formations, but there were too many for her to reach.

Camie peered over the edge of the raft too, staring at the male shinobi who was moving toward them warily. Neji held up his hands, preparing to attack again.

"Hang on," Camie said, her eyes glittering oddly in the ghostly lighting. "That's not him. That's Ino..."

"What does that mean?" Kankuro said. "Like she transformed?"

"No, her Mind-Transfer thing. That's Ino controlling his body..." Camie said. "Gosh, that's creepy to see in person."

"But Ino wasn't here," Neji said. "Unless they returned... How can you be sure?"