The Way Through Stone Village (Naruto)

38: Getting Stoned

[OP:  "Eurus"--The Oh Hellos]

"What?" Temari was sitting on the wall.

"There's trouble in the village--Naruto. We need to go as a group," Gaara said.

Temari's eyes widened. "Right. Hey--" She looked up at the roof. "--Uchiha, your buddy's in trouble. Want to do something useful for once?"

Sasuke glared down at her. "I don't think I should be involved in whatever it is you're talking about."

"Suit yourself, but Likstar and us are going," Temari said.

That was more effective than she expected: Sasuke frowned, but he jumped to the ground.

Kankuro had already come running and heard the same thing. And Shine was already sending Wally a note.

But Wally's answer was that he had to get Bakugo right now and would be there as soon as he was finished, but that he couldn't risk letting him fight thieves by himself.

Shine took a second to realize that two of her blonde, short-tempered students were currently in trouble, before putting the letter in her pocket and running out into the yard.

Tenten, Jugo, and the Hyuga sisters, with Dabi, were waiting there.

Almost everyone else had gone with Wally or was in the village center already. Momo and Shoto had both thought they could help Wally with scouting, and Suigetsu had gone with Karin, despite her still being angry at him--or because of it. He was hard to figure out.

Shikamaru came out last but in more of a hurry than he usually did.

"What's going on?" he said.

"Your idiot friend is in trouble." Temari had her fan ready now. "Let's go."

"I can take us closer to it, even if I can't take us to the crowd," Shine said. "I just sent a note to Sai asking him to get into a bigger space when no one is looking. I hope it works."

"Hey, what's going on?" Sakura appeared finally. No one had actually called her, but she'd heard the commotion.

"Naruto is in trouble," Shikamaru informed her.

"Oh, so it's a normal day," Sakura said. "Wait, what kind of trouble?"

"The kind where he might get hurt," Temari said.

"Oh...that kind." At least Sakura did look worried.

"You can come if you want," Shine said. "But if you do anything stupid, you're going right back."

"It's Naruto who's in trouble," Sakura said. "You really think I'm gonna do something stupid?"

Shine rolled her eyes. "I think it's been long enough. Everyone get ready."

She opened a portal.

They all ran through it.

* * *

On the other side, Sai had gone out of the alley. This street was very empty. Most people must have been watching the 'demonstration'.

In fact, more people had arrived while they were waiting. It was now 50 people at least.

"Hey, look," Ino said to Camie. "Do you see those kids there at the edge...? Ryuji, Lin, and...some others. Those are the ones we helped."

"Are you kidding me?" Camie asked. "They're participating in this? What little rats."

"I don't know if they're watching this because they're horrified or because they're supporting it," Ino said. "I can't tell... Either way, I feel horrible. But where is Naruto?"