Uzumaki Clan: Scarlet Savior

Chapter 30- Steam

MINAKO'S POINT OF VIEW

I looked around desperately for any signs of life within the stone toads. Their chakra was still there...however, it seems that they were completely petrified.

"Holy hell... what happened here?" Jiraiya exclaimed to himself. I continued looking around, only to see Gamabunta and Ashi, completely encased in stone.

"ASHI!" I screamed. I ran towards her and felt her stone skin. I tried to put chakra to the surface of my palms to sense whether she was encased or not, but she was completely solid. My eyes flickered to red as Kurama became a little restless inside me. I used his eyes to help me look around on one side of the mountain while Jiraiya searched the other. I was trying to find clues to give me any idea who or what caused this. I went to the oil spring where I first learned my sage training to see all of the toad oil was missing.

"JIRAIYA! COME HERE!" I called out for him. I observed further as he made his way over to see what I was yelling about. 

"They stole all the toad oil! How is that possible?! It evaporates as soon as you leave the area!" I looked sternly at the deposit of where the oil used to be...only to see a small pipe in the ground...nearly hidden to the naked eye.

"Unless someone discovered how to transport it ya know. Look, there's a pipe here." Jiraiya went down into the hole and picked up the broken piece of pipe. Upon inspecting it further, he found an engraving on it. 

"The symbol here is for the Hidden Steam Village." I growled before pulling out a map from my backpack. I looked where we were compared to the Steam Village and it seems we weren't far away at all.

"I guess we know where to go." I told Jiraiya as I showed him the map. He grumbled and gave me a serious look.

"If we don't get that oil back, it could mean the end for the gamas." He said. I nodded as my eyes turned into a darker red. I thought about my children back home and whether they would be okay if I was gone longer. With Kakashi around and Itachi, I knew they would be safe...but something tells me I needed to let someone know back home what was going on. I quickly performed handsigns and summoned Itachi's crow. I looked into Shisui's eye implant and felt my heart sting from the memory. I quickly took a scroll and ink from my pack and wrote down as much information as I could cram in to explain to Itachi what was going on. He is someone I could trust with anything. I sealed up the small scroll and gave it to the crow which flew off. I heard a small commotion in the bushes near Jiraiya and I, immediately readying kunai in case of an attack. I moved a few leaves to see two small toads...one yellow, one red-orange.

"You...guys are...alive?" The two childish toads came out and clung to me.

"Ahhh Mina-chan! You've come to save us! Mom and Pop are stoned!" I sweatdropped.

"You mean turned to stone...?" I deadpanned. The children of Gamabunta and Ashi nodded before continuing to cling onto me.

"Look guys...can you tell us what happened here?" Jiraiya cut in. They turned to him before thinking.

"It was a group of these men...they wanted to oil for some reason...I don't know why but if us toads don't have the oil around, we dry up and turn to stone...like my Mom and Pop." I was confused.

"Wait...I thought the oil turned things into stone...not the other way around?" Jiraiya turned to me.

"It turns humans to toads then to stone, not real toads." I nodded in understanding, looking at the kids again.

"Why aren't you guys...stone ya know?" I asked. They turned and shrugged at each other before looking down to see a chakra seal on each of their backs.