I Will Become the Wind

CHAPTER 27 | Wrong Answer

The blurry world stopped moving when something hit Naruto in the back and he crashed into the ground.

It didn't hurt at all. The bubbling aura around him cushioned his fall. If only he could move—something was holding him down. Why—

Naruto caught a glimpse of the long red streaks on Jiraiya's face before something slapped his forehead.

The orange energy retreated. It hurt, like sand scraping across a wound, or tiny claws clinging to his skin. Naruto gasped for breath, and the static was suddenly gone.

"Are you with me, kid?" Jiraiya peered down at him cautiously. His face had the toad-like features of Sage Mode.

"He's in the village!" Naruto's voice was hoarse, his throat burned raw. "We have to tell Baa-chan—a whole bunch of ANBU got taken out—"

"An attack now? In the middle of the day?" Jiraiya said, but he pulled Naruto to his feet. "Then again, he's done it before."

"It was somewhere underground. I didn't recognize most of the people there, but—we have to hurry!"

Jiraiya gave Naruto a once-over, as if checking that he was still himself, then nodded. "Alright. I'll send word ahead. But we're still half a day out, even if we go as fast as we can with Sage Mode. We won't get there in time."

"What about the old man toad, he could call us—"

"Naruto, no." Jiraiya put his hands on Naruto's shoulders. "He can call us to wherever he is, but right now he's on the mountain. I can have him contact Tsunade through the pool. That's all. We do need to hurry, but you also need to keep the Kyuubi's chakra in check. If you lose control, it's only going to slow us down."

He was right. Naruto squeezed his eyes shut and struggled to let go of the pull, the promise of power Kurama's energy offered. It wasn't time for that yet.

He would give anything for Obito or Minato to be there.

"Okay, I'm ready." Naruto opened his eyes. His vision was noticeably clearer. "Tell her to look underground. And get someone to find Kakashi-sensei."

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Tsunade had them meet her in one of the underground tunnels that crisscrossed beneath the village. Most of the victims had been successfully removed and hospitalized, but nothing else had been cleaned up yet. They, along with the remaining ANBU, were doing a final sweep looking for hidden survivors or clues.

"He was gone by the time we arrived," Tsunade said without greeting, turning sharply and motioning for Jiraiya and Naruto to follow. Her footsteps were rapid clicks echoing through the hall. "Only one or two have regained consciousness so far. I'm going back to the hospital as soon as we're sure everyone is out."

"The entirety of Root got taken out in less than an hour. I'm not sure what's worse—the fact that they fell so easily, or the fact that they were still operating to this extent," Jiraiya said. "At least Orochimaru is thorough about betraying his allies."

"Wait, this is Root? And you guys didn't know about it?" Naruto looked around. They were in a large space now, a column that went down dizzyingly far. Catwalks connected the many, many halls that connected to the space.

"Are you saying you did?" Jiraiya slowed his step enough to fall in beside him.

"I just heard the name before. I have no idea what's going on. What about Kakashi-sensei? Did you find him?" all the questions Naruto wanted to ask were piling up.

"Kakashi is fine," Tsunade said, stopping in the middle of the catwalk. "He helped out with the initial sweep and extraction. He and the other jounin are doing security checks all over the village."