INCARNATE OF OBITO UCHIHA

Chapter 9: United We Stand

Team Seven's destination for their first C-rank mission is the land of Waves- which happens to be a small island some distance away from in mainland, surrounded by the Ocean. They had to take a boat to get to the island, and now were on the way to the Village where Tazuna lived. The Mist had been an annoying presence ever since they had set foot on the Land of Waves, much to Team Seven's chagrin. Having lived their lives till now in the Land of Fire, tolerating the heat, it wasn't that surprising that the cool weather was a welcoming change, although they would've done well without the mist too. It was quite annoying to watch where you walk, or you might bump into trees -all thanks to the Mist. Poor Naruto, he had almost broken his nose, bumping into a tree trunk while he was on his Ramen Rant. She had healed him, of course, after laughing on his expense.

"Is it just me, or is the mist getting thicker?" Sakura mused out loudly. It was true though, the Mist was getting thicker. It was getting so thicker that Kakashi, who had been walking a few meters before them, completely disappeared from their view, all thanks to the blasted Mist.

"Eh," Tazuna said with a shrug "The Land of Waves is surrounded by Ocean, so the swirling mists are ever-present."

'But this doesn't feels like normal Mist...' Sakura thought as she narrowed her eyes and darted then back and forth. 'It's like....'

'Chakra!'

Sakura froze up, and then suddenly shouted "Everyone! Stay on your guard! It isn't a normal mist! This mist is infused with chakra!"

Naruto and Sasuke tensed, and though she couldn't sense Kakashi in this chakra-laced mist, she knew he had also heard her and was now alert. Though she had a feeling he had already sensed it a long time ago, and had stayed silent because of his warped sense of humour.

'Bastard.' Inner spat out in distaste.

A sinister laugh echoed around them, sending a shiver of terror down their spines.

"A Sensor-Ninja too, huh?" A chuckle echoed through the mist. "Interesting...."

Sakura's head snapped to the right and her voice had a hoarser tint as she called out at the same time when Kakashi ordered-

"Everyone! Get down!"

"Duck!"

Everyone did as they were told, no questions asked. Their hair ruffled with a sudden breeze when something heavy just passed from their heads, and got stuck in a nearby tree trunk. Kneeling, Sakura narrowed her eyes as she pulled her orange goggles over her eyes, so as she could see better. The goggles sure helped a bit to clear her vision a bit to see a large sword stuck in the tree, and a silhouette of a man appeared over it, standing over the sword, but her vision blurred as the mist thickened.

'Next time, warn me before you take over my body, Inner. You know what happened the last time you did it, right? I had to deal with repressed memories.' She reprimanded her Inner.

'Yeah, yeah, whatever.' Inner grumbled, mumbling about ungrateful brats. 'But you gotta admit if I hadn't taken over you, we couldn't have saved him.'

A sad look flashed in Sakura's green eyes, making her lower them a bit as she replied to her Inner sadly 'Well, he wasn't exactly saved, considering he's in a half-dead state right now.'

Inner quietened down for a bit, and then he said in a soft, sympathetic tone. 'Don't be hard on yourself Sakura. So what if he's in a coma? He's alive right now, and that's all that matters. He'll wake up someday, I'm sure of it!'

Before she could reply to him, the mysterious attacker's harsh voice echoed around them, making her shoulders tense as she once again snapped into attention.