Desert Flower

Crystal Jutsu

  "Wait, why am I getting dragged into this, too?" I whined as Sakura was dragging me by the collar of my shirt along with Naruto.

  "You have anything else to do?"

  "Well....no, but-"

  "Then we might as well bring you along."

  "But you're going with Sai. He stares. A lot."

  "He's just trying to be friendly."

  "That'd be fine if Naruto hadn't convinced him to call me 'Beefcake'!" I swatted my hand at the blond as he was snickering.

  "Yeah, well, it's better than being called 'Ugly'." Sakura grumbled under her breath.

~

  "If things are going as planned, then they should've left some sign behind." Yamato stated while looking around.

  "I didn't see anything like that, though."

  "Jeez. Did they forget we're coming to back them up?"

  "That might not be the case. We need to consider the possibility that something could have happened. Sayuri, do you think you can pick up a scent?"

  "They were concealing their chakra if they went through here 'cause I'm not picking up any."

  "Sai." Yamato turned to the extremely pale boy.

  "Yes?"

  "Do some reconnaissance from the sky, would you?"

  "Understood." Sai pulled out a scroll and unrolled it before drawing. "Ninpou: Choujuu Giga!" A giant bird of paper and ink flew from the scroll before Sai jumped onto its back.

  "Please wait here a second." Naruto raised his hand to us.

  "We're on a mission! Where do you think you're going?!"

  "I have to pee!" The blond yelled back as he was jumping over some rocks.

  "Jeez."

~

  "There's some serious chakra being used up ahead."

  "Do you know whose?"

  "No, I don't know this scent." I replied as Yamato glanced at me as we were going through the trees and following one of Shino's bugs. "We're getting closer."

  "Then I guess we'll see who it is." Naruto furrowed his brows while looking straight ahead. Within a few more seconds, we nearly ran into a wall of red crystal. "What the Hell is this?!"

  "Crystal. There's no doubt that this is the enemy's Jutsu. It looks pretty large, too. Sai?"

  "Yeah, got it!"

  "Can't you just munch through this, Sayuri?" Naruto held his chin, and I smacked the back of his head.

  "How many times must I say I eat chakra? That may be made with chakra but that is whole ass crystal!"

  "Okay, okay. Couldn't hurt to try, though." He mumbled.

  "Fine, you put your teeth on that then."

  "Sai's coming back."

  "It looks to be one kilometer across."

  "One kilometer, huh? The one who did it must be very good."

  "Let's break it down then!"

  "Wait a second, Naruto. It looks like some sort of barrier, so we have to make sure it's not rigged." Yamato raised his hand, and one of his fingers turned into wood. He carefully tapped the crystal, and nothing happened. "Looks like it's okay. It doesn't seem to react to contact from the outside. Kakashi and the others must be trapped inside."