| [Nov. 29th, 2016|09:47 pm] |
Kakashi offered a greasy, half-naked salute, took hold of Fukuda’s amputated arm, and spun them both into separate air-bubble jutsu.
The moment her bubble closed, Fukuda launched herself into the ocean. Kakashi locked his grip on her arm — slightly more difficult with the grease — and mimicked her dive with the Sharingan’s help. Behind them, muted swirls of chakra marked eleven more bubbles popping into being.
A steep coastal shelf dropped them almost immediately into deep water. Kakashi hissed at the cold shock, but Fukuda kicked down to the ocean floor, groping among murky weeds. She pulled up a heavy rock and shoved it into Kakashi’s hands, then collected a second for herself, tucking it under her good arm. The weight helped him to orient down, staying below the surge of restless waves.
Bubbles streamed as both teams, the Intel agents, and Fukuda dropped into the water. There was a brief chaos of pale limbs and tangled pairs before Ginta and Genma cast pale blue witch-lights, beating back the darkness enough for everyone to get situated and collect their own rocks. Ryouma, Kasumi, Abe, and the Uchiha followed suit with their own light jutsu, surrounding the group with an eerie glow.
Ryouma, Kakashi noted, had paired up with Genma. Raidou, further back, was next to Kurenai; they seemed much more comfortable with each other than Kakashi remembered.
Fukuda tugged on Kakashi’s arm and pushed off. With a certain amount of reluctance, Kakashi followed her into deeper waters, then North, paralleling the coastline. The air bubble distorted sound, echoing his own breathing back at him and reducing everything else to muffled white noise. Beyond the dim circle of light, the ocean was a solid wall of black, interrupted occasionally by strange flickers. Kakashi couldn’t help thinking of teeth.
Unerringly, Fukuda led them along a route without apparent landmarks. She swam with sleek, powerful kicks, a creature in her element. The Konoha-nin, more used to trees and Konoha’s broad, lazy river, were awkward — and cold — but they kept pace, and Kakashi kept his grip.
Just when he was starting to wonder how much longer the air would last, Fukuda slowed, and the lights illuminated the melted shape of a stone slope stretching along the ocean floor. A saw-toothed gap yawned darkly. Fukuda nodded to it, and Kakashi thought, Of course.
They surfaced quickly to refill their bubbles, then dove down.
Kakashi dropped his rock to catch hold of the opening’s edge, squinting for the telltale chakra flicker of a trap. Fukuda's heel drove into his hip, slamming him sideways into rock. Bare skin scraped over jagged, salted stone. Kakashi caught himself with a spark of chakra, and twisted around with a snarl to grab her by the neck. |
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