Raidou startled when her howl ripped up, prickling the hairs on the back of his neck. It was a sound that shouldn't come from any human throat. His head twisted when another howl answered with a note deeper and darker than hers. Kuromaru. For a moment, the two cries blended. When they faded, the forest was utterly silent.

Under his mask, Raidou blinked. "...right," he said, after a second's pause. He hesitated, then walked carefully to the cluster of saplings. They were small, stunted things, but better than bare rock and dried earth. Raidou pivoted gently on one heel, masked face turning as he sought for one tree that would work as a marker. They all looked the same.

Finally he picked one at random, and turned back to his teammate. "Could you..." the words faded out. Mutely he handed the small body over in its broken carapace of armour, and pressed his palms together. Chakra gathered under his skin, slipping warmth through poison-cooled veins. He focused, trying to think clearly around slow-burning anger, and twisted his fingers into seals.

Chakra shivered through him and earthed itself beneath his feet. The ground cracked open, ripping apart in a trench big enough for one small body. Pale roots gleamed. He slid his mask back to one side, and turned to look at Tsume.