No Way Out Revised

chapter twelve: racing the clock

“Yoshiko’s brother. He hadn’t taken the news of his sister's death well. We thought it was done, but Naru’s name was given by another person in the exams.” He said.

“Obito chased after her, and I went for help,” Rin said.

“If anything happens to my baby…” Minato whispered and let out shaky breaths. Sakumo put his hand on his shoulder, making him look at him.

“She’ll be okay, we’ll find her!”

A howl broke the silence, they nodded and shot towards the sound, and Naru.

-o0o-

~Naru

I let out gasping breaths as I cried and struggled to calm myself. I was no good if I was panicking, but I was in so much pain! My jaw ached from where they ripped a tooth out, my left eye was swollen shut, my lip was swollen and bleeding, and my skin was peeling and burning in some spots. The ‘Doctor’ had used tools to do most of the work; they used a towel soaked in some chemical to peel and burn my skin, chopped my hair off in fistfuls, and ripped a few fingernails off. And then Nori began to demand that I apologize for Yoshiko’s murder, and every time I said she did it, they began to hit and kick me. They threw me to the ground and kick after kick, punch after punch, each harder than the last, when I said she did it to herself. I don’t know how long they kept me in there, but finally, they dragged me back in here and left me in the dark. I wanted my Tou-chan! I wanted him to scoop me in his arms, tell me it was going to be alright, and that I would be safe in his arms. I sobbed again and scooted against the wall and tugged at my shirt.

“Tou-chan… Kaa-chan… please! Please!” I begged the air. I didn’t know how much more I could take!

-o0o-

Jiraiya whirled as the large black wolf landed before him. The wolf bowed its head, showing the Hatake symbol on its collar, making the man relax. Minato, Sakumo, Kakashi, and Rin landed in the clearing a moment later.

“Sensei! Did you find her?!” Minato ran up to him, his blue eyes pleading with him.

“No, Minato, we found Obito and Tsunade has been healing him, Orochimaru went ahead to see what trails he could find.”

“Sensei,” Minato looked at Obito, who pushed up slowly from Tsunade’s healing hands. His face was bruised and swollen, his left eye swelled shut, his front tooth knocked out, and he had burns on his cheek and hands.

“Obito…” He crouched to his student and looked him over.

“Sensei… I… I… I’m sorry.” He squeaked. Tears welled in his eyes and spilled over; he sniffled and dug in his pocket. “I wasn’t strong enough, I was too weak to… to save her.”

“N…Obito…”

“What happened?” Kakashi said, stepping forward.

~Obito

I shot through the trees as fast as I could, using the moonlight to navigate my way. I had to catch up to them! I had to get Naru! I glanced back the way I had come and prayed Rin would make it to Konoha and bring backup. The faint smell of a fire caught my attention, and I slowed my travel so as not to catch attention. I slipped closer to the campfire and heard quiet chatter. My heart soared as I spotted the three that ambushed us, Naru bound at their feet, still unconscious.
“We need to keep moving.” One of them growled.

“Relax! No one is following us!  The only ones that saw us were those baby ninjas! They’ll be too frozen with fear to follow,” The other said and ripped into the meat in his hands.