Boulders

Kimberlite

There was a moment of silence after what she had said.

"Um, Toph-chan?" He, whoever he was, finally landed on the ground. Toph locked onto his location. "You're supposed to come with me. Ran-chan brought you here to help me."

The jovial tone was fading, being replaced by a more normal voice. "Didn't she tell you?"

"Who is this 'Ran'?" Toph asked, not moving an inch. Her brain was working overtime, connecting the dots and placing the puzzle pieces that the self-proclaimed Tobi was giving her. "Is she the spirit who kidnapped me right out of my world?"

"Well," the Tobi man seemed to have a little bit of common sense. He moved slightly away from her. "Yes?"

Toph struck.

"Eep!" Tobi yelped. "What are you doing!?"

She sent up a giant spike. He dodged, arms flailing, and Toph attacked again, viciously uppercutting a pillar of hardened stone.

He wobbled away, just barely missing getting catapulted into the air, and Toph noticed something strange.

His heartbeat.

His heart rate was slow, steady.

She slammed her foot into the ground. A rockslide burst towards him, and, he slipped and fell out of the way, shrieking.

He wasn't afraid.

For all of his posturing, all of his acting, he wasn't scared.

Toph stopped. She still held a defensive position, but she didn't attack.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"Tobi!" He chirped. He was still for a moment, then lunged forwards. Toph stumbled back, but she wasn't fast enough to avoid his swift hand.

His fingers closed over her face, and then she - they - were suddenly gone.

Vanished.

▪▪▪

The clearing was empty.

There were signs of a battle, but no participants, alive or dead. If someone had happened to enter to survey the destruction, they might've heard an ethereal cackle as a spirit of revenge faded from view.

They wouldn't have seen her, though. The Onryo would only be visible around those fated to carry out their bloody works of vengeance.

But no one was there to hear her voice or see the chaos.

Only a few birds and a single squirrel had witnessed the events.

And they wouldn't tell.

Ever.

▪▪▪

A few weeks after Sakura had gotten her letter and charm, Naruto had skipped into town dragging along a busty older woman in robes.

This was a very inopportune time; she had just raided the chuunin section of the library and made off with an advanced technique book that most people wouldn't have lent to a genin. It was hidden under her coat, but even buried in the grey fabric, the flat side showed all too clearly. It was practically asking to be discovered and confiscated.

Sakura had seen them coming from down the street, and she had zero desire to have anything to do with her peppy teammate at the moment (advanced techniques called), so she'd tried to slip down an alleyway and vanish. Of course, she had no such luck.

Naruto spotted her pastel pink hair from a mile away and led the charge.

"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan!" His hand clamped down over her arm, effectively cutting off her escape route. "I'm back!"