Chapter Twenty-One: The Enemy spotted! The Mission a failure?!
"Our failings sometimes bind us to one another as closely as could virtue itself."- Luc de Clapiers
With Hinata's help, the gang was lead to the outskirts of the city. It had still been a rather unsuccessful journey, but then Izami spotted something off the corner of her eyes that made her pause slightly.
"Guys, wait. Look." The Jonin said a bit breathlessly, stopping, and pointing. Everyone stopped, and looked at her.
Izami pointed to a tall man with long, dark brown hair tied back into a ponytail wearing a black vest-looking shirt. He was facing another man partly hidden in the shadow. Izami recognized one thing on the man. His tattoo on his naval. At this point, they were nearly on the far end of the Village where hardly anyone was at the time. It was practically the outskirts.
"It's him." Sasuke's voice was neutral, but still held a deadly under tone. It was made even more threatening when his hand inched towards his sword on his back, and his eyes quickly changed to the blood red color of the Sharingan.
"We can't just rush in. We need a plan." Sakura reprimanded, glancing over at Sasuke. Izami looked at Sakura, eyebrows together in an almost scowl like expression, but then quickly straightened out her expression as a plan started forming in her mind. She needed to keep her head in the game, and not let anything else bother her.
"I'll use my Earth Manipulation to knock them both off their feet. That will give us enough time to move in on them while they're getting back on their feet, and recovering." Izami suggested, surging her energy to prepare herself.
"No, you know that wipes you out of energy." Sasuke spoke fast, glancing over at her with his eyes slightly narrowed.
Izami could have sworn she heard a protective undertone. She quickly brushed it off, and tried not to let it get to her mind too much. Though, it did bug the back of her mind for a reason she couldn't quiet explain.
"Besides, we all need to be in our best conditions to fight him." Lee quickly said afterwards, bringing Izami's mind back to the present.
"It's the only thing I can think of." Izami said through a sigh.
"We need to come up with something quick. I think they're getting ready to leave." Kiba pointed out, eyes looking up at the two men as the one began to turn to leave.
"They're not getting away."She whispered under her breath.
Izami took a deep breath. She tried to remeber what her teachings were. She focused in on where they were walking, the subtle viberations their feet made against the earth. Once she was able to pin point their location, she slammed her hands down on the hard ground. She smirked slightly as both men where temporarily knocked off their feet.
"Dammit Izami-chan!" Sakura yelled in frustration as she ran forward towards the men who were now on their feet, preparing for a fight. Kiba, Lee, and Hinata followed, but Sasuke stayed behind, holding Izami up as she sunk to the ground out of breath.
"D-damn, might have over done it l-little." Izami laughed slightly, holding on to her throbbing arm. Her hands throbbed from when she slammed them on the ground. Her whole body seemed to throb at this point.
"Are you going to be ok?" Sasuke asked, his hands tightening around her shoulders slightly. Izami looked at him, and nodded.
"Yeah. It was a simple technique. Lucky earth is more my thing, so I can fight now." Sasuke looked at her a moment longer, only to make sure she was really ok, before nodding, and running off to join the fight. Izami followed behind just a few minutes later.
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In the end, the mission was a failure. The guy had wound up getting the best of them by using some sort of teleportation that left no trace of scent or charka. Everyone was pretty frustrated. Especially Izami. It was the one mission she had felt so prepared for, and she wound up failing. Even after she had used her technique twice, once even managing to capture the guy, the mission was still a failure.
The trip home was pretty dour. Nobody had said much to each other. Everyone seemed lost in their own thoughts. Izami had recovered somewhat, mostly, in part, thanks to Sakura healing her.
Once home, they had all reported to the Hokage what had happened, and what they had found out from the villagers.
"I see." Lady Tsuande said when the team reported in. She closed her eyes, sighing slightly, and then opened her eyes."Alright, we'll continue investigating, but for right now I want you all to go home, and get some rest. Alright?" She dismissed the team, to which everyone walked out.
"I-Izami-chan, you're gonna be ok, right?" Hinata asked with a smile. Izami was walking a bit slower, feeling the effects of the fight still. Izami looked at her, and smiled with a nod.
"Thanks, but I'll be fine."
"O-oh, ok. Well, have fun." Izami nodded, waving good bye to the Hygua, and then immediately headed towards her home. Once she was there, she made her way to her room, and quickly fell asleep.